Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

Truss Rod end freight cars

It’s time for another freight car resource file. Ray Breyer has compiled information on truss rod end freight cars. We think of truss rods supporting freight car underframes but they were also used in other applications. Ray presents lots of photos and data covering these uses in a handy document.

Ray’s resource PDF is available on the Freight Car Fleets page. We hope modelers find it useful to build early wood boxcars for their fleets. We have more railroad fleet data and details coming soon.

Many thanks to Ray for pulling the data and images into one document.

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B&O K class bobber caboose

Ed Bommer models the B&O Staten Island line in O scale. He recently shared photos and notes on his O scale scratch-built B&O C-721, modeled as the prototype looked in 1950. Here’s Ed with the story.

I built this caboose model a long time ago, in March 1983. I was somewhat familiar with the prototypes as I would see them on Staten Island Rapid Transit freights as a boy and young teen. I even got to ride in one for a few miles.

Workbench Update – June & July 2020

Summer is one of those sluggish hobby seasons. Lawn and home duties often pull our time away from the workbench and hobby activities. The pandemic has been a bit different as trips to visit family, concerts, RPMs, and vacations have been curtailed. So there is more hobby time, even though the lawn and home duties remain.

Failures

We tend not to share our failures, except among close friends and family. I’ve had my fair share of hobby project failures across a wide array. I avoided sharing the dismal results, mainly out of embarrassment. But I learned something new with each of those difficulties. I may have changed a technique or materials to move onward.

New layout planning

I’ve been planning a new layout since late in the summer of 2019. I came across the image above a few years ago and it has inspired research into the Baltimore & Ohio’s Allegheny Yard branch in Pittsburgh. In the lead image we see the Allegheny River and the School Street yard sitting on the north shore, circa 1923. Today, the Pittsburgh Pirates play baseball along this shore at PNC Park. The stadium dominates the scene and would be hiding the building with the Teaberry Gum sign.

All images in this blog post are from the Pittsburgh City Photographer collection on the Historic Pittsburgh site, unless noted otherwise.