40' double door from 50-footer?

[sirenwerks]

Where do you guys find the ORERs? Since I am modeling the early 70s, I've been relying on online photos and information, and books, more than anything else. I'll hit the GN, NP, BN, WP lists from time-to-time as well. I'm not a rivet counter per se, I just want the general feel of a car, but the sill is, IMO, a major element of that car's feel.

Bryan

[Dave Schneider]

Where do you guys find the ORERs? Since I am modeling the early 70s, I've been relying on online photos and information, and books, more than anything else. I'll hit the GN, NP, BN, WP lists from time-to-time as well. I'm not a rivet counter per se, I just want the general feel of a car, but the sill is, IMO, a major element of that car's feel.

Bryan

Well on eBay of course!!

I have picked up paper copies there and one pdf version (via ftp or DVD) from Doug's Railroad Shop. No commercial connection to Doug. Just a fast and easy transaction.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Dougs-Railroad-Shop__W0QQ_armrsZ1

I'm not a rivet counter either (in fact I need new glasses to even see the darn things), but this is a nice resource to get you thinking about the parts of the car that give the overall feel.

Best wishes, Dave

[sirenwerks]

Silly question perhaps... ORER features all cars operating on the rails at the date of publication? Does it feature simple drawings as well?

[Dave Schneider]

Bryan,

It is mainly a tabulation of specs for determining what will fit in a railcar (see below). There are some very basic drawings to help differentiate different car classifications but that is it for pretty pictures. There is also a variety of other information on car movement rules, billing, etc...

Not much of a page turner and a bit complicated to understand, but the basics are all in there and some jewels. Like this example....I have never seen a photo of a DSDX 2000 series car (used to haul beer), but here are the specs. Using this info and emailing various folks I was able to learn about similar cars from the Milwaukee Road that have been photographed.

Hope this helps.
Best wishes, Dave

[wazzou]

Bryan -

No drawings at all.  Listings of all cars, all railroads, with interior and exterior lengths, heights and widths, weights generally at last re-weigh and door openings where applicable + any hardware notes like lading devices.  Also some info on floors like if they are nailable steel and so on.  Flats will say if they are bulkhead equipped and the like.
For your Era, there would be Burlington Northern with sub-classes of NP, GN, CB&Q and SP&S for cars still lettered in those roads schemes.

[Dave Schneider]

Bryan,

I would check your door sizes again. I may looking at the wrong car (compared to what you have), but the IM 40' 1937 AAR car I have has 6 foot doors and the low door track/high sill you are looking for. You don't need to cut a bigger door opening. I would fill the opening that is there (opening doors always have a weird gap around them) and glue the left door on the car side. The door track is a piece of cake. This is a welded side car so adding the rivet detail will be the worst part of it, but isn't the DD car welded as well?

Bryan,

Sorry, I made a mistake here. I took a closer look at the IM 40' 1937 AAR that I have and it is a rivet side car, not a welded side. The car I have is a yellow GB&W, and the paint is a bit thick and/or the panel rivets are a bit shallow and they were hard to see. I needed my magnifier to see them. Oh, and I didn't have my reading glasses on....Anyhow, that is my story and I am sticking to it. Sorry if I added to the confusion, but this would make the project easier.

Best wishes, Dave

[sirenwerks]

Does anyone know what types of trucks are on the prototype in the photo?

Bryan

[bbussey]

They appear to be National B-1 trucks.

[Sokramiketes]

Does anyone know what types of trucks are on the prototype in the photo?

Bryan

See post #6 in this thread.  

EDIT:  And Busséy thought he beat me to it!  

[H Lee]

Another reason for using the IMRC 1937 SD car is that it's inside height is 10' 0" which is correct for the 15000 series DD car that is to be modeled.

The IMRC 50' DD car is a 10' 6" inside height car.