Fourth anniversary of this blog

I began this blog about Southern Pacific modeling on December 8, 2010, a date chosen not for any reason other than I was ready to begin. And once again this year, as has been the case on each of the three prior anniversaries, I am surprised and impressed with the viewership this blog has enjoyed.
     I have remained fairly consistent in presenting about ten posts per month, and about 120 or 125 per year. These have varied widely in how many comments they receive, but as was true last year also, increasingly those with questions, corrections or comments tend to email me directly. That’s not a complaint, just a description.
     Page views have continued at a high level. The first year there were about 50,000, a number which seemed impossibly huge to me when I saw it, and far beyond anything I had ever imagined would happen with this blog. The following year there were almost 100,000 more, bring the total to 150,000 after two years. Even more impressive to me.
     The third anniversary in 2013 brought to light even bigger annual viewing numbers, reaching almost to 300,000 views total, thus almost 150,000 additional views in that one year alone. Since then, the viewing has continue to increase, though the rate of increase has flattened out; totals continue quite substantial. The total has now passed 468,000 views over the four years, meaning that there were almost  170,000 new views this past year. I can’t say it enough times: I am just amazed—and also very gratified.
     The original goal was to present a perspective on modeling the SP, and to add historical as well as modeling information where possible. I believe I have been doing that, and have been able to cover a number of modeling projects on my SP layout as well. That makes it fun, as I would now plan any project, whether rolling stock or layout, with photography in mind, to document in a future post. This has probably increased my percentage of completed projects, if nothing else!
     There have been new features too. These include increases in the number of documents posted on Google Docs and available to anyone on the Internet, and also now reference pages, accessible by the list at the upper right of the blog page. I combined eleven posts about my method of freight car weathering using acrylic washes, into two reference pages, one on the basic method, the other on specifics for individual car types and additional details.
     What lies ahead? Obviously to some extent, more of the same, but hopefully more than that. Here is a teaser. It’s from the Richard Hendrickson photo collection, in the process of transferral to the California State Railroad Museum, and the print was entirely unmarked on the back, so I don’t know source, location or date. But it clearly shows ICC 104-type tank cars being loaded.

What is this a teaser for? You’ll have to wait and see.
Tony Thompson

Modeling an SP Class O-50-9 tank car

One of the distinctive SP tank car classes was O-50-9. It was the first with a truly “SP standard” tank, in terms of proportions. Southern Pacific had been buying tank cars of 12,500-gallon capacity for some years, but designs varied, up through Class O-50-8. But classes O-50-9 through -13 all had the same tank proportions, which in HO scale is exactly provided by the Athearn tank car.
     One key in modeling Class O-50-9 is the availability of a good detail part for the elbow safety valve, actually a double safety valve in one elbow, characteristic of this class. Later classes all used dome-top instead of elbow mounting for safety valves. The recent elbow valve from Owl Mountain Models solves this problem. This is Part No. 1002. You can purchase it on their web site, at: http://owlmtmodels.com/ , but unfortunately the website does not yet include photos of parts.
     The goal, then, is to model a car like the pair of prototype photos below, showing the same car of Class O-50-9 from each side. Note that there is a dome walk only on one side (the left side, as seen from the B end), and the elbow safety valve arrangement (toward the B end) is evident too, as are the prominent circumferential rivet rows. (SP photo, courtesy Stanford University Libraries)

     So to set about building a tank of this class, I began, as usual with an Athearn tank car kit. I will not go into great detail about most of the changes to be made, because there is already a detailed description of what is needed, in my prior post at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/05/modeling-sp-tank-cars.html . That post was followed up with a few additional details. These included construction of new handrails, since one dome walk is removed (see it at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/06/modeling-sp-tank-cars-2-handrails.html ); how to model the circumferential rivet joints for some classes (that would be for classes O-50-9 and -10), which is at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/06/modeling-sp-tank-cars-3-tank-sheets.html ; part numbers if you want to order Athearn parts to add to a kit (since one kit does not have all you need), which was described in this post: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/08/modeling-sp-tank-cars-update.html ; specifics about use of Archer rivets and underframe detailing, in the post at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/10/modeling-sp-tank-cars-4-circumferential.html ; and the Jerry Glow decals, for which I did artwork: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/05/sp-tank-car-decals.html .
     I began with a plain vanilla tank car, and removed the extraneous double rivet rows on either side of the dome, on the upper tank as well as on the bottom sheet (these should not be on a single-compartment car), and removed the dome-top safety valves, manway cover, dome grab irons, and the rivet row around the top of the dome. Here is an in-progress photo at this point.

Small recommendation: choose a light-colored car as a starting point if you can, because it is much easier to see what you are doing. This will be especially helpful when the addition of Archer rivets comes along. Of course you can always spray on a “witness coat” of light gray primer, or any other light color.
     Next came removal of one dome walkway, of tank-end molded grab irons which will be replaced with wire, and adding the dome-height correction (see my first post, cited above, for specifics on the overall method). And finally, the top rivet seam must be removed, while preserving the hold-down bands, because I am modeling a car with circumferential seams on the upper tank. For tasks like removal of that rivet seam, or the grab iron removal, I always use a brand-new X-acto chisel blade.
     Here is the same car body, a little farther along, shown from the side with the removed dome walk. The dome top never fits perfectly, and some Squadron Green putty is applied to correct that. But all major things needing to be removed from the tank body are gone, and raising the dome-top means that from here on in, it will all be about adding things.

Note that the middle handrail support from the original trio on each side of the car center has been removed, as the added circumferential tank sheet will go there. The offending single safety valve has been removed from the dome top also.
     So with the completion of the “removal phase” of work on this model, I am ready for the next phase, involving the addition of new parts, especially the circumferential rivets.
Tony Thompson

Pismo Dunes Road, East Shumala

In my column for Model Railroad Hobbyist or MRH, the on-line magazine, in the issue for October 2014, I showed schematic maps of most of my switching locations. These were intended to help visiting operators understand what waybills were telling them. I showed one of those maps, for East Shumala, in my blog post referencing the MRH column. You can read that previous post at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/10/my-column-on-timetable-construction.html . In that map one of the roads shown is Pismo Dunes Road. In this post I take up the installation of that road.
     I intended from the outset of construction at East Shumala to make this road take a broad curve across the layout area, near the aisle. The simplest way to achieve a level and smooth road is to make it out of one piece of styrene. This idea has been used by many modelers over the years; I personally discovered it in an article by Marty McGuirk in Model Railroader, May 1997, page 92, but there are lots of such sources. In my case, since the road would have considerable extent, I needed a big piece of styrene sheet, bigger than what Evergreen or other vendors sell. But any commercial plastics supplier has really big pieces for sale, up to 4 by 8-foot sheets. In my area, the convenient one is TAP Plastics, and I went there to get some 1/16-inch sheet.
     My next step was preparation of a cutting pattern. I just used a sheet of newsprint, spread it out on the layout area which would receive the road, and traced a rough line with pencil, then went over it with a Sharpie (any felt pen would work) to make sure I had a good line. Note in the foreground I have also traced the layout edge.

At right you can see the beginnings of the road to the rear of the roundhouse (see: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-road-behind-roundhouse.html ).
     Naturally the sheet of newsprint was not the right size and shape for my intended road, so after cutting out the first section, shown marked above, I used the cut-off pieces to combine with tape into a single large pattern for the road. Here it is, clearly showing the road curve I had originally envisioned.

     Now the cut-out newsprint was traced onto the plastic sheet. I use a pencil, as this draws well on the white styrene. This doesn’t have to be exactly traced.

     Next step is to cut out the shape drawn. I use a utility knife, and this is pretty quick and easy, with styrene of this thickness. My view is that I can always trim the styrene piece if necessary, but adding material onto it would be much harder — thus I would make it oversize if in doubt anywhere on the cut. Here I am cutting the straight part of the road, with a steel straightedge as a guide.

It isn’t necessary to cut clear through the styrene, as the “scribe and snap” technique works equally well with curved cuts. Below, you see the entire roadway cut out as a single piece from the sheet.

    Once cut out, the piece does fit where intended on the layout, so this process did what I wanted it to do.

     Next comes a coat of primer, then attaching the roadway, and blending its edges with a kind of shoulder to transition onto the surrounding landscape. Probably I will add a center line to the road. Finally, I will weather with acrylic washes. Those subjects will be included in a future post.
Tony Thompson

The SPH&TS meeting, San Luis Obispo, Part 3

There are two additional aspects of this particular Annual Meeting that I want to present in this third post. (Here is a link to my comments in the second post: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-sph-meeting-san-luis-obispo-part-2.html .) One additional topic is the invited talk I presented. Given the theme of the meeting, “Decks over Cuesta” (see convention logo below), I was asked to talk about transition-era operations, both in San Luis Obispo itself, and particularly on the westward climb over the Santa Lucia Mountains.

     My talk had the title just described, and this photo by convention photographer Mike O’Brien shows me about to be handed the microphone to begin my talk, with the title slide on the screen behind me. The talk was given twice, both times to pretty large audiences.

    The other event was something I felt was a great honor, my receiving the Society’s Guy L. Dunscomb Award, given for “outstanding achievement towards the preservation of the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad and it subsidiaries.” The award was presented during the banquet on Saturday night, and the award winner was introduced by Paul Koehler. Here is Paul at the left, having just handed me the plaque (again, a Mike O’Brien photo).

     The award itself is shown below. Many eminent Southern Pacific historians have received this award over the years, and I am delighted to be thought of as suitable to join their ranks.

     I was then given the opportunity to say a few words, and I spoke about the things I believe are important about historical preservation, particularly the view that modeling accuracy can only advance when it is preceded by, and stimulated by, the dissemination of accurate prototype information. Such dissemination then becomes the responsibility of individual historians and of historical societies like the SPH&TS. That is, preservation is only effective if accompanied by dissemination. This is a view I have long held, and it was much reinforced by my good friend Richard Hendrickson, whom I thanked in these comments.

     I am proud to have been selected to receive this award, and believe it is consistent with my own seriousness about railroad history. I thank the Society and its Board of Directors for choosing me as the awardee this year.
Tony Thompson

More on Associated Oil tank cars

I have previously posted about the history of the Associated Oil Company and its tank car fleet. Two of the posts show various parts of the fleet. One of the 8000-gallon cars was shown in the first post on Associated history (see it at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/12/associated-oil-company-background.html ) and more of the cars were discussed in the second post (at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/02/associated-oil-company-tank-car-fleet.html ).
     Preparatory to modeling one of the later Associated cars, I showed some additional prototype information on the fleet (the post can be found at this link: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/03/associated-oil-company-tank-cars-part-2.html ) and then presented my model (which is shown at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/04/associated-oil-tank-cars-modeling.html ). That model represents a car from the AOX 800 series, acquired in the late 1930s.
     The basic facts of the Associated fleet prior to its intermingling with the fleets of Tide Water Oil ownership were as follows. The first cars owned by Associated copied a Santa Fe design; there were 40 of them, 9500 gallons in size, all of which were traded to SP in 1906 as part of their acquisition of the second car group. That group was more than 300 cars of 12,500-gallon capacity, just like and acquired at the same time as the Southern Pacific Class O-50-2 cars, numbered AOX 153–457. Thirdly, there was a group of 8000-gallon cars, numbered 113–152, acquired in the ’teens. All three were illustrated in the posts with links at the top of this page.
     In addition, after 1920 or so, a group of 8000-gallon cars appeared in the Equipment Register, numbered 458–482 (this group grew slowly during the 1920s, eventually reaching 25 cars). In the mid-1920s, 8000-gallon compartment cars 483–495 appeared. Until recently, I had never seen a photo of any of these cars. But Richard Hendrickson gifted such a photo to me, and it is shown below. He did not know the location, date, or photographer. You can click to enlarge.

Clearly shown is AOX 461, either white or light gray in color, lettered much like the AOX 147 car shown in the first post cited at the top of this post, although that car was black. Of perhaps even greater interest is the three-compartment car behind AOX 461. Unfortunately, the car number is not visible, but on the car end the AOX reporting mark is very clear. This must be part of the AOX 483–495 group, and it too is painted a light color.
     Sometimes after an extended search for photographs of a particular subject, if you have been thorough and creative in your search, you begin to think you have found about all that is out there. Then something like the photo above surfaces, filling in gaps in your knowledge, and you realize that there always remains the possibility that you have not discovered all that exists on your topic; and with the knowledge you already have, you know immediately the significance of such a photo. For me at least, this is one of the joys of railroad research.
Tony Thompson

A terrific new tank car model

Tangent Scale Models has just released an outstanding model of an acid tank car. Most acid cars were visibly distinctive in having a different design of dome, taller and narrower than the usual 2-percent dome (which means 2 percent of the tank volume). Acid cars were generally manufactured with a specific tank lining to resist a specific acid, such as rubber linings for hydrochloric acid, and accordingly were not used interchangeably for different acids. Each of these Tangent models is lettered for a specific acid. For information about all the cars in this first run, you can browse their website at: https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/ .
    Tangent has modeled an 8000-gallon car, about as large as acid cars were in the transition era; in fact, due to the density of some acids, many cars were 6500 or 7000 gallons. Tangent’s model is a welded car, the dominant method of tank car construction after about 1950, so these models are really only suitable for post-1950 modelers. Here is a photo of one of the models, in phosphoric acid service and lettered for Stauffer.

     I mentioned the distinctive acid dome. Here is a side view of the Tangent dome (a better view of the upper part of the tank with this Dow Chemical paint scheme is in the following photo; this is a hydrochloric acid tank).

The models are equipped with a representation of steel grid walkways and dome platforms, as was required for tank car construction after 1948, and these steel walkways are molded in a tough engineering plastic, permitting them to be reasonably close to scale size yet tough and durable. This high-angle view shows how good-looking they are. (You can click to enlarge.)

     A couple of years ago, I kitbashed an acid tank car of 7000-gallon size, which differs primarily in the tank diameter, and the height of the dome. Here is that model, posed next to the 8000-gallon Tangent car, both lettered for Stauffer (my model is weathered, but the Tangent model shown is not yet weathered). If you would like to know how I made the 7000-gallon car, a full modeling description was published in Railroad Model Craftsman in the issue for January 2012, with additional comments in a blog post, at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-tank-car-article-in-rmc.html .

     These 8000-gallon Tangent models doubtless look “too small” to many modelers, accustomed as we all have been to the Athearn “chemical” tank car. The Athearn model is about 11,000 gallons in size and thus a much larger car, and is also an insulated tank, making tank diameter even larger than implied by the gallonage. Here is a comparison of the Tangent model to a stock Athearn car.

The Athearn car, as many modelers know by now, has an immensely oversize valve bonnet and platform, but that is the not the point being made here, only a comparison of tank diameter and length.
     It may occur to some that Tangent now has an excellent 8000-gallon welded tank, and a General American underframe to go with it. They can offer in the future different domes for a wide variety of other tank cars. Let’s hope that possibility is one that Tangent will want to pursue.
     This Tangent product is a much-needed and very welcome prototype, distinctively different from most other tank cars, and because acids are among the most widely used chemical products shipped in tank cars, can find wide application in layouts set in all parts of the country. It is a superb model, and I endorse it without reservation.
Tony Thompson

Interim truck support blocks

I’m not sure my title for this post is very clear. What I mean is, blocks which can be temporarily attached to a model, in place of its trucks, during construction and painting. The blocks then support the model instead of trucks. In the past, I have often used old or discarded pairs of trucks for this purpose, but that isn’t always a good approach. So here I describe something I learned from Richard Hendrickson, a very effective little trick to solve this problem.
     The idea is to make a block which has a screw hole for the truck screw, enabling it to be attached just one would attach the trucks, and with dimensions about as tall or a little taller than the final truck dimension would be. These can certainly be wood, and my first one was indeed made from basswood, but styrene is easier, quicker, and more durable.
     Shown here are a couple of ways to shape them, details not at all important, though the approximate dimensions should be observed. Mine are about 1.25 inches long (car body width), which is the long dimension here, and about one-fourth of an inch high as well as wide.

Note that one pair is notched at the appropriate distance for the handbrake rod to pass above the block, for models on which that detail is included.
     One advantage of using these during assembly of a model, is that couplers can be installed, yet these blocks allow the model to be set upright, and neither the couplers nor sill steps nor any underbody brake rigging will touch the work surface. You can see that in this photo. The car can rest on the blocks, keeping the couplers and detail parts up out of the way.

     I have used these also during airbrushing of models, when all the car except the trucks is supposed to be one color. (And maybe you have already painted wheel surfaces an appropriate grimy or rusty color, which you don’t want to overspray with the car body color.) Here’s an angle view of a Branchline model in progress with these blocks installed. Couplers will be added after painting.

I should emphasize again that I did not invent these blocks. I saw them in use in Richard Hendrickson’s shop, liked them, and made some copies for myself. There are additional views of these blocks in use on models still in work, in Part 9 of  my series on weathering freight cars (you can see those views at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-acrylic-weathering-method-part-9.html ).
     Though a simple part to make, these blocks have proven very handy for my modeling, including painting. You might give them a try.
Tony Thompson