Speedwitch Erie steel-sided rebuilds

Resin Freight Cars,

Craig Zeni has been working on an HO scale Speedwitch Media kit for an Erie steel-sheathed box car rebuild. Here are his notes.

The Erie Railroad embarked on a rebuilding program to convert a series of wood double-sheathed box cars to steel-sheathed cars in the early 1930s. The cars had welded plate steel side sheathing and flexible metal roofs installed. They retained the original doors, earlier braced ends, a vertical shaft handbrake, and an interior height of 8-foot, 6-inches. The rebuilt cars were numbered in the 70000-70999 series with 978 listed in the January 1943 ORER. A set of automobile cars was also converted in a similar manner but with a door width reduced to 6-foot. These were placed into the 71000-71567 series with 565 listed in the 1943 ORER. Speedwitch Media kit K121.1 represents the Erie 70000 series of steel sided rebuilds.

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GATX Type 30 tank car project

Tank Cars, Techniques, ,

Frank Hodina has been busy bashing some parts to build a new tank car. Here are his tips and techniques.

General American built thousands of tank cars used on US railroads. The GATX Type 30 tank cars were built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The frame was a design improvement that developed in the late 1920s and became known as the Type 30 frame. Tanks followed typical construction and could vary in size by gallon capacity or if it was an insulated tank. Some older tanks were also used on newer frames. For this model, I’m working towards a Type 30 frame with a newer tank and GATX straps and tank anchoring typical of the early 1930s.

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Southern Pacific 50′ A50-6 / A50-5 1-1/2 Door Boxcar

Resin Freight Cars, Uncategorized, ,

Charlie Duckworth offers another great resin kit build summary. His focus this time is a classic Southern Pacific automobile box car kit offered by Funaro & Camerlengo. Click on any image here to review a larger size. Here’s Charlie’s report.

History
The Southern Pacific had 2,000 of these 50-foot, single-sheathed automobile box cars built in 1923. The cars were built in two classes in A-50-5 and A-50-6. The A-50-5 had steel auto doors in the A end of the car. The cars were built with Z-bar framing, metal peaked roofs, and fish belly underframes. The A-50-5 were numbered 68000-68499, while the A-50-6 group were numbered 66800-67999 with single-sheathed ends. Prototype photos and additional history can be found on pages 71 and 72 in Richard Hendrickson’s “Focus on Freight Cars Volume One: Single Sheathed Box & Automobile Cars.” The book is available from Speedwitch Media.

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