Calling Western Steam Era modelers....

Not sure if this is a need in other scales, but a set of 7" Santa Fe Roman with an Ampersand white / waterslide doesn't exist in N scale, so I've been working towards designing one and have a manufacturing willing to add such to his product line.

My driver of this project has been the excellent N scale resin kits for Santa Fe prototype by Dirk Jan Blikkendaal of the Tk-G to Tk-J class https://atsfnscalemodels.com/projects/tankcars%20class%20tk-g%2C%20h%2C%20i%2C%20j.html

Microscales does produce a set for Santa Fe tank cars (87- & 60-128), but the Reporting Marks are without an ampersand (painted till 1938 and still commonly seen on tank cars into the early 50's.) and are oversized (at least in N) even for the 9" lettering of the later steam era.  The 9" with ampersands are common as they were used on Box cars and Stock cars of the line, but, as Hendrickson details in "Santa Fe Railway Painting and Lettering Guide" Tank cars and Flat cars used a smaller lettering... my theory on why is the 9" lettering simply didn't fit well on 8" & 10" flat cars side sills, and early Santa Fe tank cars (little more at times than a tank on a flat car) retained side sills as the proper location for reporting marks.  Typically this small oversize doesn't bother me much, and looks OK when place on the tank side as in later era cars.  But the available decals just don't sit right on the side frames as was prototypical in some early cars of the era.  

So consider this a call for suggestions to those seeking Santa Fe tank car and flat car steam era decal elements (branch line lettering, etc) as I'm working to fill the sheet with extra stuff.  Given the limited interest in this topic, if willing to assist, private message me.

Still discussing with manufacture if the final product offering will be a single 7" white w/ Ampersand sheet, or one sheet for use on both flat cars as well as tank cars.  Either way, hope to include optionality of use to model pre and post 1926 ARA lettering standardization.  

Cheers,

Jake



Anyone know the dimensions of the small route card on a SFRD reefer?  Am replacing the one on the Intermountain kit. 

thanks!
--
Charlie Duckworth 
Omaha, Ne.

On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 12:50 PM, Matt Smith wrote:

https://kewanee-history.com/photo-galleries/gallery-4/

It would be an interesting industrial plant to model.  The building is still there, you can take a look at it on google street view.

Tom, 

Most Type C were painted a metallic silver or boiler black. Solid color all over.

--
Matt Smith
Bloomington, IL

I just bought one of the boilers to use as a load

What was the base color and did any of the details like name and model get highlighted in a different color?

Tom Pearson 
Benbrook, TX

Another great link to Kewanee Boiler history. Lots of good photos, many loaded on rail cars.

https://kewanee-history.com/photo-galleries/gallery-4/
--
Matt Smith
Bloomington, IL

Here is link to a spec sheet for the Type C. Shipping weight shows a range of 3100 lbs to 26,100 lbs.

https://www.oemboilerparts.com/specs/7L70.pdf

Just pull out the scale rule and measure your model in question to get a ball park weight and how many you can fit on a rail car.

Here is a good photo of a smaller one.

http://idaillinois.org/digital/collection/p16614coll62/id/22841/rec/1

--
Matt Smith
Bloomington, IL

On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 06:29 AM, Tim O'Connor wrote:

I just looked Tom - he's got another batch ready! :-)

Looks like he made another batch of 20. Once you get the printing parameters locked in you can set the printer to running and walk away. I assume the seller is using a Form 2 or equivalent - and probably more than one. You can do multiples on a build platform so if you can do a couple runs a day (including overnight) it's pretty easy to replenish the stock. Considering the large number of items the seller is offering, and the thoroughness of the item descriptions, this is not some random hobbyist making a few for himself and his friends.

Didn't realize a seller can keep an eBay listing active after the item sells. Must be an eBay Store thing when you are selling multiples of identical items. Interesting.....

Tom Madden

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

Eric,

That's a lot of good information. Thank you for that.

I wasn't even aware that the underbody was different from a typical PRR X29. And the part about the extra lever really answered the black part in the builder's photo.

Guess it's time for me to make some modifications under the body.

Ray

And just to add to this topic, here's the boxcar I've been working on.

This was one of the first models I bought brand new and unopened (in 2018, as weird as it sounds) at a train shop in Spring, Texas after I began getting back into the hobby and deciding on taking a much more prototypical approach to HO modeling. Much has gone into the model such as me using the AB brakes in the kit and the original plastic sill steps which later broke off and I replaced them with etched sill steps made by Yarmouth Model Works. I even added wire for the vertical brake stand and the retainer line.

 

Later on I replaced the AB brake system and used Tichy K brake. So far I haven't got much done with it considering some parts of the builder's photo and photos of the NKP 25228 had me lost.

 

Overall I'm hoping to get around to adding Carmer cut levers and some remaining details still missing before I paint the parts and get it weathered.

 

-Ray

Hey everyone,

For over two years (blame a mix of jumping from project to project and plain laziness) I've been working on an X29 class boxcar kit made by Red Caboose in the WLE scheme. I've been doing research for a while and looking at photos of the prototype and there were some things that I noticed.

According to the Steam Era Freight Cars WLE X29 page (http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/gallery/boxauto/wlex29main.html) and the June 1998 issue of Railmodel Journal (http://magazine.trainlife.com/rmj_1998_6/ on page 24), these were built with split K brakes. However the builders photo on the SEFC site, NKP photos in the RMJ, and the last known NKP X29 boxcar that I know of (NKP 25228 at the Mad River Museum in Bellevue, Ohio) show the retainer line on the left side of the coupler pocket just like a normal retainer line on any other boxcar. The builders photo also shows a normal K brake that isn't split like the typical PRR X29.

What I'm wondering is that was this overlooked or taken at speculation and assuming the K brake placement was the same split K like on the PRR X29s? Photographic and the surviving WLE/NKP prototype shows otherwise.

-Ray