Post by CP_8530 on Jun 21, 2015 11:45:11 GMT -5
I finally got around to editing the pix for this post, so:
The next thing to roll out of the paint shop: a CP scale test car. Made from an old Walthers kit, it had almost every cast-on detail shaved off the body and replaced with bent wire grabs or modified (the only thing I left intact was the poling pockets). The car was lowered because it rode too high, different weights added, some 33" metal wheelsets, Kadee 58 couplers and DW air hoses, and wire cut levers. A new AB brake stand was scratchbuilt using spare parts to replace the old K-brakes.
On delivery in its previous CSX kit form, with someone else's new GP38-2W spotting it on the test track.:
Removal of all the cast-on grabs before paint stripping. The bottom corner foot holes were also opened up a bit to make them deeper.
Even the side hatch wasn't safe from removal - it was too low and the lettering below wouldn't fit. It was removed and raised on both sides.:
Over time someone ripped-off the weights for something else (because they fit nicely), and since the car was lowered the top one wouldn't fit anyway. New weights were made from cutting cut-up loco frame scraps to fit inside. Some of the corners of the underframe here, and inside of the body were trimmed to get the body to sit lower on the frame to give it a nicer ride height:
After painting, most of the large lettering (roadnumber, Scale Test Car, weight info) was decaled one character at a time cut out of a Black Cat set. I was initially going to decal all the tiny weight data in the same manner, but luckily didn't have any decals small enough. So it sat around for a good year gathering dust before I had some custom decals made for it to finish.
It's still missing one or two things: namely the flanges bolted to the underside of the car to chain it down with, and I'm leaning towards replacing the ugly plastic Walthers roof railing with a wire one. I also don't have any good end shots of this car in its 1970's livery, so left the ends undecaled until some surface.
All that data on the right are reweight dates from the 60's and 70's, one every year or so. The brake stand was scratchbuilt out of styrene and spare AB brake gear from the parts box:
Roof. I wasn't sure where to get all the extra latches and hinges the prototype's weight trough had, so just left the few the Walthers car had. I did add grabs to it and divide the middle compartment according to photo though.
Background info: railways needed a way to calibrate the scales across their systems, so turned to scale test cars weighed and carefully calibrated to a standard weight. Repairs, repaintings, etc required special permission and recalibrating to be done before the car could be used again. Recalibration was done via placing special standardized weights in the trough running the length of the car. Their small size helped focus the weight on a single point, as some scales were set up to weigh a single freight car's truck at a time. The two axle setup normally only had handbrakes, as regular brakeshoe wear could change the weight of the car. Most crews despised them, as train handling was subject to restrictions: most RR's had speed limits due to the 2-axle design (CP specified max 30mph speed on 30mph+ lines, and -5 below posted speed on 25 and below lines). Handling was often done at the rear of the train and/or ahead of the caboose due to lack of train brakes.
ETT's show Canadian Pacific only had about 4 scale test cars on roster (420925-28) until they began buying used ones and making their own from old hoppers and tanks in the 80's and 90's. There was only one of this design until they acquired two ex-MILW cars. It's still making the rounds today, often via flatcar for longer distances.
The next thing to roll out of the paint shop: a CP scale test car. Made from an old Walthers kit, it had almost every cast-on detail shaved off the body and replaced with bent wire grabs or modified (the only thing I left intact was the poling pockets). The car was lowered because it rode too high, different weights added, some 33" metal wheelsets, Kadee 58 couplers and DW air hoses, and wire cut levers. A new AB brake stand was scratchbuilt using spare parts to replace the old K-brakes.
On delivery in its previous CSX kit form, with someone else's new GP38-2W spotting it on the test track.:
Removal of all the cast-on grabs before paint stripping. The bottom corner foot holes were also opened up a bit to make them deeper.
Even the side hatch wasn't safe from removal - it was too low and the lettering below wouldn't fit. It was removed and raised on both sides.:
Over time someone ripped-off the weights for something else (because they fit nicely), and since the car was lowered the top one wouldn't fit anyway. New weights were made from cutting cut-up loco frame scraps to fit inside. Some of the corners of the underframe here, and inside of the body were trimmed to get the body to sit lower on the frame to give it a nicer ride height:
After painting, most of the large lettering (roadnumber, Scale Test Car, weight info) was decaled one character at a time cut out of a Black Cat set. I was initially going to decal all the tiny weight data in the same manner, but luckily didn't have any decals small enough. So it sat around for a good year gathering dust before I had some custom decals made for it to finish.
It's still missing one or two things: namely the flanges bolted to the underside of the car to chain it down with, and I'm leaning towards replacing the ugly plastic Walthers roof railing with a wire one. I also don't have any good end shots of this car in its 1970's livery, so left the ends undecaled until some surface.
All that data on the right are reweight dates from the 60's and 70's, one every year or so. The brake stand was scratchbuilt out of styrene and spare AB brake gear from the parts box:
Roof. I wasn't sure where to get all the extra latches and hinges the prototype's weight trough had, so just left the few the Walthers car had. I did add grabs to it and divide the middle compartment according to photo though.
Background info: railways needed a way to calibrate the scales across their systems, so turned to scale test cars weighed and carefully calibrated to a standard weight. Repairs, repaintings, etc required special permission and recalibrating to be done before the car could be used again. Recalibration was done via placing special standardized weights in the trough running the length of the car. Their small size helped focus the weight on a single point, as some scales were set up to weigh a single freight car's truck at a time. The two axle setup normally only had handbrakes, as regular brakeshoe wear could change the weight of the car. Most crews despised them, as train handling was subject to restrictions: most RR's had speed limits due to the 2-axle design (CP specified max 30mph speed on 30mph+ lines, and -5 below posted speed on 25 and below lines). Handling was often done at the rear of the train and/or ahead of the caboose due to lack of train brakes.
ETT's show Canadian Pacific only had about 4 scale test cars on roster (420925-28) until they began buying used ones and making their own from old hoppers and tanks in the 80's and 90's. There was only one of this design until they acquired two ex-MILW cars. It's still making the rounds today, often via flatcar for longer distances.
