On Building A Freight Car Fleet

A Portion of The Kit Stash

 Like many model railroaders, I have accumulated a large number of freight cars and locomotives over the years.  My early Athearn train set cars and additions from Model Die Casting (Roundhouse), Tyco and Con-Cor were later joined by more detailed models from Intermountain, Red Caboose and others.

My early purchases as I got more serious about the hobby were from hobby shops, and occasionally mail order, as this was before the Internet.  Most were kits, because I had enjoyed building aircraft models and this carried over into my model railroad hobby.  There were a few "ready to run" model purchases, joined by some gifts from family.

When I got even more serious about the hobby, I found other kit manufacturers such as CB&T, Branchline and LifeLike Proto 2000 (now Walthers Proto).  There were even a few exotic (to me) resin kits from Sunshine as well as swap meet finds of other craftsman type kits.

Some of these purchases were spurred by my interest in the Great Northern and other Hill Lines, some by what I had seen on the tracks in real life as a kid, and some by whim.  I did tend to stick with the 1960's, despite temptation in the form of gorgeous looking modern era cars.

For a long time, however, my purchases were only loosely guided by a vague concept of how I might eventually incorporate them into a large model railroad scheme.  Some of this was understandably the result of lack of time to embark on planning and building a layout, or defining what it would even look like.  Some due to the shiny allure of a new model that I happened on and convinced myself I really wanted, without much thought of how it "fit" into any bigger plan.  Some just looked fun to build.

When I began to narrow my focus, and develop an interest in building more detailed models, it was actually helpful in limiting impulse buying.  It has not slowed me down but it has  guided me toward models that I know I really want.  Some earlier buys have been sold to make way for things that better fit where I see myself going.

Recent purchases have tended toward craftsman kits or kitbash opportunities that will challenge and develop my skills.  There are some incredible small makers of resin car and mini kit offerings along with masters of kitbashing who share their talents for me to learn from.

As I am not building a large layout with a big “fleet”, I’m not as much driven to balance my models with car distributions or relative numbers of a particular car as I am  to explore modeling challenges.  I am adding some particular car types in line with my forest products interest.  This includes tank cars, double door boxcars and flat cars.  The Great Northern is my home road, along with subsidiary Pacific Coast, and sister roads Northern Pacific, SP&S and CB&Q so these roads feature prominently.

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.

Beginnings

 The beginning of a story (or a blog about railroad modeling) sets the scene and points in a direction of travel or narrative.   The main characters are also revealed, although not always right away.

My scene is a proto-freelanced subsidiary of the Great Northern Railroad in the Puget Sound region of Western Washington in 1965, with an emphasis on forest products, particularly paper mills.  I model in HO scale and enjoy building models that are reasonably accurate and detailed.  Currently, my layout is only a concept although my intention is to begin construction of a shelf layout module this year.  My workbench is active with model building projects ranging from straightforward plastic kit builds to resin or mixed media kits, along with some superdetailing and kitbash projects.  Scale vehicles are an aspect of my interests and will feature here from time to time as well.

In this case, the direction is topics around my interests in the hobby of model railroading, as well as the history of my chosen railroads, and related subjects that capture my interest or may be of interest to others. 

I'm no modeling or historical guru.  My blog is intended as a creative outlet and a way for me to share my efforts as I continue to build skills and knowledge.  It's also a means to give myself some encouragement as well as accountability to work toward my hobby goals.

Set Box Top & End From My Collection

The model railroading bug started for me when I was about eight or nine and my dad brought home an Athearn starter set.  This is the box that set came in, which currently is in use as an open topped tray to hold a few structure models.  Although the picture is a steam engine with passenger cars, the set was a diesel engine with freight cars.

This was a typical beginners set that included the engine, a few freight cars and a caboose - all Athearn classic "blue box" models that were ready to run, along with an oval of sectional brass track.

The photo below shows those set cars as well as a few items from those that my dad purchased to expand our small Plywood Pacific over the next few years.  There were others as well, many still stored in my boxes of rolling stock, some kitbash or upgrade fodder.

The boxes in the set are distinctively different than artwork for Athearn blue box cars sold separately, with the rolling stock boxes being nearly all light blue, no image on top.  Even the locomotive box is different in that it has the blue band on each end of the box top.

You will note a few things here.  First, the locomotive and caboose are Southern Pacific, not Great Northern.  At least there are two Hill Lines box cars in the set, the Northern Pacific mechanical refrigerator and the Great Northern plug door box.  Later purchases trended more closely toward my growing fascination with the GN and other Hill Lines (NP, CB&Q, SP&S and Pacific Coast RR).

The Tyco C420 locomotives are both fantasy schemes, although to my eyes they were very attractive at the time!  Many hours of fun model railroading were provided by these locos, which featured working headlights and had a massive look.  My deep appreciation for Alco diesels may have just started with these two models.

The Roundhouse covered hopper kit is one of those early cars that I have started to kitbash and upgrade.  It is getting square hatch covers from Details West, along with wire grabs and ladder rungs, more detailed brake gear, new trucks, paint and decals.  This is one of those on again, off again projects that sits and waits patiently for inspiration.  

From this start, my interests in building models developed, as did my focus on the Great Northern.  Much later I settled on 1965 as my  modeling year.  This was due to a number of reasons, including the type of equipment operated, roof-walks and a somewhat contrary attraction to the struggles of railroads at the time from the competitive pressures of trucking, consolidations and fading passenger traffic.  Last but probably not least, I found Glacier Green to be a favorite rolling stock color scheme, while not sharing an appreciation for Big Sky Blue with the simplified Rocky logo, which was introduced by the GN in the next year.

Later posts will expand on these themes but for now this gives you some idea of what I am about.  I hope that you find something that is of interest and I welcome the opportunity to hear from you as the journey progresses.