Friday, August 28, 2015

August Re-Cap

Well the month of August has come and nearly gone. The usual summer activities have kept us all busy, however,  my wife and I are expecting the birth of our third child anytime now; she is technically due September 8th, but we are playing it close to home and that has afforded me the opportunity to spend nights at home working in the attic.  The last week or so I took the "free" time to re-organize all of my motive power and rolling stock into new rubbermaid style containers.   This makes it so much easier to navigate all of my collection.

I have also had the chance to acquire several new models this month including the H12-44, see previous post, and three, Walthers, 50' North American Smoothside boxcars, two of which I spotted at the freight house on the modules.   These boxcars are Lot 953- B, built in the summer of 1964, fifty cars in the lot, in series from 78750 - 78799.   I think Walthers did a great job with these cars and I am happy to have found another great ebay deal.


There are a bunch of new NYC models being announced and offered in HO Scale these days and so I have spent some considerable time placing pre-orders.  That list includes the Atlas RS-3 with Lok Sound and Rapido's FA-2 with Lok Soun.    I have had the Broadway Ltd, Lightening Striped Baldwin Sharks on order and all of these new models probably will not arrive until after the 1st of the New Year, but nevertheless, something to look forward to.   A bunch of new rolling stock is on order too, so be sure to stop by for my acquisition announcements in the coming weeks.  Till then... keep the trains moving!




Saturday, August 15, 2015

New Acquisition

I picked up this nice looking Walthers model of a Fairbanks Morse H12-44 on ebay.  This is an original production model and are somewhat rare... the price could not be beat and I figured it was an early birthday present to myself.   It has a die-cast frame and runs very smoothly.  The DCC conversion is likely to be a little bit involved but I found a good "how-to" guide on the TCS webpage.


Motive Power Page

I have created a new page that details all of the NYC motive power that I currently own in my collection.   I have several other Steam and Diesel Locomotives from various roads that are not listed in the NYC roster.   At some point I will get around to listing those as well.

Friday, August 7, 2015

NYC Steel Bay Window Caboose


The following is a model I am considering that is currently produced by Wright Trak Railroad Models.   I am little hesitant to purchase the model because it is cast in resin and I have not had the best of times working with resin kits in the past.   At any rate, I am intrigued by this model and so I am probably going to give it another go.   The History behind this lot of "cabeese" is pretty interesting too. I have included the prototype insert supplied by Wright Trak and researched by Bernie Halloran below the picture of a completed model.     



This kit is a high-quality replica of the famous New York Central Bay Window Caboose first delivered in 1948 for use on the Central’s mainline trains. They were initially three prototypes for the 33’ bay window (b-w) caboose that were built by Dispatch Shops in 1948 as Lot 778, road #20200-20202. Presumably, the NYC evaluated them in service for some months before fine- tuning the final design for the 300 production cars that followed. The original three cars have the following external details that differ noticeably from the later production cars: a small window in the toilet area (absent in the production cars); a cylindrical “Globe” type of roof vent above the toilet space (also absent in the production cars); a fixed window in the bunk area, at least on the toilet-side (if not both sides) of the car (changed to a larger sliding window in the production cars); no car- routing board (present in the production cars as discussed below).

The production cars were built in two lots: Lot 782, Dispatch Shops, 1949, road #NYC 20203-20297 and B&A 1300-1304 (later NYC 20498-20502), 100 cars total; and Lot 827, St. Louis Car, 1952, road #20298-20497, 200 cars total.

All cars had coal/wood stoves with a typical covered smokejack on the car roof (this was located toward what was designated the „B‟ end of the car). Interior illumination was by kerosene or oil lamps. The cars were painted freight car red/brown and had the white NYC oval (no black background) on each side. The white initials (B&A or NYC) and road number on each side beneath the cupola were in the sans-serif style. Some later in-service photos show subtle lettering variations, most commonly a capital „C‟ or „W‟ (in white Roman lettering of all things) below the road #.

The cars in the two lots were taken to be identified by the NYC and many modelers have long accepted along this. However, a close examination of 18 B&W photos (8-Lot 782 and 10- Lot 827) will show some subtle variations: the later Lot 827 cars had smokejacks that were noticeably taller than the earlier Lot 782 cars. Both lots have wood car-routing boards located on the bottom edge of the frame on each left side, just above the truck centerline. However, the later Lot 827 cars have an additional routing board located on the side just below and to the prominent drip strip over the b-w and down each side. This detail is missing entirely on the earlier Lot 782 cars as built although at least one car had a similar (but not identical) drip strip installed later.

REBUILT CARS Apparently the 33‟ b-w cabooses (including all three Lot 778 prototypes) underwent a significant reworking during the early 1960‟s, possibly starting as early as 1963. This took place at the time many cabooses on the central were assigned to pool service instead of “belonging to a particular conductor.” Lettering on the rebuilt cars indicates that this work was done under “Program (or Project) 343”

The following changes were made that are noticeable on the cars‟ exteriors based on examination of 28 photos in my possession: oil heat was added. The fuel-oil tank fill and vent(?) pipes are very noticeable, located just below and to the right of the b-w (i.e. toward the „A‟ end) on the “stove” side of the car (in an area formerly occupied by bunks). Contrary to what I thought retained in all cases although some of the earlier Lot 782 cars may have received taller smokejacks as replacements for damaged originals.

Electric lighting was added which resulted in an underbody battery box located on side opposite the smokejack/fuel pipes, just to the left of the b-w (toward the „A‟ end). A body mounted, belt driven generator was used in all but one case. Battery charging receptacles were added to the underbody on each side toward the „A‟ end of the car. The earlier Lot 782 cars and even the Lot 778 prototype received the drip strips above and around the b-w. The fixed windows on the slanted side of each b-w received windshield wipers (presumably driven by electric motors). Three Globe roof vents ere installed on the side opposite the smokejack/fuel pipes. One was located over the same location as the original brackets used for kerosene markers. An external water fill was added which suggests that an internal water tank was added for drinking water if not a flush toilet. This filler appears as a downward- pointing trumpet on the outer edge of the underbody on each side toward the „B‟ end of the car. Most cars received a radio and a roof- mounted, firecracker-style antenna which was located on the smokejack/fuel-fill side just above the left edge of the b-w.

It appears the later Lot 827 cars lost the extra car-routing board on the side. Conversely, the lot 778 prototypes gained the routing board on the frame side. The cars were renumbered into the 21500-21798 series in no apparent order so that all three lots were commingled. The cars were painted in Century („jade”) green which (almost?) everyone agrees bore no resemblance to either Pullman or Pacemaker Greens.




Wednesday, August 5, 2015

A visit from NKP 765

The NKP 765 visited the Southern Tier of NY State over the weekend of August 1st and 2nd.  NYC #43, a Budd Lounge, was part of the train.  Interestingly enough #43 even touched some NYC rail when the Train was wyed at Baker Street, which was part of the former NYC in Corning.   I have posted a few pictures and a video for your enjoyment!

                                   
NKP 765 at Cameron, NY

NYC #43, Budd Tavern Lounge at Cameron, NY

NYC #43 on the  former NYC at Corning, NY

Welcome back and Starting Over

It has been well over a year since I made an update to this blog... work and general life things slowed my overall progress until now.  That being said, I am starting over with the Blog!    The attic renovation has begun and I am optimistic that by Mid- October I will be ready to start constructing benchwork!  Till then I am going to make some occasional progress updates and post some pictures.