Photo: SFRD Reefer 6719

A link courtesy of Brian Rochon previously posted on this group: 

http://lists.railfan.net/erielackphoto.cgi?erielack-12-10-19/X4544.jpg

Not a great photo but this can be improved with photo editing software.

SFRD 6719 is a Class Rr-P refrigerator car from the series 6701-7200. These cars were built in 1909 by AC&F.

The cars had a wood exteriors and wood superstructures. The original underframe was wood supported by truss rods. In later years some of these cars received steel channels along the center sills to reinforce the underframe as well as flexible metal roofs. The cars had Bohn ice tanks.

There is a drawing of  Rr-P 6702 on Page 67 of the Santa Fe reefer book. The drawing indicates some of these cars had Garland ventilators. These ventilators were discussed in this message post:

https://groups.io/g/RailroadCitrusIndustryModelingGroup/message/519?p=,,,20,0,0,0::Created,,garland,20,2,0,31132621

There also were additional message posts on this subject. These can be accessed with the Message Search feature.

A photo of Rr-P 7140 is on Page 68 of the Santa Fe reefer book*.

The last five Rr-P reefers left the live list in 1936.

I cannot find evidence that any of these cars were rebuilt into later classes. It is possible some went into company service, however.

I also could not find a listing for a Class Rr-P reefer model in Westerfield's catalog listing.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Railroad Citrus Industry Modeling Group

https://groups.io/g/RailroadCitrusIndustryModelingGroup

*Santa Fe Refrigerator Cars Ice Bunker Cars 1884-1979

(Volume 2, Rolling Stock Reference Series)

By C. Keith Jordan, Richard H. Hendrickson, John B. Moore and A. Dean Hale and the Santa Fe Modeler Organization (1994)

Good looking models, Eric.  Nice weathering

CAUTION: Slotted Screws Visible

I have started rigging the truss rod system for my CB&Q model’s underframe. I use .015-brass wire for the rods so prior to gluing the Queen Posts in place I used a new Single Edge Razor Blade to widen the slots in the Grandt Line parts, carefully cleaving away hair width slivers of styrene on each of the sixteen parts. This took about three hours with frequent checks to make sure the .015-wire would nest in the slot. Next I drilled #77 holes in floor just inside the bolsters so one end of the .015 wire could pass through the floor.

I did the interior pair first, bending a section of wire at about 75° on the end that goes through the floor and putting it through the hole I had drilled. Then I let the wire sit in the Queen Post’s slot. Resting my small Tamiya pliers against the Post I made a slight bend. Inevitably I had to adjust this bend until the wire now rests in both Posts to achieve the exact bend. I had already measured the distance between the Posts with my Mitutoyo Digimatic Caliper and then divided this calculation by two to determine the midpoint. I used this calculation to trim the wire. Then I repeated the process for the other truss rod section.

Over the years I have accumulated a few packets of Grandt Line Brass Turnbuckles, These are very nicely detailed—albeit very small—parts. Because cyanoacrylate or CA is an effective glue in this situation, it is main reason I use brass wire with these parts. After I have made two good truss rods I trim each one just enough to create a small gap so that I can see through the turnbuckle. Once happy with each brass wire section, I filed each end to rough them up and then put them back in place resting on their respective Queen Post. Next I slipped the turnbuckle back on and make sure it is oriented so I can see through it. When I am happy, I apply a tiny drop of CA to the Queen Post/Brass Wire joints and to only one end of the turnbuckle, creating a slip joint. After these three joints have cured, I bent the wire ends locking them in the slightly oversized holes. With three glued joints and three that are not glued, this assembly can withstand a fair amount deflection without anything breaking.

My goal is to align each of the turnbuckles so that I can slip a piece of scale scrap lumber through the turnbuckles, hopefully all eight but if not four on each side. (As I was taking the photos clouds were playing with the Sun changing the light so I included extras showing the turnbuckles in different lighting.)

Bill Welch

We have one of these box cars in our museum shop,  WP 2711, wreck train rider car (Elko) , earlier numbers unknown, To Heber UT, converted to a tourist rider car, to Nevada State Railroad Museum Boulder City, 1993, out of service, currently being rehabilitated for tourist service…

In the case of this car the roof system consists of steel carlines with wood ridge pole and perlins on top of the steel carlines (and blocking directly over the carline, with wood roof sheeting running the length of the car body, with longitudinal boards over that.  There was a layer of roof felt or similar between the two layers of wood sheeting, and graveled roof felt over all.  It is possible (even likely) that the last layer of graveled roof paper was added after the car left the WP, or at worst while in work service, but the remainder of the roof is clearly from railroad service.  There is no evidence of any steel sheeting on this car.

By the way we would love to add any original plans to this car’s preservation file.

Randy Hees

Director, Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City

rhees@...