Most of the Georgia USRA steel rebuilds painted in thier Aluminum & Black scheme seem to have been fitted w/a butt welded steel roof when they were rebuilt. Based on a Jim Parker 1956 photo from "Bob's" here is a link to my attempt at modeling this roof and associated details: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bretgjx37oldrzc/AABM0LTSkSUequr4_PVlXF9la?dl=0

After removing the kit's roof ribs and running board saddles and sanding the roof there were enough shallow nicks that I decided to veneer 0.005 sheet styrene to create a flawless (hopefully) surface. I did this one side at a time, hinging the styrene with tape at the center of the roof, using Testors liquid cement since it is not aggressive. I then went around the perimeter with Tamiya very thin liquid cement to make sure the edges were securely glued.  After the glue had time to cure, I used a new single edge razor blade to trim the edges using the original roof to guide my blade.

Before I attached the styrene veneer, I marked where the edges of the running board saddles should be on the ends of the roof, then connected these marks on the veneer. The prototype photo revealed that these cars had some very interesting saddles for the running board and I wanted to model these. I modified eleven A-Line "A" type Sill Steps to create these parts. They are secured on the underside with Devcon's Two-Ton epoxy.

Initially these cars reused the original running boards and I have started building this using Mt. Albert dimensional wood strip, leaving gaps for unpainted replacement boards. I am going to wait until the model is painted before permanently attaching the running board and latitudinals.

Bill Welch

Hi Bill,

Do you have any photos you can share of the welded roof on the GA RR cars?  I'd like to see them.

Disclaimer: Speculation Follows.  I have a photo of the roof of a C&WC single-sheathed box car that was delivered about the same time as the GA RR cars in question.  I was told by a trustworthy ACL historian that this was the same roof as the roof installed on the GA RR single-sheathed cars when delivered.  The photos clearly show a flat panel, but the panels were riveted.  Perhaps the roof panels were originally riveted and later welded. I can send those photos offline.

I'd be real interested to see your photos to see if they provide any additional information.

Thanks Bill and BTW the photos on the Dropbox site are amazing.  You do great work!

John Golden

Albersbach, Germany