Field Research - PC 9041 GS Gondola

 There is an outstanding railroad museum in Snoqualmie, Washington, just East of Seattle toward Snoqualmie Pass off of Interstate 90.  In addition to a historic depot downtown and scenic weekend train rides, the museum has both indoor and outdoor exhibits, including a collection of locomotives and rolling stock.

Of great interest to me is a gondola in their collection, one of the only remaining pieces of Pacific Coast Railroad rolling stock.  On a visit to the museum, I took a number of photographs of the car to capture the details.  Although it sits inside of a fenced siding, I was able to view most of the car from different angles.

PC-9041 GS Drop Bottom Gondola

According to Great Northern Railroad Historical Society (GNRHS) Reference Sheet #364, the Great Northern transferred a number of older GS gondolas from GN series 76000-76249 to the PCRR around 1956 to replace worn out cars for hauling coal.  This drop bottom gondola was originally built for the Great Northern in 1918 by Western Steel Car and Foundry in Illinois, as part of the GN's first purchase of General Service (GS) gondolas.  After its use by the PCRR, this one went on to serve Rayonier on their logging railroad on the Olympic Peninsula, hauling gravel, and then was donated to the museum in 1986, after 68 years of use, as described on this sign next to the car.

(click to enlarge)

As you can see, the car sits outside and shows the effects of it's long years of service, but amazingly, one can still make out ghostly remnants of the large "PACIFIC COAST" billboard type lettering that the PCRR used on their gondolas.

Faint Lettering on Car Side

Lettering Diagram from Champ Decal Set HG-126

The gondola sits on trucks that have "NP" and "NORPACRY" cast on them, so at some point the original trucks apparently were changed out for these Northern Pacific solid bearing trucks, whether by one of the railroads or the museum, I am not sure. These trucks are similar to the original Bettendorf trucks that were supplied on these gondolas, based on equipment diagrams and photos in the reference sheet.

On the "B" end, it has an Ajax handbrake and you can also see the air retainer valve and the bottom dump door release mechanism.  The power handbrakes were added during rebuilding in 1939, when the sides and ends were also replaced.

Brake or "B" End of PC 9041

There is no commercially available model that matches this car, one would need to accept some compromises unless you wanted to completely scratch build it.  I plan to kitbash a car or two to represent these signature PCRR gondolas so being able to photograph the car and supplement my other research materials was very welcome.

Underframes (or Dipping Your Toe In)

 I don't know about you, but sometimes just contemplating taking that first step is the most difficult, like going to a lake or beach and standing on the shore, working up the nerve to get into the water (up here in the Northwest we know it is going to be cold!).

A few years ago I was at that point when it came to adding underframe details to my models.  I had read a lot of information, digested many "how to" articles and educated myself on prototype practices, but I was hesitant to give it a try for fear of "messing it up."

After a little internal pep talk ("you can do this", "how difficult could it be?", "it's just one model, right?"), I decided to dip my toe in, starting with a Red Caboose flat car model decorated for the Great Northern that came with older KC style brakes.  I wanted to update the brakes to fit my modeling period of 1965, so I substituted Tichy AB brake components, using a few small pieces of styrene to provide mounting for the brake reservoir and remembering to align the brake cylinder actuator toward the "B" end of the car.  I also painted the underframe and weight which forms the "floor" with grimy black from an aerosol spray can, or rattle can.

Red Caboose Flat Car Underframe with AB Brake Components

The results of even this small effort looked better than I had expected. With that first little step behind me I felt ready to jump in, this time adding brake rod detail to an Accurail underframe.  

Details Added to Accurail Underframe

Once again I used Tichy AB brake components, fabricating brake levers from styrene strip, and using wire grab irons as the hangers.  Dimensions were based on reference information and hand trimmed to shape with an Exacto blade.  I also added a train line (you can see it crossing through the centersill), along with brake rods from bronze wire.  The layout is generic and not necessarily 100% prototypical for a particular car, but a reasonable appearance.  Here is the result after painting with flat grimy black.

Detailed & Painted Underframe

Looking at it today, I know it is not completely accurate.  There is no chain between the brake cylinder and the lever.  I also could have added the piping between components for more realism, but the level of detail I did add really looked good.  One take away after I test fit trucks:  the wire brake rods probably need to terminate closer to the centersill as they may interfere with truck swing.  But, hey, not bad for a first attempt!

I'm now considering this my typical minimum level of detail for underframes.  There are a few other details I will add, like air hoses and coupler cut levers.  As a next challenge in building my skills I may try adding brake piping to a few cars.  Turns out the water is fine - I know that I can do this and it improves the appearance of my models, plus it is actually fun.