Grandt Line to Close

Grandt Line which produces architectural parts, for example windows and doors, plus narrow gauge cars parts in many gauges and sizes will close in June, 2018.

The company started by Cliff Grandt many years originally produced many parts in lost wax brass and plastic. After Cliff's death his children continued the company converting many of the brass parts to plastic.

Without Grandt Line products some of my models could not have been built. I hope another vendor will pick up the line of products.

Without Cheers,
Ed

Other Chicago & Utopia Service Cars

Railways and railroads no matter what size they are have special "non-revenue" cars

used to move employees and material along the r-o-w. These cars can be called service cars. Employees can be given rides in regularly scheduled cars/trains. But often material - rails, ballast, trackwork, bulk tickets, administrative supplies, tools, and more has to be moved.

Sometimes cars were purchased new - Differential dump car. Or, old cars at the end of their "revenue" service career were recycled into "non-revenue" service cars. There is no way of telling how many service cars a railway may have.

Electric railways due to their nature - often having street running may have special cars. Towards the end of this post a snow sweeper will appear in a photo. The Chicago Surface Lines had salt cars. Old streetcars no longer suitable for "revenue" service were used to spread rock salt (NaCl) on the rails in streets to prevent ice from forming on the tracks.

The Chicago & Utopia has service cars to move material. When it comes to the numbering of the C&U's service cars, the numbers are 2 digits starting with a "0". Don't forget the portable substation is CURX 01 and the work/service car is CURX 00.

All-Nation C.E.R.A Box Car CURX 03 Tool Car

Back in 1950's and 60's All-Nation Hobby Shop had many kits for O scale locomotives, freight, and passenger cars. Among the kits were Central Electric Railroad Association interurban freight cars. There were 4 or more different bodies. I got and built an inside door, flat end box car. The model was built 57(?) years ago! It became the C&U's tool car. It has arch bar trucks since it is not to be used in interchange service. This car has radial couplers with non-operational knuckles.

 

The CA&E had a tool car made from an old unused box motor. It was unique with 5 light bulbs mounted high on each side of the car. The 5 bulbs were wired-up in series. The tools inside the car were track and other tools for work on the r-o-w and trackside structures. The light bulbs were for night time work.

Wooden Sheath Box Car CURX 05 Supply Car

This model was built from a kit whose manufacturer has been forgotten. The kit was never completed beyond being painted a box car red. When completed it was given Barber trucks so it can pick-up supplies from another railway. The car has Kadee couplers.

 

Interurban Flat Car CURX 07When this flat car was obtained 2nd hand, I didn't like the way the flat wooden top was finished. The wooden top of the car was removed with the use of sharp knife blades. After the top surface was sanded smooth, a piece of 0.020" thick Evergreen plastic freight car siding was glued on top.

To make the white styrene siding look like unfinished wood, Testors light brown enamel paint was smeared on the siding.  A "wash" of paint thinner was then used to give the paint an uneven, streaked look.  This is a hit-or-miss procedure but keep trying like I did. Keep a small amount of paint thinner in shallow container like the lid of a prescription vial. If necessary keep a sample of stained wood handy as an example.

This car has arch bar trucks and radial couplers with non-operational knuckles.

The Chicago and West Towns snow sweeper in the background was very busy a few weeks ago. We had more than 13 " of snow in 2 days. The snow removal service called up to ask where to place snow if we had more snow fall! All the parking places in the development were full of snow from the prior snow storm.

The decking is white styrene. To raise the "grain", the blade of a razor saw was scratched from side to side before painting with the light brown wash.

Interurban Flat Car Kit by Midwestern Hobby Models CURX 09

Midwestern Hobby Models or MTH is owned by Jim Osborn. He had MTH long before the hi-rail company by the name of MTH started. Jim has a few interurban freight car kits - a flat car, stock car, and some box cars. The kits are well designed and easy to assemble.

Assembly requires a few hours. Some of the time is allowing glue to dry. My MTH flat car has arch bar trucks and radial couplers with non-operational knuckles.

One or both of the flat cars can be made into gondolas by inserting wooden stakes into the pockets along the sides of the cars. Then lumber would be attached to the inside of the stakes. Ends, the same height of the sides of the gondola sides would have to be added.

Another potential load for the flat cars is new or used rail to be moved from the "yard" to the area where it is going to be installed.

General Comments
All of the C&U's service cars are painted with the same paint as the portable substation. Decals are homemade.  Each car has brass air brake hoses except the service/wrecker car.

The cars are sprayed with Testors Dullcote. The wheels of the trucks are painted a rust color. Keep the paint off of the thread and flange of the wheels.

The side frames of the trucks are painted with a light brown wash to look like road dirt. This wash is more like a dry painting. The a drop or two of paint is applied wet and the brush is continued to be stroked over the truck until dry.

All the C&U's service cars have a family appearance. The color, lettering, couplers, and more look the same.

If necessary weight can be added to the cars. The flat cars in particular may be too light for good tracking. 

Next weekend is the annual 2018 March O Scale Meet. See you there? The March Meet may be the largest O scale meet.

Cheers,
Ed

Finishing-Up the Single Truck Work Car Part 3

There are 2 items to be taken care of in finishing the work car. In a prior Post you saw a strange device attached to a coupler. The Van Dorn couplers with the tongue sticking out from the coupler head were intended to be coupled up to other Van Dorn, link and pin, and knuckle couplers with a slot in the head.

As an aside - many streetcar and interurban lines started operation with cars having simple link and pin or Van Dorn couplers. These couplers were mounted lower than standard knuckle couplers of the time. The North Shore Line started out this way. Some trolley lines retained the link and pin couplers until the line quit operations. The couplers were used primarily to tow a dead car into the barn for repair. A serious problem with the link and pin/Van Dorn couplers was the need for a man to stand between the cars during the coupling and uncoupling process. Many men were injured.  

Lines like the North Shore need to be able to couple cars together in trains. These lines either changed to knuckle style or Tomlinson couplers which could be coupled/uncoupled  "remotely" without a man needed in between the cars.

None of my models with knuckle couplers have a slot in the head of the coupler. Most of my models have Kadee couplers. The Kadee couplers do not have a slot in the head. To be able to couple my work/service car to Kadee couplers, a device with a shank to bring the Kadee  coupler up to the correct level had to be made.

These are photos of making the device.

The Kadee Coupler shank was filed down. 00-90 hex head screws were used. The piece of brass was tapped 00-90 to hold the screws.

This is the completed adaptor for Kadee couplers. After testing was done to see if the adaptor worked, 00-90 washers and nuts were attached below just in case the screw threads in the brass failed. The adaptor was painted black at that time.

 The adaptor attached to the Tomlinson coupler head on the work car.

The coupler on the work car droops making the adaptor droop. Some adjustment can be made to bring the Kadee coupler on the adaptor level.

Even since the 1st time I used bath tube caulk I realized it would be good for use as an adhesive in some applications. The original caulk gave off an odor of vinegar (acetic acid) during curing. Since then bath tube caulk has come in various colors including clear and has been used for various caulking/finishing applications.

The acetic acid brings up an interesting problem with using the caulk in electronic boards. The boards will short-out if the caulk is placed on them!

I've used the clear bath tube caulk to hold passengers in place. Mainly because the caulk does not interfere with the painted finish in most applications. Plus, the passengers can easily be removed!

Recently GE realized their caulk was being used as a glue. Here are 2 tubes of their caulk product labeled for different uses. Both tubes contain the same product - Silicone II.

The tube on the left has been opened and used. Both tubes contain the exact same product. The caulk is now odor free. Because they are acetic acid free(?) = no smell; I do not know if them can be used with electronic boards.

A paper clamp works out well to fold over the end of the tube in order to apply pressure on the contents of the tube.

This is the motorman of the single truck work car. The styrene base was painted a wood color. The controller was painted wood color, the top painted brass, and the knob on the controller handle painted black. The brake staff painted black, handle painted brass, and the knob on the end of the handle painted black.

The motorman was glued in place using the GE Glue caulk. Once the caulk cured (about 24 hours) the base with the motorman was glued in place used the caulk.

Everything on the work car was screwed together and the work car runs well!

I guess the motorman is in the opposite end of the car.

Cheers,

Ed