6/3/2023 0 Comments Northwest shortline chopper 2![]() Note: Kadee HOn3 narrow gage coupler sets come with #0 sheet metal screws that work very well in styrene. I drill and tap a #2-56 UNC thread for truck mounting screws in the bolsters and use a #0–80 for the coupler mounts. This is the easiest part of the fabrication. I cut a set of planks for the decking from strip styrene. I also use a 6″ dial caliper to insure scratch built bolster heights are within. A Northwest Shortline chopper is a good investment for this part of the job. Care must be taken to cut parts to exact lengths. Starting with the basic frame, a flat car is nothing more than a series of timbers cut to length and placed in a square jig to get 90 degree corners. Life was cheap and safety was not on the minds of those in charge of the purse strings during this period. Early freight cars were not equipped with brakes since most railroads considered this expense unnecessary. Passenger cars were equipped with hand brakes as early as 1845. In some cases the cars had mechanical brakes on only one truck. Research revealed some of the railroads were reluctant to put any brakes on freight cars. This car was very primitive in that it had only mechanical brakes. I started with the most basic of freight cars, a Carter Brothers flat car. ![]() In fact, I purchased all of the early style Westinghouse air brake sets in stock. I went to our local detail parts hobby shop Tinkertown in Ladue, Missouri for these. Suppliers such as Tichy Train Group, Grandt Line and Kadee offer some very nice plastic parts with a high level of detail. The brake rigging on early cars was much more primitive than on cars from the 1930’s. I made bending jigs to fabricate simple items such as grab irons. The only drawback is that the AP judging gives more points for plans drawn by the person building the car. An additional benefit of this approach is that you get a set of plans that you may use to construct your own scratch built version of a car. ![]() or Liberty craftsman kit to get these parts as a set. The detail parts such as grab irons and brake gear can be purchased individually, or you may go to a swap meet and purchase an old Varney, LaBelle Woodworking Co. Car siding is available from Evergreen in scale 3″ width scribing. Other frame parts such as sills and cross members were made from strip stock of the proper dimensions. Large structural pieces such as the bolsters were made from. Early freight cars were of wood design, so even the frames were simple straight shapes. I have always built structures and modified rolling stock using styrene so it was a simple matter to purchase Evergreen Styrene strip, rod and sheet to suit the sizes required. These four drawings were the basis for the construction. I drew the four cars in “O” scale (.250″ = 1′ 0″). Once I had the design information, I created detailed drawings for 3 freight cars and 1 passenger car that I would scratch build to qualify for the AP certificate in Cars. Louis and was able to copy pages from these books. With titles and author names in hand, I went to the Barriger collection at the University of Missouri, St. White that gave details of the technological advances throughout the development of American Railroads. White and The American Passenger Car also by John H. In addition there were two volumes of The American Freight Car by John H. Bob put me on to several reference books on the Civil War era and the United States Military Railroad as it was known back during the Civil War. Bob is also a model railroader and serves as legal representation for the NMRA nationally. Since I was not familiar with civil war era cars, I contacted Bob Amsler who I knew was researching this period. This period from 1870 to 1890 and up to 1900 saw the beginning of standards for couplers and air brakes. Research, Planning and DesignĪfter reviewing the NMRA information, I decided to model early cars from the time period just after the civil war. Four wood box cars of the same design, but lettered for different railroads is not allowed. Additional requirements are that the four scratch built cars must all be different designs. One of the eight cars must be a passenger car. ![]() The other four must be super detailed (also according to the regulations). Four of these must be scratch built according to the regulations as written. The NMRA achievement program has a requirement that the applicant build a total of eight pieces of rolling stock. ![]()
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