Wagner Car Company Truck Book No. 4 - Part 1

Please excuse the interruption in posting the next Wagner Truck Book. Unfortunately I was sick. 

With this Post there's a change in the format of presenting each page of the Book. It will be easier to explain each page as it is presented. 

The cover still has the orange band at the left margin. For some unknown reason my scanner chose to make the orange a red.  

Page 2 has an interesting "Editorial". Please read it. How many of the names do you recognize? Rich Wagner's illness during 1976 is mentioned. More about his illness will be covered later. There is a date at the end of the "Editorial". A separate price sheet to be presented later is dated April1, 1976.  

A note in the margin of page 4 mentions about 37-1/2" prototype wheels. These are LARGE wheels!

There are photos of the underbody of models on multiple pages of the catalogue. These are interesting to note. On the bottom of page 6 the underbody pieces were mounted on 3 separate pieces of brass sheet, The brass sheets were then "screwed" to the underbody of the model. 

There are many ways to mount the underbody pieces to the brass sheet. If the part is heavy it can be screwed to the sheet. Lighter parts can be soldered to the brass or glued using epoxy or ACC. Sometimes small pins are used.

If you look at the underbody of a prototype streetcar or interurban close-up you'll notice not all items are mounted directly to the underfloor. Some are hung from metal straps connected to metal cross braces. Sometimes resistor banks are hung directly in the center of the car. When hung this way the resistors have to be hung low enough to clear the brake rigging of the car this includes the brake cylinder, air lines, and the piping from the brake cylinder to each truck.

On page 10 the interior and underbody of the Illinois Terminal (IT 404) lightweight car are shown. The underbody parts are mounted directly to the wooden floor. In the interior besides the seats are the controls in each end. Wagner included his trolley rope retriever mechanism.  

This order sheet was stapled into the center of the booklet between pages 12-13.

The balance of Truck Book #4 will be the topic of the next Post.

Cheers,

Ed