"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
This appears to be a photo of #5 on that line, a 7 window, 30 passenger item.
According to Edmund Keilty's The Short Line Doodlebug (1988),the car was built by Hofius Steel and was originally built as Hartford & Eastern Ry. Co. #3. Further information, including a 3/4 front view of the car, is found in Interurbans Without Wires (1979), also by Keilty. This is a "one of", and was the only gasoline motor car produced by Hofius Steel & Equipment Co. of Seattle, WA. It was produced in 1916 and was 31'9" long. It was powered by a 125 hp. 4-cylinder Wisconsin engine (some sources say 6 cyl) with a mechanical transmission to the reaar 2-wheeled driving truck. Hofius claimed that the car could pull a trailer and was rated for 40mph, selling for $8,000. The advertised to build a 40-foot version with a 4-wheel driving truck but there were no takers.
The car went to the Valley & Siletz Ry in 1918 and remained in service until 1945 (!). The car was listed as weighing only 15 tons, and the Valley & Siletz apparently lengthened it in 1923.
Bill
Great information! Thanks, I am going to take the suggestion and start this under general discussion.
Thread moved.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
BUMP!!!
Hi Spud man:
JaBear just sent me a pm to let me know about your thread. You have chosen an interesting project!
Not too long ago I built a railtruck that has a similar wheel arrangement to what you want to build. I scratch built pretty much everything except the cab. The motor and wheel sets came from a very old kit which I picked up on eBay.
Here is the truck before paint:
Here is the kit I used to supply the chassis parts. As I mentioned it is very old and probably difficult to find, but companies like NWSL can supply most of the parts.
This is the chassis under construction. The motor will be mounted on top of the two short pieces of the frame with the shaft pointing straight down:
Scratch built front truck with power pick up, and rear axle. Its a bit crude. You will definitely want power pick up on all six wheels or you end up with a shelf queen:
If you have questions about how I did things please ask.
I have also worked with both Stanton drives from NWSL and BullAnt drives from Hollywood Foundry in Australia. Both work really well. I think the biggest problem you would have with either one is that you might not be able to get a short enough wheel base for the front truck. Don't quote me on that. I may be wrong.
If I were doing your project, I would scratch build the whole chassis. I would power the rear axle just like the original. The motor could sit right above the rear axle as I did with the railtruck, or it could be mounted up front with a drive shaft like the prototype. If you mount it over the rear axle keep in mind that it will be visible through the windows.
Building the body could be done from scratch using either styrene or wood car siding. An alternative would be to pick up passenger cars with similar windows and doors. Cars like these would provide all the windows and doors you need:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-AHC-Rivarossi-Pennsylvania-Standard-Passenger-Cars-Assortment-/222009682883?hash=item33b0ceebc3:g:4csAAOSwa-dWq9I0
A cheap used Athearn caboose would provide a perfect back end.
The roof could be done either with brass sheet or with a simple block of wood. I would personally use brass just for the challenge but I would make a wood blank slightly smaller than the actual roof to form the brass sheet over. It would probably take a couple of tries before I got it right.
Anyhow, there are a few ideas for you to think about.
Regards
Dave
By the way, welcome to the forums!!!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Made the link to the railcar clickable:
http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm/singleitem/collection/max/id/1651/rec/1
Thanks for the tips. There is another image of the front. To me, it looks like the roof is canvas. I grew up in the Valsetz, which is where the lumber mill was located. The average rainfall was about 120 inches. I wonder how bad that roof leaked? I am tossing around the (crazy) idea of trying to model the roof in fabric. I am currently going through both images to come up with a build plan.
Regards,
Jim
http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm/singleitem/collection/max/id/1652/rec/2
Hi Jim:
Sorry for the slow response. I hadn't clicked on your link to the photo of the front of the car.
I agree. That definitely looks like a canvas roof. Doing it in fabric would be good if you can find something with a very tight weave. I'm thinking maybe silk, but then you would have to use a well thinned paint or maybe just a black marker to avoid filling in the texture. The roof structure is also a bit uneven. That should be modeled. Using a wood base for the roof would make that easy.
One other thing I noticed in the second photo was the whistle on the front right. It looks to have three pipes for sound. I suspect it was rather shrill. You absolutely have to model that detail!
Sorry, I'm not trying to dictate to you. I'm just enthused about the project. I'm tempted to do one myself as a sister for the McKeen Motor Car.