I'm building a trio of these cars in the WP#12001-50 series from the MDC #2150 kits as per Page Porter's article in the July 1995 Mainline Modeller and following on John Ryczkowski's prototype article in the March 1995 MM.
What brake wheels did the WP cars have? It appears to be an Equipco in Page's article but there is no mention of it.
In the builder's photo of WP 12148, the hand brake appears to be an
early
Ajax.
Is there another better source for the Symington trucks with the Barber lateral motion device than the MDC trucks? John mentions that the MDC trucks are ok but they seem crude. Do the MDC trucks represent symington cast friction bearing trucks?
Probably not. The MDC trucks don't have the lateral motion devices
(nor do
any other HO scale trucks) and don't model the prototype trucks' five spring arrangement with a center spring, but their side configuration is closer than any other HO scale truck.
Did any other railroads have clones?
No exact duplicates, but cars owned by T&P (with steel doors) and MoPac (with wood doors) were very similar and can be modeled with MDC
kits. See
my article on both the prototypes and the models in the July 1995
