Straightening Out a Project After The Learning Curve. Finally!

Greetings All,

Today I'm going to talk about the model railroading learning curve which I've found over the years can be quite sharp depending on the project. 

About 20 years ago I bought a trio of Life Like RF&P 50' boxcars at a train show. I really liked the paint scheme and body style which is why I grabbed the three cars. The cars came with talgo mounted horn hook couplers and plastic wheels that were standard at the time. Because I really liked the way they looked they were among the first of my conversions to body mounted knuckle couplers and the least successful . Here is a picture of a similar car as offered by Life Like.

Over the years I made some attempts to correct the self inflicted issues that came about from this early project. The cars became very wobbly and leaned heavily to one side. I caused this problem myself by attempting to sand down the bolsters to get the couplers to sit lower and couple with my other trains. Shims to lower the coupler boxes? At the time of the original conversion using shims probably never even crossed my mind. Ugh.... This was all part of my learning curve.

After getting frustrated with my early attempts with knuckle couplers I went all in with the Kadee Height Gauge, shims, 2-56 screws etc. 
 
Another of the other issues I had when converting these cars to body mounted knuckle couplers was that I didn't extend the coupler box out as far as I should have. It worked OK but didn't look that great. I saw this car liked the way it looked and tried to inexpensively copy the cushion coupler look. 

A search of my parts box to see what I had on hand to facilitate this endeavor revealed some old long talgo coupler shanks from a pair of cabooses and a pair of coupler box extensions from a 57' Reefer that my son wanted cut off from one of his cars.

On car #1 I've installed a pair of Kadee #5s into the long caboose shanks with 2-56 screws and attached them to the frame with another pair of 2-56 screws using the washer as a spacer to match my Kadee coupler height gauge. Sure wish I thought about this 20  years ago! A pair of IHC building shutters and two Kadee #233 gear box lids per bolster got this car to be stable. Finally!!! 

Car #2 got a pair of Kadee #58s, caboose talgo shanks, some plastic shims and the 233 gear box lids.

Car #3 got the old BB 57' reefer coupler boxes, a pair of Kadee #5s some plastic shims and the 233 gear box lids.

Kadee #58 meets Kadee #5. All cars have been equipped with Intermountain metal wheels.

The RF&P cars being tested at the head end of a train are pulling out of track #3. 

Being shoved back into track #3. So far so good.

The trio of RF&P cars are now back in service looking better and working reliably. And they are sitting straight!!!

I renumbered the cars a long time ago and thankfully that worked out OK. After so long in the box it's nice to see the cars in service.
Making a turn at Terminal Yard. And not leaning over!

All told I spent a couple of hours tinkering with these cars to get them to run reliably. It went from a project to an odyssey that I was determined to complete. As I noted most of the aggravation I caused myself. Fast forward 15 or so years thru the learning curve and this conversion is now a snap for me. 

Thanks for reading!