Milk Car

[Mik]

I decided yesterday I felt like building a milk car for the head end of my Hotshot. I started with a B'mann 20 foot express boxcar lettered for the Pennsylvania Union Line. It was short enough for what I wanted to do and still look ok on R-2 curves. -- and more importantly, it was already here.

Then dug around until I found some pix of New York Central wood milk cars in my files.
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt7/tigerlillie06/His Stuff/milk car/milkcar2.jpg < Link To http://i592.photobucket.c...ilk%20car/milkcar2.jpg

Okay... We have a prototype, sort of. We'll just ignore the length, the passenger trucks and the fishbelly frame for now.....

The narrow end platform, handrail, and evaporator piping were easy enough.

Side step and an extra grab were easy too. It will get reefer doors when I find cheap enough ones.-- at the moment they seem to want as much for the 4 doors as a whole car!

A quicky paint job with 'straw' and 'brown oxide', and renumber to #669 by the simple expediency of painting over the final 9. I left the "Pennsylvania" for now because the decals I have are white

I think the car end looks pretty good. Yes, I need to add the train lines yet, and switch over to double hooks on the couplers. The Barber trucks will get fitted with Ozark leaf springs and the "roller bearings" carved off and replaced with plain bearing lube doors

Still, not too awful bad for maybe 2 hours total of farting around on a snowy day.

 

[C&S]

Nice looking conversion, there, Mik. Have just checked the spares box and can supply a set of reefer doors and hinges, if you're still looking. To get round payment and currency exchange expenses as I'm in the UK, can I suggest a swap for a couple of freight car brake wheels, either Ozark or even plastic Bachmann style plastic mouldings?

 

[stevedenver]

now you need some passenger trucks from an LGB coach methinks to really make it look like an express car

 

[Mik]

I realized that I actually have a set of reefer doors, here. Unfortunately, they are attached to a never run, in box, B'mann Doublemint Gum Reefer that I got in trade... It's the parting out of what is basically a brand new (if rather ugly) car that's giving me pause.

Then again trying to buy the trucks, frame, doors and grabs (the useful bits?) would be about half again more than the whole car! ... or maybe even twice?

It comes down to: Sell off 'new' ugly green car? - vs - What do I do with the rest after I take off the parts I can use?

 

[C&S]

What do I do with the rest after I take off the parts I can use?

You could cut the reefer roof down to 12 inches (approx 22-24 ft car depending on your chosen scale) which would take out the parts of the roof with ice hatches. Then trim the body to match and provide new boxcar sliding doors from styrene and have yourself a new "shorty" boxcar (or make a ventialted door type; see p 11-12 of my Making a New Start thread) .

 

[Mik]

I had a "Eureka!" moment with the doors. They open inward, and didn't have to work.... soooooo

And finished.... I figured that by 1960 milk service would have ended at least a decade earlier. - and cars used for storage usually don't get washed very often.

Now, with the RPO, all I need is a flat with low sides for a dandy work train! --- AND, I think I even have all the parts for it....

And who knows, maybe someday the Friends of the AVRR may restore the cars during a summer work session, lol!

 

[Mik]

Now all I need is a flat with low sides for a dandy work train! --- AND, I think I have all the parts....

Well.... As usual, I was wrong... I didn't have all the parts. Just this much of it