Ted,
Thanks for the recollections Between you and Charlie, it's a topic that interests old rails a lot, too, and I think that's always good input to have on board. I've got some other ideas and will get back to them once I get past the ops session marathon I've been running the last couple of weeks.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mike, this is an interesting subject. I worked for the Santa Fe back in the 70s and 80s and for a while was in the rate department. we got all kinds of requests for loads that were over dimensional and I quoted rates for heat exchangers, steel beams, pipes, you name it moving from/to/via the Santa Fe. Once I quoted the rates, i would transfer the person to the clearance department upstairs so they would figure out if the load could move and if via the routing I chose. It was very interesting work. Being in N gauge, my eye is always looking for different things that could be loaded on flats or into gons. Just looking at anything, say the plastic cover on a razor or things like that can develop into loads. And by the way, since you are running the railroad, you don't have to figure out what the item is for, just that you can move it safely and make money doing so. Great topic and great pictures.
Ted Fisk
Hey, Ted. As for knowing the same person, the last time I got together with a couple of other former Big Four employees, it turned out we all had the same parole officer.
Charlie
A little thing that might help some modelers here. Not to nit pick the work of others, but, many loads appear way too heavy compared to what they would be in the real world. Steel has a density or s.g. of almost 500 lbs per cubic foot.
If we do the math, we can easily figure out how much one of our model loads would weigh in the real world and adjust it accordingly. Now we must try to read the small print on the side of the car to see what it's capacity is and load it appropriately.
As we used to say in our correspondence on the real railroad, Be governed accordingly and do this without fail.
inch53CHARLIE and MIKE My mom’s and part of dad’s families are from round the Terre Haute area and still have a lot round there. Ran round a lot and worked over there too in the 60’s n 70’s. The wife also has family living there now. We now live a ¼ mile off the Vandalia near Martinsville IL. Mike, me and my dad both served in the Air Force.
Mike,
Thanks for you comments. I moved around so much as a kid (you know how that is) that you really value the local connectiosn you do make since so much was lost in the shuffle in terms of knowing people for more than a few years at a time.
BTW, you're not real close, but you're certainly welcome like other forum members to contact me via private messaging here to arrange a layout visit or one of the operating sessions I'm now holding regularly.
Not sure it's that small a world, but Charlie and I certainly hung out in the same places if mostly at different times in our lives.
Not to worry, you'll soon have some pics you might like to share . What's important here is to either inspire or be inspired, taking what you need from the experiences of others and contributing when you can.
Lee,
As the Grateful Dead like to remind, be kind to one another. We often forget, even if our work isn't featured in a magazine, just how much effort and good modeling goes into our own modeling. Whatever small imperfections might be present and stick out in our own eyes are nearly always less important than the overall effect. Mine is never perfect, but it's worth it to me. Thus, I tend to value the effort that goes into someone's else's creation in commenting.
Even darn good modelers are often reluctant to show their work online, because people often pick what they don't like to have something to comment on, rather than honoring the intent and effort of the builder. To me, your work is very persuasive and really conveys the essence of down and dirty railroading. Since I've always been somewhat shy about weathering, I always am impressed by projects like yours. I'm slowly getting on the bandwagon and hope the weathering bug takes hold. I've got a lot of cathing up to do.
Thanks Mike L.
Kind words
When I get the bug to do something, I like to do a consist with a back story. My Grandkids seem to have lost interest in trains so building is the only fun part now.
Have a fun holiday.
Lee
hon30critter P.S. One of the things that bothers me about the forums is the fact that you can have literally 2500 views of a thread and only 30 responses. Why don't more people chime in?
P.S.
One of the things that bothers me about the forums is the fact that you can have literally 2500 views of a thread and only 30 responses. Why don't more people chime in?
Dave, I'm lurking in the shadows, reading, learnin'. I don't have any loads to show photos of...yet.
I subscribed to the thread so every time my phone buzzes I view the thread again. I'm looking forward to the post when Mike, Mike, and Charlie close the loop and realize they all know the same person in Terre Haute.
More free magazine articles here.
T e d
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
Fine looking load and really a category that has broad application, too. Vehicles/equipment loads tell a story by their nature. They range from loading an autorack full of the same kind of new car to down and dirty one-off loads that are obviously on their way to more work to do. The choices are almost endless, but weathering like yours is also part of the story a load tells about where it has been and where it's going.
This is probably the only load I have weatherd. It looks like the consist is going out to do some bridge work with a crane, two Cats, steel beams, and assorted Boxed parts.
Dang, I wonder why the emotion icon always goes to the start of my text and not to the end of the sentence were I put it ?
Oh well Enjoy the Holiday.
Thank you.
maxman:
Really sharp loads!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
mlehman maxman, Tasty stuff. I really like the manufacturer's stenciling. Is that a commerical decal or homebrew?
maxman,
Tasty stuff. I really like the manufacturer's stenciling. Is that a commerical decal or homebrew?
Thank you. I presume you are talking about the Lehigh Steel on the beams in the first photo. That is from a decal set I had made by Rail Graphics. I also have Beth and US steel. The flat plate and pipe loads are early versions. I now put the manufacturer's names on those too. I have a different set of names for the pipes.
All of the other markings are done by hand with a white drawing pencil.
Here is another very nice load. It was made by a member of the club to which I belong. Unfortunately he passed away last year and is missed. His inspiration was a photo he found in, I believe, a Reading Railroad book.
G Paine riogrande5761 one of the companies makes much thinner ones
riogrande5761 one of the companies makes much thinner ones
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
charlie9A lot of roads forwarded this traffic on local trains but our local out of Terre Haute was too busy to handle this in addition to their regular work. Besides, by running this traffic on alternating days, there was less chance of conflict on double track.
Interesting recollections, Charlie, and now we've stumbled into the "Small World Dept."
My mom's family is from Terre Haute, so very familiar with the town, but didn't get much interested in RRs before I no longer spent much time there. My great grandfather retired as a clerk from the PRR after starting employment with the Vandalia Line in 1910 IIRC. I have his retirement papers around somewhere, but likely before your time He passed away around 1980 and worked as a ticket clerk at the movie house after retirement. Koester was the family name.
My granddad, who I don't really know beyond a pic of hom holding me having died of a heart attack when I was 2, worked as a passenger conductor for the PRR until the Depression. He moved over to firefighting and was an asst fire chief in Terre Haute until his untimely death.
My dad was the farm kid who came to town and swept mom off her feet at teacher college. He did some part-time work handling baggage for the PRR at the station during college before going off to do secret stuff for the Air Force. His other connection to the RRs there was that his frat house was Eugene Debs' house, the many time failed Socialist Party candidate for president and among thhose who led the Pullman Strike. He didn't exactly brag on that one, with his security clearance. In fact, he drove us by it one time and proudly noted that he'd slept in every room in the place and that the owner at one time had been a presidential candidate -- but not for whom. Took me a few years to figure that one out Great museum there now if you like labor history, but you probably know that.
So howdy from an almost-Terre Hauter.
I do have several DC flats, but lots of hidden track. Suspect I can squeeze things through like the Pennsy back east, but once out in the fresh mountain air, it's all Western-size clearances and single track, so perhaps not quite the good fun it would be on double-track (although I know about the deal with the paired mains starting in the 60s(?) from TH across Illinois to E. St. Louis meant those weren't always side by side.)
riogrande5761one of the companies makes much thinner ones
Evergreen makes I-beams and other shapes that are more scale thickness; but not as tall as Plastruct makes.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
For operational interest you might consider running a high and wide train for excessive dimmension and speed restricted loads.
PRR/PC had so much of this traffic out of E St Louis we ran one East 3 days a week and Avon (Indianapolis) ran one to us on 3 alternating days. This was back in an era when there were a lot of double and tripple loads of poles comming of the connections at St Louis. In addition local shippers like Nooter Corp and Combustion Engineering were always sending oversized loads East of of St Louis. Most of those cars had a 30 or 35 mph restriction. A lot of roads forwarded this traffic on local trains but our local out of Terre Haute was too busy to handle this in addition to their regular work. Besides, by running this traffic on alternating days, there was less chance of conflict on double track.
Remember this was back when the former PRR had so many clearance restrictions that even high cube box cars and auto parts cars that exceeded plate C dimensions required special clearance and were considered high/wide movements. The further East you went, the worse the problem got to be.
Charlie,
Thanks for the insights. An interesting detail to be sure. An extra long load tends to become a battering ram without its idler...
Nice looking load. I have used Plastruct beams many times but I do agree that Evergreen have a finer cross section.
I used to be involved in high/wide load clearances in the real world so these kind of loads are of great interest to me in model railroading.
One thing I do when I have a load with idler cars is to cut the trip pin off the coupler so the idler can not be accidently seperated from the loaded car. In real life we wired the pin lifters down so the cars could not be seperated.
Tom,
Thanks!
The ends were one of those things that just happened and I left good enough alone. The Plastruct was dark grey, so needed paint to look like steel. I made a jig from an old coat hanger, tied strings to it, then tacked each beam to the end of a string with CA. They started out at 24" long (THAT would make one heck of a load ) so once cut in half the four pieces turned into 8 more practically sized beamsin HO. The cutting via saw resulted in a similar appearance to where I peeled the strings off the end of the beams once the paint was dry.
I thought of touch up painting them, but decided they were good to go. This thread is also about easy. Sometimes you just leave well enough alone.
As alwas, great work, Mike!
I also like the look of the ends of the beams; they look as though they were cut with a cutting torch by the look of the "silvered" ends. Did you give the ends a touch up of silver paint to create that look?
Jim,
Thanks for your comments.
Yeah, they could be thinner and look better for it. In this case, it was a find in the scratch and dent bin that was cheap, as well as enough to build two loads.
The cross section could actually work in your favor if used to make this load as prestressed concrete beams instead. Just use different paint and all of the sudden it's an entirely different load -- and perhaps even a better one.
In my case, I am working on building a steel train. Although the Four Corners Division is a fictional standard gauge Rio Grande branch that cuts to the southeast of Moab over to Durango and then down to Grants and into Albuquerque via trackage rights on the Santa Fe, I like to simulate the traffic it might carry if real. One of the big sources of loads is the Geneva Steel plant. That makes the route ideal for sending steel to Dallas/Houston/New Orleans, etc to feed the growing postwar economies there. Thus, they were done as steel, instead of concrete, but still "good enough" that once in aa train with other cars, the impression they make tends to overcome the "do I look fat?" end on view.
The I beams look perfect for loads although one of the companies makes much thinner ones I've seen at MBK in their parts area - I've thought about getting some myself for bulkhead flat cars - seen photo's of the real thing on D&RGW freight trains in the 80's.
Dave,
Yes, Plastruct beams. They're a little phat, but work for me.
Hi Mike:
I edited my previous post to ask a question, so in case you missed it, I will ask again.
Are those Plastruct beams?
Thanks again.
Yes, I hope others will post their examples. One of the things that bothers me about the forums is the fact that you can have literally 2500 views of a thread and only 30 responses. Why don't more people chime in? Maybe most of them are not subscribers. Who knows. Steven???
Thanks, I hopes it's useful and inspires others to document their builds.
Next is a little magic you can use for other loads by means of ele=astic cord.
On end is glued with CA
After the glue sticks, then lead the other end to the place it will be spotted and glue it, stretching it a little. Hold until set.
Trim things up and you're almost done.
There's lots of swinging on curves, and I had to "drop" the brake wheel on one idler to clear the beams as they swing back and forth on curves.
.