Detailing the insides of closed freight cars

[FJ and G]

Some of us have added passengers to passenger trains. Some have even added passenger train decor.

But have any of you scrounged up some details inside freight cars. Notice I said "Inside" not gondola or flatcar loads which are very common to do, but inside boxcars, such as sacks of grain or boxes or some cattle for the cattle car, or crates of beer for beer reefers.

Not cars that come with complete insides like the Hood's Milk Car but empty cars that you fill yourself?

I haven't had time to do this as I'm in the planning/building stage but will be doing this in the future and thought perhaps some of you might have tried this.

Dave Vergun

[Big_Boy_4005]

Dave, the problem is that doors are always supposed to be closed. Real railroads actually seal the latches for transit. Even empties are supposed to have their doors closed to discourage riders. I was out rail fanning and took a photo of an empty with an open door. A rare sight indeed.

As modelers, the only time we should ever see the inside of a boxcar is when it is at an industry being loaded or unloaded. This would make an interesting diorama, but wouldn't be very practical for operation.

[FJ and G]

Elliot,

Years ago, I saw more empty doors than today. I suppose that one could lead and unload stuff by hand at a warehouse. What really would be cool would be to have a door-opening contraption.

I find it interesting that the Lionel Hood's Milk Car actually comes with a full tank and piping on the inside the the reefer.

dav

[lionelsoni]

I have found it hard to understand the point of view of those who collect old trains in sealed, unopened boxes and never open them. Perhaps these same folks would appreciate exquisite detailing inside a permanently sealed boxcar.

[FJ and G]

Careful Bob, careful, you are treading on thin ice here. The Society of Closed Box Collectors (TSCBC) will not appreciate that comment. :-)

When I was a newspaper editor in Arkansas, we printed a news item with an error in it; can't recall the details; possibly a scheduling error. The news release concerned the Mimes Club of Cabot. Mimes, as you probably know, are actors who use body language instead of speaking.

Anyway, we printed the corrected version of the news item, and for the headline, I wrote:

"Mimes Speak Out"

Fortunately, I wasn't attacked for the play on words. If I had been, the new article would have been "Mimes on the Warpath."

Watch you don't get attacked by the TSCBC

dav

[Big_Boy_4005]

How about pulling up to a loading dock and having a small motor with a soft wheel, maybe a felt Dremel wheel, use a little fiction to open the door. Another idea would be to use a rubber pad with a sliding motion, and voila, doors open.

Some of Lionel's scale 50' double door box cars came with loads of auto parts, I have a couple. They also have molded floor detail, but it is pretty basic.

Bob, I think you have the right idea, even if your wit is rather dry.[(-D][(-D][(-D][swg]

[Anonymous]

And while we're at it, let's have a little guy open & remove the padlock holding the doors closed! [:P][:D][;)]

Are you going to have a bunch of little guys come & hump all of the bags out of the car, too? [:P][:D][;)]

Seriously, didn't Lionel make a cattle car that vibrated cow figures in & out of the car to/from a corral?

Tony

[Big_Boy_4005]

Back in the early 90's Lionel made a freight platform that had a forklift that went back and forth. I dont know if they still make it., but it was "cute", even if it was more like HO in size.

[rlplionel]

QUOTE: Seriously, didn't Lionel make a cattle car that vibrated cow figures in & out of the car to/from a corral?

Yes, and there was also a horse and circus car. I have a short video clip of the circus car on my website. You need a QuickTime Player to view it:

http://home.surewest.net/rlplionel/Circuscar.MOV

[daan]

For automaticly opening of boxcardoors you could glue a bit of metal behind the doors and slowly run the boxcars along a magnet. The doors will try to stay with the magnet and as the car goes by the door opens. A pre for this solution is that the doors close when passing the other way along the magnet, the cons are that the doors must run easily and that the car's shouldn't vary in width..
Never tried it, but I will sometime.

[Anonymous]

I once used the hardware and whatever I could salvage from a junk kitbuilt car I acquired in a grab bag. I had to build new sides for the boxcar. I really didn't have patience to cut doors in them so I just painted the area of the doors flat black. It worked like charm. Whenthe door is slid open it looks like an empty car. Odd-d

[Anonymous]

riplionel -- Thanks for going to the trouble of putting the video clip of the circuson your site. That was so cool to watch -- to me anyway--got to get one someday.

Thanks again.
Steve

[3railguy]

We put stuff in boxcars and keep the doors sealed because that's what real railroads do.

[daan]

If you put things in boxcars and close the doors, you also must have a reason to do so. Just like reality. So one side of the layout is a brickstone plant, and the other side a building area. Or on one side a farmers co-op and on the other side a big city. That way the trains even have a task to forfill..

[rlplionel]

QUOTE: Originally posted by smcrawford

Thanks for going to the trouble of putting the video clip of the circuson your site.

Glad you enjoyed the video, Steve. It was a bit of a struggle to get the finished product. First, the corral and car were tuned up for optimum operation. Then, several video takes were done to get the best result. Those little horses tend to fall over if there is too much vibration or hang up going into or out of the car if there is not enough. I had one hand on the transformer handle to control the vibration as needed while shooting. Thank goodness for camera tripods!

[Anonymous]

SIde walls are usually plywood. Since most cars are shipped as full loads there isn't a lot of empty space. Some cars have moveable bulkheads that are susupended from the center of the ceiling. These slide along a track and "swivel" to allow unloading. I worked at a food distribution warehouse and the back side of the 1/4 mile long building had a railroad track inside the building that could accomodate 20 of the 50 foot box cars. If something was wrong with the main door or bulkheads we didn't touch the car, we called RIPtrack to get it fixed. Cars were supposed to be checked to be empty and bulheads secured before being sealed for transport.