this year, I'll rebuild and repaint most of my rolling stock of the Bear Creek Lumber & Railroad. This thread will be used as a progress log to show you some details from my car shops and other railroad related activities. I hope you'll enjoy the progress on my little railroad.
With the upcomming spring, the temperature in my workshops are getting higher too, so it's possible to do some work there after a cold winter break.
In 2010, I'll rebuild some of my rolling stock (nearly each model will be placed on the workbench for some modifications) for more details. The first car in the shops has been the Crew Car and had it's rollout yesterday in the late evening.
Rebuild of Crew-Car #11
As I build this car a half year ago, I choose an design shown on the website of Lennart Elg with a simple car body, riding on a pair of disconnects, so I didn't need new trucks and wheelsets for this car. Here's a picture of the first version.
Click on thumbs for large pictures.
Meanwhile, I didn't like this solution as in the begining. Since one pair of disconnects is used under the car, I've only 5 pairs for log trains so set up two strings of log cars isn't quite possible. Last year, I bought some wheelsets for new car projects so I decided to spend new trucks to the crew car.
The trucks are close to an very eraly unsprung wooden trucks, build by Russell Car & Foundry. You can find similar trucks on civil war railroad cars in the USA from the 1870th. The journal boxes have been made from copper caps and steel angle. I milled a hole to match the caps and soldered the parts together.
Click on thumbs for large pictures.
I cut some roof lathes to 20x20mm and 20x40mm bars to form the truck frames. I glued and screwed the parts together and add some truss rods. All wooden parts have been stained in a grey-brown and the metal parts are painted black (... I see a red door and I want it painted black... *sing*). As on the prototype, I added a truss bar between the journal boxes and the truck frame, running from one end down to the cross member and up to the other end of the side frame.
Click on thumbs for large pictures.
At the car body, I had to replace the bolsters since the new trucks will be placed more to the center of the car and a bit deeper as the disconnects. I also installed a 3-point-support for the trucks to get a smooth running car even on bad tracks. On the endsills, I added some truss rod NBWs (just fake) and the link&pin couplers.
Finally, I cut away the lower step below the door, as the car body rides some cm lower than before.
Click on thumbs for large pictures.
Next I'll add a 3-point-support to the work caboose and will start repainting of the freight cars.
Bye from the BCL&RR car shops, Gerd
