Hello Chuck,

It's usually not too hard to drill HO center sills by chucking the bit at the extreme end in a pin vise and turning it by hand. Use a scriber to prick a good starting point. For drilling cross members I use an oversize bit and drill the hole at an angle. Being a little oversize, the angled hole will allow the desired size of wire to pass through at a right angle. If anyone wants to criticize my oversized holes, my answer is that I didn't give you permission to pick up my freight car!

So long,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
Executive Editor
Model Railroader magazine
asperandeo@mrmag.com
262-796-8776, ext. 461
FAX 262-796-1142

I generally use a dental burr to drill a hole sideways in a frame member if I could not drill before assembly (or just forgot).
Charlie

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

On Feb 11, 2009, at 10:30 PM, RUTLANDRS@... wrote:

List,
How does one drill the center sill and crossmembers on

steam

era freight
cars, particularlly the resin kits?

2) The hole can be bigger than the pipe (it often is in real life)
which allows you "wiggle room"

Actually I make a hole for a piece of pipe ... eh tube. The tube is
glued into the hole with some 2mm protuding. By this I have a
perfectly round "collar" for the truck bolster to sit on with the
screwhead resting on the tube tip. It also does away with the
necessity to have the thread of the screw match the hole in the truck
bolster.

Manfred

On Feb 11, 2009, at 10:30 PM, RUTLANDRS@aol.com wrote:

List,
How does one drill the center sill and crossmembers on steam era freight
cars, particularlly the resin kits?
I've been building these for some years and have yet to find a really
good (easy?) method. I have not found a really small 90 degree drill. I'm sure
there are others wondering the same thing but don't want to be considered
"speacial".
Thanks,
Chuck Hladik

Chuck,

I usually chuck the drill bit in a pin vise with most of the bit exposed, and I start with a bit that is too small (#80 or #79). Create a starter dimple with a scribe or pin, then gently start to drill at whatever good angle you can get. As the drill starts, gently bend the drill bit so that the tip is at the correct angle and drill your hole. Then ream the hole with larger bits.

A couple of truisms:
1) Its a whole lot easier to drill crossbearers/braces and center sills BEFORE they are applied to the car
2) The hole can be bigger than the pipe (it often is in real life) which allows you "wiggle room"

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
|/_____________________________&#92;|_|________________________________|
| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

Just a a note, they also ran on the Coast route to Vandenberg AFB. I saw many there.

Jim Scott
Lompoc, CA




________________________________
From: Richard Brennan <brennan8@earthlink.net>
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 8:43:10 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Helium Cars


Those of us on the FAR West Coast have the luxury of knowing that the
helium cars did run regularly (albeit not in large numbers) out to
the military and aerospace installations in California.

FWIW... NAS Moffett Field and Edwards AFB were known destinations. ..
as well as industrial gas supply houses serving the aerospace industries.

...and who makes the clasp-brake trucks???

------------ --------
Richard Brennan - San Leandro CA
------------ --------

At 08:18 PM 2/11/2009, Anthony Thompson wrote:

Steve Hile wrote:

Back in June of 2007 there was a flurry of messages surrounding the
possibility of a quality model of one or more phases of helium cars
along with separate decals. Jay Miller did a terrific presentation on
the industry at Naperville and the ATSF meet.

Since then, it has been quiet. Has anyone heard of any progress on
this front?

Those of us in the West are eagerly waiting for the opportunity
to run unit trains of these cars . . . <g>

Tony Thompson

Those of us on the FAR West Coast have the luxury of knowing that the helium cars did run regularly (albeit not in large numbers) out to the military and aerospace installations in California.

FWIW... NAS Moffett Field and Edwards AFB were known destinations... as well as industrial gas supply houses serving the aerospace industries.

...and who makes the clasp-brake trucks???

--------------------
Richard Brennan - San Leandro CA
--------------------

Steve Hile wrote:

Back in June of 2007 there was a flurry of messages surrounding the possibility of a quality model of one or more phases of helium cars along with separate decals. Jay Miller did a terrific presentation on the industry at Naperville and the ATSF meet.

Since then, it has been quiet. Has anyone heard of any progress on this front?

Those of us in the West are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to run unit trains of these cars . . . <g>

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history

Back in June of 2007 there was a flurry of messages surrounding the possibility of a quality model of one or more phases of helium cars along with separate decals. Jay Miller did a terrific presentation on the industry at Naperville and the ATSF meet.

Since then, it has been quiet. Has anyone heard of any progress on this front?

Thanks in advance.

Steve Hile

Thanks for the advisory.

SGL

On Feb 11, 2009, at 4:59 PM, proto48er wrote:

I only have a poor photo of the model trucks on the RY Models website:

<http://www.richyodermodels.com/rym_trucks.htm>

(Scroll down to the seventh truck).

I am only interested in them if they were made before May of 1948, my
cutoff date. We have so few trucks in "O" scale that it is hard to let
any of them pass by - always discover too late that they would have
been useful!

Unfortunately, about all I can see on Rich's website is shiny
plastic. See if you can get a better image from him of these
trucks. Barber Stabilized trucks, both S-1 and S-2 types, were
developed in the 1930s and widely used during and after WW II, but
there were many variants and feel better about advising you to buy
some if I could get a good look at them.


Richard Hendrickson

Jason,
I have one and I used a Westerfield set I bought at Desplaines Hobbies some 20 years ago. It may have been the USRA set. I used a copy of the Ambroid instruction sheet for placement and dimensional data.
I have also replaced the trucks with Accurail andrews and Intermountain wheelsets.

Rob Manley

Rob,
There must be a typo or something on the SP&S car number, all there tank cars were in the 38000 range

My guess is the initials are wrong.
--
Allen Rueter
StLouis MO




________________________________
From: Rob Erickson <pattirobpatti@comcast.net>
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, February 8, 2009 7:59:26 PM
Subject: [STMFC] Need info about several tank cars, circa 1955-1956


Group, I have been trying to identify several tank cars included in
train consists that were once posted on the Toledo West website.
These cars were in trains that operated on the New York Central
between Elkhart, IN, and Toledo, OH, in 1955, 1956 and 1957:

DUPX 181
DUPX 271
DUPX 4056

ETCX 239 Tennessee Eastman Co.

GRYX 411 John H. Grace Co.
GRYX 602

ILX 846 Inland Molasses

KTX 8705 Keith Tank Line

SCCX 428 Shell
SCCX 1210

SP&S 98

WRNX 1070 Warren Petroleum

Any information about these cars (such as type, capacity, builder,
possible models in HO) would be appreciated.

Thanks, Rob Erickson

Richard -

I only have a poor photo of the model trucks on the RY Models website:

<http://www.richyodermodels.com/rym_trucks.htm>

(Scroll down to the seventh truck).

I am only interested in them if they were made before May of 1948, my
cutoff date. We have so few trucks in "O" scale that it is hard to let
any of them pass by - always discover too late that they would have
been useful!

Rich has imported some N&W triple hoppers that are likely candidates
for these trucks. They were out of my time period.

In "O" scale, us old timers have developed a syndrome of purchasing
anything remotely correct for our purposes, then selling it later if it
turns out to be anachronistic. "When imported stuff comes in, you
gotta buy it when it is available, cause you will never see it again."
Ebay has helped some of us kick this habit, but not me!! Yet!!

Thanks!

A.T. Kott

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@...>
wrote:

There were several different versions of Barber Stabilized trucks,

and

Buckeye probably made all of them under license, so without seeing
the trucks it's impossible to say.

Richard Hendrickson

On Feb 11, 2009, at 2:18 PM, proto48er wrote:

What date were these trucks first introduced, and what freight cars
were they under at that time? (I suspect they were under some N&W
cars). An importer has them available in "O" scale.

Thee were several different versions of Barber Stabilized trucks, and
Buckeye probably made all of them under license, so without seeing
the trucks it's impossible to say.

Richard Hendrickson

List,
How does one drill the center sill and crossmembers on steam era freight
cars, particularlly the resin kits?
I've been building these for some years and have yet to find a really
good (easy?) method. I have not found a really small 90 degree drill. I'm sure
there are others wondering the same thing but don't want to be considered
"speacial".
Thanks,
Chuck Hladik
Rutland Railroad
Virginia Division
**************Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you
now. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000001)

Guys -

What date were these trucks first introduced, and what freight cars
were they under at that time? (I suspect they were under some N&W
cars). An importer has them available in "O" scale.

Thanks!

A.T. Kott

Hi folks,
I have some RTR Intermountain Tank Cars which were special purchased. They include Frontenac, Southern Pacific, & Pan Am oils. These assembled 10K gallon cars would be great candidates for sanding the reporting marks off and redecaling for a quick weathered lease fleet. These cars cost $28.95 at the retail level, I am offering them at $18.00 each, plus shipping. I also have some Shell Chemical 8 K gallon cars, which are partial aluminum colored. I can be contacted at <midcentury@sbcglobal.net> off-list (please). I now accept PayPal and can send PayPal invoices .
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

Ted Culotta makes doors and decals for the AF-3.

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.


--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@...>
wrote:

On Feb 11, 2009, at 11:03 AM, A. Premo wrote:

What are the prototypes for the Red Caboose 40 ' Auto Box cars?

Armand, I did an article on these cars in the Jan. 1998 Railmodel
Journal. Most 40' double door cars were 10'4" to 10'6" high with 5-

5

ends, and thus can't be modeled with the RC kits. However, I

found

two exceptions, SAL class AF-3 nos. 22300-22449 with round-

cornered

ends and Soo Line 75800-75998 with square-cornered ends.

Richard Hendrickson

On Feb 11, 2009, at 11:03 AM, A. Premo wrote:

What are the prototypes for the Red Caboose 40 ' Auto Box cars?

Armand, I did an article on these cars in the Jan. 1998 Railmodel
Journal. Most 40' double door cars were 10'4" to 10'6" high with 5-5
ends, and thus can't be modeled with the RC kits. However, I found
two exceptions, SAL class AF-3 nos. 22300-22449 with round-cornered
ends and Soo Line 75800-75998 with square-cornered ends.

Richard Hendrickson

What are the prototypes for the Red Caboose 40 ' Auto Box cars?Armand Premo