Small project, SP Boarding Bunk car, Pt. 2

In Part 1, I showed both the model that inspired me to this project (made by Todd Osterberg) and also a prototype photo of a Pullman 12-1 sleeper re-purposed by SP as a bunk car for maintenance-of-way (MOW) crews. This primarily was a task of repainting and lettering. To see that part of the project, you may visit this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/11/small-project-sp-boarding-bunk-car.html .

I might add a definitional point: SP divided many of its MOW cars into Roadway cars, meaning cars that carried materials, equipment and supplies, and Boarding cars, meaning cars that were used by personnel, such as bunk, dining, foreman, engineering, and similar cars. There’s much more on this and related topics in the superb book by Ken Harrison (Southern Pacific Maintenance of Way Equipment, SPH&TS, 2022).

As I mentioned at the conclusion of Part 1, there still remained some modeling tasks. First among these was to add internal view blocks where the interior partitions were in the Pullman car, since one ought not to be able to see through the car in those areas. 

I built them my usual way, with 0.020-inch styrene about 1 inch tall inside the car, and 1/8-inch square styrene strip glued into the corners. I then painted the inside of these a dark gray, and the outside a pale gray, and glued them to the floor with canopy glue. The floor still needs to be painted black. Note also that I added four 1/2-inch steel nuts, painted black, for weight (about half an ounce each). Otherwise these cars are quite light.

Second, these cars often had the window shades pulled down by crews using the car, and left down — there was no porter to restore them. I used a pale tan paper for the shades, setting them at different heights in the various windows, and gluing them in place with canopy glue. This looks odd when you look at the window glazing alone. (The shades are, of course, on the inside of the glazing.)

But of course the roof + glazing part, when inserted into the car body, brings these shade representations into a correct-looking location in the car side

Next I weathered the car, including the roof. I used a brownish acrylic wash, primarily Raw Umber, with a little Neutral Gray to lighten it and give a faded look, and a deeper Burnt Umber in places.

I decided to body-mount the couplers on this car, though that can be limiting in some switching moves with an 80-foot car. The car will mostly reside on the “outfit track,” as SP would have called it, in my layout town of Ballard, along with other maintenance equipment. I also made sure that the trucks, painted boxcar red with the rest of the car at the repaint, were suitably grimy.

That completes the car. Thanks again to Todd Osterberg, for the inspiration for this small project, and to Jason Hill, for the excellent MOW decals. As an SP modeler, I have to say we’ve needed those decals for years, and I look forward to using them on other projects!

Tony Thompson