The starting point for the project is this Con Cor shake-the-box kit.
Wanting a little more information, and perhaps a prototype photo, I googled and found a bunch of photos, of which this seems to be the best match for the ConCor model. The number of doors match, I think the length matches, and the color scheme is a good match.
There are a few differences that I plan to ignore, 'cause fixing them looks to be hard. The prototype has twice as many panes of glass in the doors as the model. The prototype has steps and grab irons on both sides of the doors, where as the model only has them on one side. The prototype has fluted sides and skirts which I don't know how to change.
I do plan to paint the ends blue to match the prototype, and install roof vents if I can find or make them. Wire hand rails, at least on the ends, are do able. I have to go thru my coupler collection to see what I have to replace the old horn hooks. And add diaphrams.
Suggestions are welcome.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
David
It appears that the doors are swapped around too. The double door is on the wrong end as the prototype.
Here are some pics you may not have seen. http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/D&H.htm
It just so happens the D&H has a historical society. http://www.bridge-line.org/
The best thing I had done for my modeling hobby is to join the PRR Historical society. This has really helped my modeling.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
David,
Your unit appears to be a smooth sided version. The photo shows fluted panels on the lower body section. Are you interested in adding the Pullman Standard style fluting? Union Station Products makes it and you can order it directly from them. You measure, cut the panels to fit and glue them on.
You may have seen these but here's a 1970s production AHM smooth sided observation car that I paint stripped, installed the USP fluted paneling on, and refinished with Alclad2.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Don't drive yourself crazy like I did a couple of years ago when I tried making up a Great Northern full dome car for my N scale Empire Builder... I spent around a hundred bucks on materials and all on a car that would have only cost maybe twenty bucks if it had just been available. It took me a month to get the right paint and decals for it and I worked on it every day for about a week and a half but it was worth it all in the end. Anyways, just do the very best you can and have fun with it. Good luck to you.
Tracklayer
locoi1sa David It appears that the doors are swapped around too. The double door is on the wrong end as the prototype.
I think the doors will come out right if I just turn the entire car around.
AntonioFP45 David, Your unit appears to be a smooth sided version. The photo shows fluted panels on the lower body section. Are you interested in adding the Pullman Standard style fluting? Union Station Products makes it and you can order it directly from them. You measure, cut the panels to fit and glue them on.
I will check that stuff out. I never heard of it before. Looks useful.
The D&H's only three streamlined baggage cars were acquired from the Rio Grande and came with the fluting on the bottom. They also acquired a single combination baggage/mail car as well.
The baggage cars were ultimately stripped of their fluting so they blended with the rest of the train. The baggage cars did not last long and only saw two months of service when Amtrak refused to cover the cost of a baggage man.
History aside, you would be correct in not having the fluting on the car. The angle of your picture probably threw you off as all the baggage cars were 85 footers, not 72 feet like your model.
Being nit-picky, yes - the door windows are incorrect - but they "could" be modified if you so desired. The real glaring problem (to me anyway) is the top yellow letterband, which is way too wide. The bottom edge of the yellow should be above the door windows !
All in all, it would make a decent "representation" of a D&H car, and unless you have a lot of broad curves, the 72 footers will look better on a smaller radius.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Unless you're really set on a D&H car, you could make a CNR car out of it very easily, as the ConCor car is almost an exact match for cars 9233-9252, and with a set of end doors, it would be very close to cars 9228-9232.
If you placed it on six-wheel trucks, it would also be very close to cars 8981-9030 and cars 9173-9202.
And with a little more work (a higher arched-roof along with the six-wheel trucks) it would be a close match to CNR cars 8601, 8612, 8626, and 8629, all heavyweight baggage cars re-built to match the appearance of the aforementioned cars.
Wayne
dstarrI think the doors will come out right if I just turn the entire car around.
David.
The head end cars on the PRR have the doors at different corners. Luckily the B60b cars had the same doors on both sides. Some cars such as messenger and mail cars have different doors at each corner. The cars looked the same on both sides. I did not know the double doors were across from each other. That is different from the prototype I model. Plus it is way too new for my era. Here is a floor plan diagram like I was trying to explain above.
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=b70a_fp.gif&sel=bagg&sz=sm&fr=
Good luck with the modeling. Just like others have said when it comes to detailing to a prototype it can cost a fortune and if you have to fudge something most likely you will be the only one who knows unless you put into a contest with other rivet counters. Been there done that. It is satisfying but can get irritating when someone comes along and picks it apart. That is one of the benefits and pitfalls of the hobby.
Enjoy the time you have to spend on it.
Any updates?
Have you decided which route you're going to take on your car?
AntonioFP45 David, Any updates? Have you decided which route you're going to take on your car?
I have found a set of machine screws with hex heads, no slots, that will make decent looking roof vents. Somehow another project, crossing gates, has slipped in ahead. The electronic ding-ding circuit for the gates in on my bench right now, where as the baggage car is still on my desk.
So, finally back to the baggage car project. Step one is convert to Kadee couplers. The train show kit is a bit dated and comes with truck mounted horn-hook couplers. I decided to keep the truck mount, I have had trouble getting passenger cars with body mount couplers around my 20 inch curves.
So I made a pair of adapters out of 0.050" styrene from a Walmart "For Sale" sign. With some filing and fitting they go into the trucks and carry an ordinary #5 Kadee coupler box on the other end. 2-56 machine screws secure the coupler box to the adapter, Plastic Weld will secure the adapter to the truck. I need to get a better camera, the little Kodak point-n-shoot ain't so good on extreme closeups.
And, coupler height comes out right.
TThe vertical items in the back ground are screwdrivers hanging in the tool rack at the back of my workbench.
I have decided to omit the roof vents that show in the prototype photo 'cause I could not find any simular vents for sale on the internet. Or at least no web site with pictures so I could tell what I was getting into. I decided the screw heads I collected jsut don't look enough like roof vents. So, it's on to wire grab irons and paint.
It has been a while, but I finally got back to the baggage project. here we have the broadside of the finished car. We have wire grab irons at the big baggage doors, Kadee couplers, and American Limited molded plastic diaphrams (#9200).
I painted the car ends blue to match the prototype picture. We have the American Limited diaphrams and some wire grab irons. She will look right at home in the all baggage and mail Christmas special.