Iceicle breaker

[John Busby]

Hi all

I have an old Tyco hopper car that the plan is to turn into an iceicle breaker and make it usable again.

But I can't find the article that was printed many moons ago in Model Railroader That would give me the dimensions of the structural steel for the breaker part and the critical overall height dimension of the total finished car.

Memory tells me a particular brand hopper car was not specified.

In adition to the car dimensions I need to find a suitable replacement brake wheel for the missing ones and metal wheels to replace the plastic ones.

Looking at the Kadee list I got confused looking for the replacement couplings which hopefully Kadee still do.

Any help sorting this out so I can build one would be helpfull.

As it will provide an interesting looking car that can do double duty as scenic piece (most of the time) and also provide an interesting ocasional mess with the train service train operation

Breaker, loco, caboose in that order, is what I would expect for that particular train working.

regards John

 

[maxman]

According to the MR magazine index, there was an article in the July 1979 Railroad Modeler magazine.

You might find something useful in the following MR forum posting: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/87166.aspx.

I think I also remember some info in a MR column.  But if it was in an Ask MR or similar column, it would be hard to research.

[hon30critter]

John Busby

I have an old Tyco hopper car that the plan is to turn into an iceicle breaker and make it usable again.

Hi John,

Interesting project.

I'm sure you have seen these photos. Perhaps you could work out the dimensions using the known size(s) of the cars. You can measure the height of the car body and that should give you a pretty close approximation for the height of the icebreakers. If you have tunnels or low bridges you might want to run a mock up of the icebreakers to check for clearance.

As for the wheels, if you have a lot of cars to do, InterMountain sells bulk packs of 100 wheelsets for about $1.00 per axle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/InterMountain-HO-W40056-36-All-Brass-Wheelsets-Bulk-100-Pack/273977564430?epid=1322915482&hash=item3fca55dd0e:g:ArUAAOxygj5SngqB

Here is the Kadee conversion chart for Tyco products. If you study the PDFs associated with each type of car you should be able to figure out which coupler to use, although the instructions are a bit vague with regard to using a #27 or a #28 on cars with plastic trucks:

https://www.kadee.com/hocc_tyco.htm

Hope this helps.

Dave

[dstarr]

Kadee posts a "what fits what" list on their web site that lists every piece of rolling stock ever made.  Your gondola is Tyco you said?  Look under Tyco in the Kadee  list.  As a rule of thumb, a Kadee #5 will fit the  majority of freight cars ever made.  If your gondola has truck mounted couplers, the Kadee list will point you to a Kadee that fits the truck mount.  If you want to convert to body mount, just purchase #5's and install the Kadee coupler box on the end sills of the gondola.  Drill for a 2-56 screw and secure the coupler box and lid (with the coupler and centering spring inside) with a 2-56 machine screw. 

[doctorwayne]

John Busby

...That would give me the dimensions of the structural steel for the breaker part and the critical overall height dimension of the total finished car....

The dimensions of the material for the breaker should be easily calculable from the photos provided, but the overall height should be determined from your tunnel(s), not dimensions used in an article and not necessarily matching a particular prototype, either. 
If it doesn't fit through your tunnels, it's pretty-well destined to be a static display.

Wayne

[MisterBeasley]

I have a number of very old Tyco "clamshell" hopper cars that could actually dump coal through the doors in the bottom.  I have converted them all to body-mounted Kadees, and replaced the old metal trucks with plastic wheels with new plastic trucks with metal wheels.  Those old metal trucks are non-flexible, and I found it impossible to simply replace the wheelsets.  Besides, the cars now roll much more freely.

The old hoppers I have are pretty rare now, and easily sell for more than their original MSRP, which was pretty cheap back in the 50s when I got them.  If you have one with operating doors, I would either keep it for yourself, or find someone else who wants it.  Get another non-operating hopper for your project.  These cars have a fairly heavy metal frame, and you also might want something lighter as you are planning to add weight to it.

[riogrande5761]

That's a gnarly ice-breaker.  The SP just attached bars to the roofs of Diesels to knock ice-cycles down.  In fact the 4th run of Amtrack SDP40F's have icebreakers for running the San Francisco Zephyr thru the Sierra Nevada tunnels in winter.

[BATMAN]

riogrande5761

The SP just attached bars to the roofs of Diesels to knock ice-cycles down.

One of my new FP7s has ice breakers on it.

[doctorwayne]

BATMAN

One of my new FP7s has ice breakers on it.

I added icicle breakers to this Model Power E8...

...and to this MLW FPA-4, made from a Model Power FA-2...

Of course, they're not designed for the heavy-duty icicle removal of those purpose-built cars.

Wayne