Railroad Line Forums - Outside Braced Boxcar build

Railroad Line Forums

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Shop Talk

Rolling Stock: the Car Shops

Outside Braced Boxcar build

New Topic

Reply to Topic

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Frank Palmer
Crew Chief

USA
565 Posts

Posted - 08/05/2012 : 12:50:44 PM

I like unusual one-of-a-kind items. So therefore I like to kit-bash or scratch build when ever I can. Several years ago while at the 2007 NNGC in Portland, ME I purchased, at a bargain price I might add, two Accucraft AMS flat cars. Why I didn’t buy more is another story. I planned to use them for parts at some later date. Well here it is 2012 and I’m just getting around to using them.

I wanted to build an outside braced boxcar for my C-21 mixed consist. I have several other pieces of AMS rolling stock such as boxcars, refers, tank cars and cattle cars but, I like the eclectic ones. Most of my standard out-of-the-box ones sit at home while the scratch builts run during open house dates on the Sundance Central Modular Railroad.

I planned to remove the trucks, couplers and running gear from one of the flat cars to make the new boxcar. But while looking at the flat car I decided to simplify the build. Besides the owners of the run-down Sundance Central are a bunch of cheapos and skimp on maintenance whenever and where ever possible. I would use the flat car as is and add the box to the flat. I could use the stake pockets to hold the outside bracing and plank the insides. What a time saver at the same time I eliminated duplication of effort since Accucraft did all the under carriage work for me.

Building just a boxcar wasn’t my intention either. It had to be one-of-a-kind. I thought this car would be a conversion from an acquired D&RGW flat car to an SCRR work car. I’d install a metal roof, make a door and a window then add a couple of stoves and roof stacks to dress it up.

I just purchased a Proxxon table saw so cutting the boards for the sides was a snap. What a beautiful cutting instrument. I also made a couple of modifications to the saw while I was at it. I noticed the fence was on the short side, ending just past the blade so that meant any pressure on the stock past the blade would ruin the straight cut. Also the saw has a millimeter guide just below the table. It’s nice to have the guide but it’s useless unless you have something to guide with.

So here’s my modifications, first I A/C’d a piece of aluminum angle to the existing guide to lengthen it and second I A/C’d a piece of clear plastic cut from a blister pack to the fence over the mm-scale. I set the fence against the blade and scratched the plastic at the zero mark then wiped in some red paint so it would stand out. Hey 50 cents and 10 minutes and I was buzzing along.

Now that the saw was ready I measured the height of the proposed car calculated a reasonable board width and began running 1/16th inch bass wood through the saw. This is a huge savings as opposed to buying precut strip wood. I also cut the braces and cross-braces on the Proxxon.

To make sure the bracing would fit accurately into the stake pockets I set the car on its side in a jig and inserted the bracing into the pockets. I made sure the braces were perpendicular to the car by using a triangle set against the floor. I then taped every thing down to make sure it wouldn’t move. Gluing the siding to the braces while in the stake pockets insured every thing would line up when I was finished. I planked right over the door and window openings, this would keep the side panels square and ridged during construction. I then build the 2 end sections in a similar manner except there weren’t any pockets to deal with.

To insure a proper fit, every thing was assemble right on the flat car. I glued the four sides together and then attached the roof trusses. Next I added the angle bracing and roof boards. Now that this was complete the “box” was sturdy enough to cut out the door and window openings. The doors were made of 1/16th inch plywood and planked over with siding. The doors were placed under a weight to dry over night so they wouldn’t warp. That is a required step in the build. I’m sure if you’ve followed other RRL builds you understand why.

The roofing was made from .005 aluminum sheet. I made a V-Grove jig from oak and pressed a square piece of wood into the “V” at 2 scale-foot intervals. Glued the metal roofing on and then added the roof walks.

The smoke stacks were made from soldered up brass tubing. I make my own grab irons out of 20 or 22 gauge soft floral wire. I use a pair of jewelry pliers to make the loops on the ends. To insure all the grabs come out the same length and offset I use various pliers as length gauges.

Since this is supposed to be a work car I installed a battery box with switch (aka tool box) and 4 LED bulbs for interior lighting. The stoves and tool box are attached to the box car portion so if I want to get inside it will all lift off.

A little paint, some decals, top off with weathering and presto, another one-of-a-kind car.

Frank

andykins
Fireman