Nice touch, David!
Here's one of my Train Miniature plugdoor reefers...
...I sold them when I back-dated my layout, but still have some TM stock cars...
Wayne
Here it is all together and on my layout. Floquil Oxide Red is a good match for the factory paint on roof and ends.
And a view of the ends. Note wire drop grabs installed on Dreadnought ends.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
It's not that difficult to drill through the centre of the coupler mounting posts to accept a small screw, and also cut the covers free of the frame, leaving couplers easily accessible for maintenance or replacement....
I also often use a #17 chisel-type blade to remove the cast-on coupler box and mounting post completely, and cut off the coverplate, too. You can then mount the couplers, in their normal #5 draught gear boxes, using screws...
Started work on the Trains Miniature reefer. Here is a close up of the contents of the kit.
It comes with weights. The car comes out at 3.5 ounces, which is just right, the NMRA recommended weight for a 40 foot HO car. The trucks are solid plastic, no springs, with elderly wheels, not RP25 wheels, not exactly pizza cutter flanges but deep. I replaced them with a set of RP25 plastic wheels from my collection of old wheels, probably Athearn blue box wheels. I wanted to use a flashier looking set of metal wheels, but their axles were a bit short for the Trains Miniature trucks, giving a lot of end play.
I kill the shiny plastic gloss with a coat of auto primer. Here is the undercarriage and the fishbelly. The fishbelly is also the coupler box covers, and I want to be able to change damaged couplers, so I did not glue the fishbelly to the undercarriage. The truck retaining screws will have to keep everything together.
I have some of those Train Miniature bulkhead flatcars. A nice find. I cannot really praise the old TM wheels but the cars themselves are very nice.
A couple of years back some of us started to bandy about the history of Train Miniature and its verious names and locations over the years. it is found here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/258610/2900973.aspx#2900973
Dave Nelson
It's amazing that old and new manufactures model different versions of freight cars. That they can go nicely into the appropriate era without major rebuilding.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
dstarrI don't think it comes with a load. The stuff you can see in the photo is just trucks and bulkheads and other parts.
.
Ah, that explains why I could not identify what it was.
Thank you for clearing that up.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Nice job on the TM stuff Gents. Here is one I recently completed and just posted on the "Weekend Photo Fun" topic.
I agree, a nice find, indeed!When Train Miniature first appeared, I bought a bunch of their freight cars, especially their version of Pennsy's X-29 boxcar and the quite similar USRA steel boxcar. I don't model the Pennsy, but have lots of cars lettered for it because, well, because the Pennsy had so many cars, they were seen everywhere.
I was though, at the time, unaware that the trucks were mounted improperly (too far from the car's ends for an X-29), like this one...
Once I learned of the error, I found a simple way to correct the issue by cutting the car's centre sill near the coupler pockets, rotating the part containing the mounting bolster 180°, and cementing it back in place, as shown...
Here's the corrected version...
...and the same car from Red Caboose - I think that the TM car doesn't come out too badly in the comparison, especially considering the price difference...
This one was my first attempt at altering the TM doublesheathed car to better represent the higher USRA doublesheathed boxcar. I simply filed the protruding representation of the sidesill flush with the scribed portion, then scribed it to match the rest of the car. A recessed sidesill was then added, and some new Murphy ends...
This is the same car, but not with the added height and with a different sidesill...
Another different style from the same car, representing a 1916 Michigan Central doublesheathed automobile car - the prototype of this one was later rebuilt into a steel boxcar...
...and a doubledoor version...
TM USRA steel car slightly modified to represent a different version of the USRA steel boxcar...
...the TM single sheathed car, only slightly modified...
...and a door-and-a-half boxcar made from TM's plugdoor boxcar...simply shave-off the plugdoor detail, extend the door tracks, and cement the new doors in place...
The Train Miniature cars are among my favourites, as most of them fit so well into the late '30s era of my layout.
Nice find.
I picked up a couple of TM kits at the last train show I attended.
Paul
DStarr,
Are you local to "us"?
If you ever want more of those, and you aren't nearby, I'll run down there for you.
-GraniteRailroader
(Overlooking and owning a section of the old ROW on the hillside in Barre, Vt)
This space reserved for SpaceMouse's future presidential candidacy advertisements
SeeYou190 What is the load on the bottom car? . -Kevin .
What is the load on the bottom car?
I don't think it comes with a load. The stuff you can see in the photo is just trucks and bulkheads and other parts. I was thinking of giving it a load of pulpwood made up out of young saplings from the back yard cut to length with The Chopper.
Neat!
Found these long out of production kits in a real hobby shop in Barre VT. Train Miniature has been gone a long time (20-30 years?) and is still spoken of with respect by old timers. They oughta be fun to build.