Trilevel Autoracks

[fr8kar]

During my modeling era of the mid to late 1980s, the local General Motors plant produced autos on GM's D and G platforms: Cadillac Broughams and Olds Cutlasses and Chevy Monte Carlos. That meant this area saw a lot of trilevel autoracks during the 80s and into the 90s as the plant transitioned to the B platform.

Also during this time most autoracks were enclosed or at least partially enclosed. Though some stragglers could be seen from time to time, in most cases gone were the days of being able to tell what gleaming new cars were loaded. Vehicles were handled in cuts on trains back then and not in unit trains as they often are now. A long cut of fully enclosed autoracks could easily appear boring and devoid of variety.

This is really easy to do if you're using off-the-shelf enclosed trilevels from Walthers. These are great models and they operate fine, but even all the different color schemes begin to become repetitive applied to the same version of the same model. I set out to change this a year ago when I made some parts to modify the "flatcar" portion of the Walthers trilevel. These parts make it easy to model the early PLH21 and PLH21A low deck flatcars with the sills that surround the trucks. Here are the parts:






And here is how I installed them:








You can also see the National swing motion truck I designed for these cars in that last photo. Walthers uses a 70" wheelbase 100 ton truck and slaps some 28" wheelsets in it and calls it good enough. In fairness, the trucks are kind of hidden, but I like to look at my models closely and at eye level, so the stock trucks had to go. Here is one of them installed on a stock Walthers trilevel:





Another variation to break up the monotony of the same old trilevels is to model some door variations. The Walthers model has the big clamshell doors that pivot and rotate to the sides of the carbody when opened (of course the model doors don't open). This is the only way you can get them on the Walthers model and again, in fairness it's a very common type of door, but if you look at autoracks long enough you'll see some variations. I started with Portec's RAVE and RAVE II designs. The RAVE door on the left looks like skis stood on end while the RAVE II door on the right has more of a stockade fence look:








Here is an early trifold design that predates the RAVE doors. This car is probably outside my modeling era since these all should have been in GT paint by the late 80s, but I can't resist this eye-catching scheme:










Finally, here are some views of that BN trilevel I modified with the PLH21A sill parts:
















As you might imagine, I have many more of these cars to work on. Most will be just weathered and detailed versions of the stock Walthers trilevel (with correct trucks, of course). But I have a stack of undecs and several decal sets to try out some other subtle variations. And I'd like to take a crack at a Custom Rail trilevel kit, too. I have some decals for a green Southern trilevel that I'm anxious to use.

[analogbeatmaker]

Great modifications! I love the different ends. I have noticed those types of ends from time to time and wondered how one would model them...now I know! Stellar modeling my friend.

[nsc39d8]

Ryan,

Green Southern Tri-level you say:



Walther car with Plano stainless panels and Mask Island decals.  Using Mask Island decals be sure to use acrylic flat and gloss the lacquer doesn't play well.

[fr8kar]

Very nice! I have that decal set, so the advice on the clear coat will save me some headaches. Thanks for that.

By the way, the doors I used on the Rock Island car are similar to those originally used on the Southern trilevel, but there are some minor differences. Here's a screenshot of the CAD file for the Southern trilevel version:

[nsc39d8]

Ryan,

The decal setting was actually a problem with several different items in play. I don't think the Plano panels take paint to well, then with all the holes in the Plano panels it was hard to keep air from coming under the decal. So the first time I sprayed the Floquil flat finish with the air behind the decal it just lifted off. I would try sticking with the Walther panels and using Alclad paint for the stainless, worth a try. Not having a nice detail shot of one of the Southern Tribes-levels it is hard to tell if there is a flat sheet metal panel or is the road name painted on to the panel on the prototype.

Another note, remember Tony Sissons did the anti vandal etch that Moon Dog railcars has for auto racks. Think these are on the newer racks.

[fr8kar]

James,

My plan with the Southern car is to start with a Custom Rail kit, but I need to get one in my hands before I figure out if I'm going to use the stock panels, Walthers panels or etched Plano panels. I appreciate you relating your experiences with decals on the Plano panels.

I got those Mask Island decals at the same time I got his decals for Southern TOFC flats (which is another project I need to wrap up). Around that time I had posed some questions about autoracks to the MFCL and learned the wide flat of the Custom Rail kit could be a good starting point for these Southern racks.

I think the anti-vandal devices Tony makes are outside my modeling era. They sure are a neat touch, though. The trifold doors predate the RAVE doors by a few years, which puts them on the early side of my modeling era, but I can't resist having some Southern, Frisco and Rock Island racks in my trains.

[iandt]

Mar 24, 2017 15:25:21 GMT -5 fr8kar said:

James,

My plan with the Southern car is to start with a Custom Rail kit, but I need to get one in my hands before I figure out if I'm going to use the stock panels, Walthers panels or etched Plano panels. I appreciate you relating your experiences with decals on the Plano panels.

I may be a little late in posting this (since your last response was from March), but having built several Custom Rail kits over the years, I would advise NOT to use them as a starting point for a highly detailed rack. I have attempted several because, for those looking to model flush-deck tri-levels in HO, they remain the only kit on the market. Here's a few tri-levels I built a while back:







The only rack I've kept of the several Custom Rail kits I've built is a Union Pacific bi-level that I had to put TONS of work into to make it look decent. I shaved the ladders to add separate grab-irons, built correct coupler throats on the flat's ends, added Intermountain metal panels, Walthers end doors, brake linkage, Moon Dog Originals pick-up load, and your National trucks!





All of my bashing aside, it honestly isn't too hard to make realistic and good-looking cars from these kits. The panels are their real strong point, which look much more realistic than Walters' earliest bi-levels. However, getting the end doors to work is  a bear of a task - not only do they never want to sit straight, but they're too short for the car! I always added a strip of paper at the top to hide the huge seam:



The real downside of these models is that it is nearly impossible to make the walls/decks stand straight and perpendicular with each other. Also, the stock Custom Rail underframe is way too tall for even a bi-level, and the hand-carving necessary to shorten the truck bolsters ruins all hope of having a flat car sit level with the tracks. You end up with a crooked car that leans as it runs down the tracks, which looks pretty awkward in a line of Walthers or Intermountain cars. I once had to add all this weight into one side of a tri-level just to make it sit straight:



My personal approach to kit bashing is to start with a Walthers flat car, either a stand-alone car or by cutting the flat from a tri- or bi-level, and modifying from there. It is much easier to make a convincingly realistic rack when the flat car they sit on rolls straight and true. 

By the way, excellent work on those end doors and side sills! I may be using those from Shapeways in the future....

[slowfreight]

Well, THAT answered a bunch of questions I had. I've been accumulating the Custom Rail racks because back in 1995, they seemed like pretty detailed kits with promising potential. Guess I should purge the fleet, eh?

Long-term I'd need a mix of 1978-era open, enclosed, and paritally-enclosed rack flats. If one were to start with a Walthers intermodal flat, does the old Custom Rail rack offer any real potential?

[iandt]

Sept 26, 2017 18:49:32 GMT -5 slowfreight said:

Well, THAT answered a bunch of questions I had. I've been accumulating the Custom Rail racks because back in 1995, they seemed like pretty detailed kits with promising potential. Guess I should purge the fleet, eh?

Long-term I'd need a mix of 1978-era open, enclosed, and paritally-enclosed rack flats. If one were to start with a Walthers intermodal flat, does the old Custom Rail rack offer any real potential?

My answer to that is... possibly! I model 1999, so I've never attempted a partially enclosed rack. But if I did, I would probably follow the Mike Buddle approach of cutting the panels out of a stock Walthers bi-level and detailing the interior (article scan is from Railmodel Journal):






I would say this only because with Walthers cars, the columns are already fixed to the flat, which eliminates a lot of trouble when it comes to getting the walls and roof straight and true. That being said, here is what a Custom Rail kit looks like on the inside. Everything here is stock, except the panels, which are from Intermountain: 



With a little detailing, a Custom Rail rack would make a great addition to a Walthers 89' flat car. Or even use an Accurail flat, to keep it in the family, so to speak (Accurail bought out Custom Rail and tools their TOFC flats and auto rack flats based on Custom Rail's old tooling, but with correct/realistic truck bolsters. In fact, in a whole fleet of partially enclosed racks, I'd probably use a mix of entirely Walthers and Custom Rail/Walthers cars. It all depends on the prototype (time for a little history lesson....):

For Thrall/W&K partially-enclosed bi-levels like the one seen below, I would certainly use Walthers' bi-level exactly like Mike Buddle did for one reason: angled gussets. The photo below that one shows how, for the Union Pacific bi-level I posted yesterday, I had to custom cut, file and glue each gusset to get the correct angled appearance - way too much work! Of course, the panels on these early cars are an entirely separate topic if you plan to use Plano's sets, but I would still use a stock Walthers bi-level all the way. 







Now, if I were attempting a W&K/Thrall open low-deck tri-level, I would still go with the Walthers option - but use the stock Walthers tri-level, detailed inside, with Plano panels, for the same reason as above - the angled gussets and wide-body flanges (at the bottom of each panel) would be too difficult to add to a Custom Rail kit: 



Now here is where the Custom Rail racks, mounted on a Walthers or Accurail flat, would be the perfect model. Since Walthers doesn't make any representation of the W&K flush-deck tri-level, and since the Custom Rail car already comes with decks and isn't to hard to lay Plano/Intermountain panels into, this is far easier than chopping off the bottom of a Walthers tri-level to fit (trust me, lol). The only problem that remains is making the doors look realistic - in the past, I've cut the doors out of Walthers tri-level's for infill on racks with subpar doors (this was on an old Sierra Car & Foundry resin rack kit, but it would work on the Custom Rail kits as well). 



Anyway, I hope some of this rambling is helpful. I've always wanted to model some of these racks, but unfortunately, my layout locale and operations ambitions don't lie in the early 80's. All this goes to show that there are MANY ways to make realistic autoracks in HO, it just comes down to how much time you're willing to spend, and how close a stock kit comes to replicating a specfic prototype.

[slowfreight]

This is great stuff!

Back when I was in high school, I bought the entire 12-pack from Walthers because I was so excited to be able to get a modern auto rack. At the time we didn't even care that they were foobies.

Since then, my focus has been on other models and I've never gone back to figure out what it would take to build a realistic 1978-era rack fleet. Long-term I plan on modeling Kenosha, WI, so I'll have the opportunity to model traffic for the AMC plant. I've considered ordering a case lot of Fresh Cherries cars direct from the manufacturer, without individual boxes. But how does one simulate loads in/empties out?

[fr8kar]

Wow, that's some great work. Good information on the Custom Rail kits, too.

My plan is to build a car or two like the one in the last photo of your second post (CTTX 902031 - low deck flatcar with raised side sills). It's good to know going into it that some work will be required for the underframe and bolsters. What I'll likely do is create some bolster parts to solve the problems you described. I'm not above making bulkheads for the interior to keep everything square since I have no intention at this point of making a see-through car (though they do look really cool).

Of course, I still haven't had time to work on any of the autorack projects. Other stuff stays higher priority and there are only so many hours in the day.

[slowfreight]

I hear you there, rch. I've been slamming it on passenger models to clear up the backlog, then will get on with the stack of resin freight cars...

I'm with you on that last car. I'd like a few of those, and some of the partially-enclosed open racks. I remember the roofless variety coming both with and without end doors. And of course end doors didn't used to be full-height. I just didn't get fluent in the flat cars like you have.

[iandt]

When either of you get around to making a flush-deck tri-level, make sure you post!! I love seeing other modelers' autoracks, photos of which are surprisingly harder to find than you'd think. It seems like most modelers either don't want autoracks, or if they have them, they're just background cars. Pelle Soeborg did a great article on weathering the Intermountain cars a year or two back, but other than that, MRR almost NEVER covers auto rack cars.

Loads is something I've always struggled with. When you have see-through cars, they're a must if you want to model loaded racks, but the cars can be expensive (where'd you get the Fresh Cherries cars? and do they sell pickups/suv's?) and it's impossible to get them in/out. Of course you can open/close the end doors on brass and Intermountain cars, but this sounds more delicate than I'd like to try.

[slowfreight]

The Fresh Cherries cars used to be available from Wal-Mart and then later Walthers. They were Gremlins, Pacers, Escorts, etc. Stuff you never wanted to drive. I'd have to do some digging to figure out who owns the tooling to see what a minimum-size run is.

In general, I just don't understand other model railroaders. They ignore the cars you see endlessly like auto racks, tank cars, and plastic pellet hoppers, but go ga-ga over the latest obscure grain or coal hopper variation. And don't get me started on how manufacturers only give us trucks with railroad lettering instead of truck lines.

[iandt]

Oct 1, 2017 16:22:54 GMT -5 slowfreight said:

In general, I just don't understand other model railroaders. They ignore the cars you see endlessly like auto racks, tank cars, and plastic pellet hoppers, but go ga-ga over the latest obscure grain or coal hopper variation. And don't get me started on how manufacturers only give us trucks with railroad lettering instead of truck lines.

I share your feelings completely! I'm sure that there are groups of modelers who are experts in every type of rolling stock's subtle details and histories. But this certainly isn't reflected in big model train companies choices of rolling stock! They release hopper after hopper thinking that they're the only type of unit train in existence. Up until very recently, the most up-do-date HO bi-level on the market was released in 1992!

In an effort to make this thread an autorack modeling resource, so to speak, I wanted to re-up nsc39d8's Southern tri-level photos from earlier in this post. They're excellent work, and one of the few examples of a modeler trying to very accurately recreate autorack prototypes in HO:









I also wanted to share the projects I have been up to. Since Walthers is no longer supplying parts from their tri-level Proto racks (I used to order parts such as end ladders and roofs for projects regularly), I decided it was time to take the Shapeways approach and print my own. I have always been dissatisfied with Walthers' molded ladders, so here is attempt one at printing a separate grab-iron ladder:



I have another, better-scaled prototype including rivet detail currently in the works.

I wanted to take a crack at an earlier Thrall (bought from W&K) bi-level design with angled strips at the bottom of each panel. The only real way to attempt this in HO is to start with an Overland brass auto rack like this one:




These cars make great models out of the box, but in order to represent specific prototypes, some subtle modifications are required. My first step was to modify the end slider rails so that they sat more realistically toward the bottom of the roof's base rail (photo 1). Of course this means that the car's doors will no longer be operable, but I never consider this a critical detail. Instead, I glued the doors together into a plate that I will apply to the end of the car after I slide the car load in place (photo 2). These cars' decks are also problematic, as they are curved far more extremely than realistic (photo 3). To recreate the accurate end deck detail, I had to layer styrene strips and glue them in place so that they peek out just as the end doors are applied (photo 4). 









I hope to update this thread as I continue this project in the coming months, so stay tuned for updates!

[slowfreight]

Nice! It takes real courage to kitbash on brass.