Page 11 - NMRA Roundhouse September-October 2019

I made six shallow bosses from styrene tube that would receive 2.5 mm screws as shown in the cross section on page
10 which shows one screw plus tube boss.The bosses provide some length for screws to bite into; the deck is too thin. The tubes were glued to the underside of the deck with solvent cement.
The weight itself is in two layers.The main layer (layer one in the diagram), immediately under the deck was not screwed in place. It has six holes that allow it to fit over the bosses.
A second layer of brass (layer two), clamps the first layer in place using screws into the bosses as shown.
The photo above shows one end of
the car and two of the screws that clamp everything in place. I retained the bolsters but, to maximise the weight I extended layer 1 into the truck area as shown.The photo of the finished under frame below shows the six screws used to hold the weights in place.
The prototype appears to have had
a sheet metal deck and I used sheet styrene to represent this.The model was airbrushed and decalled to match the prototype photograph. I spent a lot of time in an attempt to make the deck look like well-worn metal. I used several coats of various paints, powders and po- tions for this. It was a long trial-and-er- ror process and, although I am pleased with the result, I haven’t the faintest idea of how I got there!
Lehigh Valley Cement Gondola
The Lehigh Valley had some gondolas that were used to transport cement.The cement was contained in large “bottles” and these were unloaded using air lines that passed through large rectangular holes in the car sides as shown.
Later, when they were replaced in ce- ment service by covered hoppers, these cars were allocated to general service. Some had the openings covered with riveted plates but others retained the openings.The photo below shows one of these cars apparently carrying scrap metal.
For my model I again started with an At- hearn “blue box” 50 ft gondola. I cut out the ends and filed the inside of the sides to wafer thinness.This was necessary to ensure that the openings did not look too crude.
Here is a close-up of the openings in the thinned side.
parts from Grandt line.These were glued to the lead sheet weights.The thickness of the lead meant that the brake parts would hang down too far under the car.
To overcome this the parts were filed to reduce amounts visible below the sides of the car.The photos below show the lead sheets with the reduced-depth brake parts glued to them with ACC.
The end doors (green in the photo below) were a spare set that came with a Proto 2000 gondola.
The addition of weight was achieved using sheet lead, glued in place with sili- cone bath sealant.As was the case with the D&H car I was able to retain the centre sill. I replaced the brake gear with
I made a few cosmetic improvements to the car. I scratch built new frames for the end doors from sheet and strip styrene. I added metal grabs, stirrup steps, and cut levers, plus a brake wheel on the “B” end. The completed model was airbrushed and decalled.
Another potential gondola modification?
Below are two photos of another car type that Lehigh Valley made from some of their gondolas. I don’t plan to build one of these unusual TOFC cars but have included the photos in case they inspire anyone to produce one.
Tom Winlow
September/October 2019 - ROUNDHOUSE 11