TP&W RBL Cars

The TP&W owned/leased a number of insulated, double-plug-door boxcars. The "RBL" classification means that they are bunkerless refrigerator cars with interior load restraints. Below are links to a couple of  prototype photos:

TP&W 50563 (page 18 of September 1996 Model Railroading)
TP&W 50588

Circa 2000 Atlas produced ready-to-run models of these cars in the 1970s-era speed lettering scheme, and more recently both Athearn and ScaleTrains.com have also offered TP&W versions of these cars. I typically don't purchase ready-to-run freight cars because I like to assemble kits, but last year I bought one of the Atlas cars at a train show for $14. The Atlas models typically sell for > $20, which is more than I like to pay for freight cars, so this seemed like a bargain.

The Atlas model of TP&W 50575 is now part of my fleet.

Detail-wise, the Atlas model appears very accurate compared to the photo of TP&W 50563 linked above. This is both good and bad; good because it's a nice model but bad in a way because I have an Accurail model of a similar car that doesn't quite measure up in comparison. I'm not fastidious about freight car detailing, but I decided to make a few minor improvements to the Accurail car. I wanted to preserve its factory paint and lettering as much as possible, so my goal here was to make readily apparent modifications that didn't require major surgery.

I purchased this Accurail double-plug-door kit new in 2017. At the time I was planning for a 1950s-era IT layout, but I bought it anyway. This paint scheme is from the early 1980s, so, yes, I'm stretching the 1970s era a bit. The lettering closely matches the prototype photo of #50588 linked above, but the type of car is not an exact match. To make the Accurail car look more like the Atlas car, I decided to remove the running board and add cushion coupler pockets. I passed on things like lowering the brake wheel and reducing the height of the ladders that would have required carving on the car sides and ends. I'll have to repaint the roof after removing the running board, but, as long as I'm careful, that won't affect the lettering.

Walthers started selling these cushion coupler pockets before Accurail even existed as a company, but they will work just fine.

The stock coupler box needs to be shortened so that the "tongs" on the brown Walthers coupler box wrap around the post in the Accurail coupler box.

I sawed off the Accurail coupler box flush with the end of the floor and also cut down the sides of the box even with the leading edge of the post. 

For the Walthers coupler box to sit at the correct height, some material has to be removed from the top of the Accurail coupler box. I found it too difficult and awkward to carve material from this area, so I decided to cut a notch in the floor. As shown on this top view of the floor, I made two saw cuts perpendicular to the end of the car and scribed a line connecting them.

I used a pair of small needle-nose pliers to snap off the plastic along the scribed line and create the notch.

Now the Walthers coupler box fits as intended.

I want the coupler box cover to be screw-mounted, so I drilled out the boss in the Walthers coupler box with a #50 drill. I drilled two #43 clearance holes in the box lid: one for the screw that holds the Walthers coupler box together (right) and the other (left) so I can use the coupler screw that came with the car to secure the Walthers box to the car.

Here's the completed underframe with the Walthers coupler boxes painted black and mounted to the car.

With the underframe modifications complete, I moved on to the running board. This inverted view of the car shows the six pins that hold the running board in place by friction. I pushed from below on each of the six pins until I could grasp the running board with my fingers and remove it from the car.   

With the running board removed, there are now two slots at opposite corners of the car and four holes down the car centerline. These need to be filled, and there are also mounting brackets at both ends at at two corners that need to be carved off.

I filled the slots with scraps of 0.060" styrene. I cut the pieces of styrene slightly larger than the slots and then applied styrene cement (my favorite is Microscale Micro Weld) to both the inside of the slot and the piece of styrene. After waiting a minute for the solvent to soften both parts, I jammed the styrene into the slot. The goal of doing it this way was to get a very flush-fitting plug so that I didn't have gaps to fill later with putty.

Here's the car with all of the plugs installed.

I carefully trimmed off the excess plastic in thin slices and then carved, filed, and sanded the plugs as necessary to make them either flush with the rest of the roof or so they blended in with the ribs along the roof centerline. 

Here's a closeup of one of the plugs along the roof ribs. Each one of these took a fair amount of carving, filing, and patience.

Next, I repainted the roof silver. I opted to brush-paint the roof with Model Master Acryl Flat Aluminum instead of spraying it because I didn't think I could do a good enough masking job on the car sides and ends. This paint did not cover well and it took many thin coats to produce the result you see here. 

After painting the roof, I installed the second door on each side. Both doors were a bit too wide for the openings, so I had to trim them down to fit. It's not an optical illusion or lackluster photography: the door on the right is a slightly different shade of red than the rest of the car.

The finished car. Prior to installing the underframe, I slightly notched the bottom centers of the car ends so they would clear the new coupler boxes, which are slightly taller than the originals. This project took longer than I thought it would, but I think the results were worth the effort.

Accurail Covered Hopper Upgrade

I'm giving my rolling stock fleet a once-over to ensure that all cars are in a state of good repair. First up is Chicago & Eastern Illinois ACF Centerflow #718574, which is also the first covered hopper I added to my fleet.

This is an older Accurail kit that has friction-fit coupler box covers and uses plastic friction pins to secure the trucks. I prefer screw-mounted couplers and trucks for ease of adjustment and maintenance, so I will retrofit this car with screws. I recently decided to require metal wheels on all cars on the layout, so the stock plastic wheels on this car need to be replaced. The Accumate coupler has been my standard since 1998; I'm not exactly sure why this car is equipped with Bachmann E-Z Mate couplers, but those will need to get replaced with Accumates as well. I suspect that this car was too old to come factory-equipped with Accumates, and I must have just used whatever I had handy when I assembled it.

First, I carefully removed the car floor. The trucks and couplers are both mounted directly to the floor, and the tops of the friction pins are visible from the top of the floor.

I have read in magazines and online forums that other modelers have had issues with the truck pins falling out. My experience has been exactly the opposite; not only have I never had one fall out, but they are very difficult to remove once installed. The best tool I have found for getting them out is a small nail set.

This nail set is just the right size to push the friction pins out from the top side of the floor.

I removed the truck pins first. This was a two-hand job so I couldn't photograph it, but I held the car by the truck bolster in my left hand and then used my right hand to push firmly on the pin with the nail set. Once the truck pins were out, then I repeated the process for the coupler box covers, this time holding the car in my left hand as close to the coupler box as possible.

They're out.

Next, I cut off the pin on the coupler box cover, marked the center of the former pin location, and drilled a #43 hole through the lid. Then I installed an Accumate coupler in the box and mounted the modified lid with a screw. The screws are 3/16" 2-56 Phillips screws purchased in a pack of 100 from Accurail; they are the same screws that are used in newer Accurail kits.

I replaced the stock plastic 33" wheels with Walthers metal 36" wheels, and then mounted the trucks with the same screws. Having screw-mounted trucks allows me to give the car a "three-point suspension" - tighten one truck so that it can only swivel and leave the other a bit looser so it can swivel and also rock slightly.

After reassembling the car, I checked the coupler height. With the stock 33" wheels, the coupler height was a bit low compared to the Kadee height gauge. With the replacement 36" wheels, now the coupler height is just right.

Before: Low coupler with 33" wheels

After: Spot-on coupler height with 36" wheels

With these simple modifications complete, C&EI 718574 is ready for service. I have several other Accurail ACF covered hoppers that will get these modifications too.