Prototype – Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

Decal time!

The last post shared detail on a line up card I created to organize work on eleven freight cars that waited at the paint booth. A few models have been moving forward with decal application.

Coal hopper details – pt 2

Let’s dive into more hopper upgrade ideas. Part one in the previous blog post covered end post replacement, and grab iron and hand hold replacements. Are you ready for more?

The last blog post covered upgrading hopper brake hardware from AB to KD brake components. The example was an HO scale plastic Bowser GLa class hopper. Let’s take a look at more upgrades you can make to hopper models.

Installing KD brake hardware on hoppers

A few steel hopper models have been progressing on my workbench. Each of them requires KD brake components. As I worked on these, I realized it’s been a while since a step-by-step illustration of the process has been published. This post will summarize the three methods I’m using on these models.

Prototype inside stake wood gondolas

Prototype gondola designs ran the gamut with wood and steel components. These cars were everywhere in the early 20th century and had many different features. Steve Hedlund has gathered details for an inside stake wood gondola review. This design was popular with a number of railroads. The Missouri Pacific rostered 6,000 of these at one time. Steve covers several other railroads plus a few gondolas that look similar but had slight differences. Westerfield Models offers an HO scale kit for this type of gondola.

This resource PDF document is available on the Freight Car Fleets page. We hope you find it useful to add a couple more gondolas to the fleet.

Many thanks to Steve Hedlund for this fine prototype car review.

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