Adding New Open Car Freight Loads

Greetings All,

A long time ago I read an article in a Model Railroader magazine where the author referred to the gondola as the "Rodney Dangerfield of freight cars" meaning they get no respect.

"Gondola, Reading" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.

All these years later I still remember this (maybe because I'm a big Rodney fan) 

"“I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap.” – Rodney Dangerfield" by brightdrops is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

One of my model railroading goals this year is to add freight car loads to my gondolas and flatcars to get them into my model railroad operations and get them some respect. To get the projects rolling I ordered several American Models Builder kits via a well known online retailer.

Laser Cut Wood Kits

To build the kits I used Aileen's Tacky Glue for the wood parts, CA for the cast resin parts and a new #11 hobby blade.

Electric Generators

The AMB-212 generator load is ready to be opened. 

The seven resin casted generators have been painted rattle can gray and are secured in the laser cut wood blocking. This load fits nicely on this 50' flatcar that I used for test purposes.

The load looks good and fits into the EBRR gondola.

The generators make for an interesting BN 50' bulkhead flat car load.

Nothing says wood like real wood!

AMB-201 is an extended lumber load designed for longer cars. I purchased three of these kits.

Building the kit was pretty straightforward. The base is to the left and the seven lumber pieces are glued together in a staggering manner as seen below. The stacked lumber look very good.

The lumber loads have been built to fit onto the NYC Model Power and EBRR Athearn gondolas. They are easily removable for running the cars empty or with other loads. 

The stakes are positioned on the lumber stack to fit into the Athearn flatcar pockets and hold the load securely in place.

The wood stakes needed a little sanding to fit easily into the Model Power flatcar pockets and make the loads easily removable

Four lumber stacks were used to make this lumber load for the 68' MDW bulkhead flatcar(more on these cars in a future post). The two extended loads will not fit onto a 50' bulkhead flat. The lumber loads have been moved to North Side Yard for delivery to Neal's Lumber and Hardware.

The Atlas metal based bulkhead flatcar pockets are not open and the bracing just enters the small depression to hold the load in place.

A Nice Pipe Load

AMB-209 is ready to be built. The kit includes all the parts necessary for the pipe and blocking. The pipe can be easily cut to length to fit a 40' or smaller car.

This was a pretty simple build that yielded very nice results. The pipe length is as delivered and has been painted with rattle can flat black and red primer.

Looks good to me in this P-2000 Drop End Mill Gondola.

A perfect fit for a 50' flatcar.

Large Wood Crate with Blocking

AMT-212 is another very nice laser cut wood kit. The build was pretty easy and resulted in a good looking load.

Fits nice and looks good on the 50' test flatcar.

The crate and blocking are a good looking gondola load.

The crate and blocking fit very nicely into this low side 40' gondola.

Crated Diesel Engines

AMB-221 contains the parts for two cast resin diesel engines and the laser cut wood crates and blocking.

After washing the diesel engine parts assembly has begun. If you built model cars, planes or ships this skill will come in handy here. There is much flash to deal with but it's easily removed. 

The diesel engines are painted rattle can yellow and are ready to be crated for shipment.

Here they are in their crates and partially loaded into a 40' gondola.

The crated diesels are at the Empire City Caterpillar loading dock ready to be shipped. Admittedly the yellow is a little light but it is what it is.

The crated engines get delivered to Hudson Coal.

Scrap Wheel Loads

While waiting for the above kits to arrive I was cleaning up under the layout and found a piece of basswood that I purchased for making scrap wheel loads, placed under the layout and eventually forgot about it. Call this model railroading synchronicity!

With all of the Delrin wheel sets I have changed out for metal wheelsets I have a couple of containers of them waiting for me to make into scrap wheel loads. 

Below the project is underway with the basswood painted rattle can black, the wheels separated from the axles and being glued onto the base.

The scrap wheels have been painted with rattle can red primer and are built to fit into an Athearn 50' gondola.

More scrap wheel loads are in the works with bases of various material cut to fit specific models.

 
Dunnage

There are plenty of leftover wood pieces for additional open car projects. What to build next?!!

Storage

I repurposed this box to store the loads when not in use. And have some space for more!

Increased Freight Car Utilization

A prime example are the lumber loads on the below flatcars. For a few years now they've been used sporadically as spacer cars or with a pipe load from time to time. The lumber now being carried has the option of going to any four on layout industries and can be sent off layout as well.

New Loads on the Move

The new loads are on the move representing some New England manufactured goods and lumber products along with some other open car loads.

Final Comments

I found the American Model Builders laser cut wood kits to be pretty easy to build following their directions. The wood and castings are of good quality and I recommend them. Check the link to see the products they offer.

The loads not only add visual interest to the freight cars and trains but have an added bonus of increasing my open car utilization as described above. This was a win win group of projects.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!

Locomotive Spotlight #1-2023 / Long Island Alco C420s #225 & 229

 Greetings All,

Welcome to Locomotive Spotlight #1-2023!!!

Long Island RR Alco C420s #225 and #229 get the honor of leading off the 2023 Spotlight series. Today we'll take a look at the prototype and the Atlas HO scale models.

What is an Alco Century? 

The Alco Century line debuted in 1963 with the Century 424 or C424, a 2,400 HP four motor road switcher that for the most part met the company's second generation aspirations. Although the horsepower race was on between the locomotive builders Alco also chose to offer a lower horsepower unit, the C420.

The 2,000 HP C-420 was an evolution of the Alco RS32 series and used the same twelve cylinder model 251C prime mover. Century series features incorporated into the new units included radiators mounted horizontally, central air intake with inertial filters and a pointed cab front. 

Although the other Century series locomotives featured short stubby noses the C420 had a longer nose that when ordered with a high hood could accommodate a steam generator for passenger car heating. This feature made it perfect for the Long Island Railroad.

The first C420 was delivered in June of 1963 and by the time the final unit rolled out of the Schenectady, NY plant in August, 1968 129 units had been built for US service plus two for Mexico.

The Prototype

From December 1963 thru July 1964 the Long Island Railroad, a money losing subsidiary of the Pennsylvania RR leased twenty two C420s (#200-#221) from Alco to fulfill their motive power needs. The high hood LIRR C420s came equipped with steam generators (as noted above), mu capabilities and were delivered in the LIRR orange & gray "Worlds Fair" scheme.

In 1968 the LIRR, now owned by the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority returned to Alco and purchased eight more C420s (#222-#229) that were delivered in the MTA blue and yellow paint scheme.

The Alco C420s were workhorses for the LIRR but not popular with engine crews for their rough riding and smoke filled cabs. The LIRR added smoke deflectors to the first units received and Alco added them to the rest of the units which helped but didn't eliminate the problem.

The original batch of leased C420s had a gear ratio of 64:19 and were classified as L1s by the MTA. The 222-229 units had a gear ratio of 79:24 and were classified as L2s. The reason for this was that the MTA was hoping to get freight contracts to be handled exclusively by the second group of C420s. This however never materialized and the units saw dual service throughout their careers on Long Island. 

The LIRR Alco C420 L1s move on

In 1976 as the leases were expiring on the original C420s, (#200-#221) the MTA returned them to their leaseholder, Railway Traction Company, storing them at the D&H Colonie, NY Shop. The D&H short on power after gaining increased trackage rights from the formation of Conrail leased several of these units for their own use. 

The LIRR Alco C420 L2s soldier on

The L2 batch of Alco C420s soldiered on well into the 1980s. Many of the C420s would wear the MTA blue, the blue and white wave scheme and some the attractive bicentennial red, white and blue wave scheme.

In September of 1989 the LIRR Morris Park Shops spiffed up #225 and #229 for a passenger fan trip. This looks to have been their last hoorah in passenger service. After that they could be found in work train service.

End of the line

It is reported that the L2s were sold in their entirety to Naparano Steel, an infamous scrapper of locomotives in NJ, and were then sold to a foreign country. Whether that deal went thru and what eventually happed to the L2s remains a mystery.

The Models

The LIRR Alco C420s #225 and #229 are both Silver series Atlas Master Locomotives that are DCC ready. 

The models come well protected in these plastic cases.

Releasing the models from the plastic cars involves removing these two screws that hold the engine securely in place. Note the two piece Accumate couplers from other Atlas products have been removed in favor of Kadee couplers. Both C420s received Kadee #5s.

The foam pieces will hold the model in place when the screws are removed. Separate cab sunshades are included for the modeler to install. 

The LIRR C420s get the once over by the NYCTL trainmen. Note the smoke deflectors on the long hood and that the sunshades have been installed.

The 222-229 L2s were delivered with a 1,000 gallon fuel tank and 1,900 gallon water tank for the steam generator. The units also featured plows on each end which are included on the model.

LIRR caboose C-91 looks good with the new C420s. I painted the C-91 in November 2017 and lettered it with decals made by our late friend Engineer Ed. Thanks again Ed!!!

Uh oh!! First testing shows we'll need additional clearance on track #3 at Empire City Station. Some razor work took care of this minor issue.

After testing it was time to "officially" deliver the LIRR C420s

Train VN-4 has brought the C420s to Terminal Yard.

The LIRR C420s draw a crowd at the engine terminal. Looks like the KPRS guys got their VW out of the impound lot!

The guys get a close up of the new units. 

Naturally Alco Joe gets the call for Train EC-1 to deliver the C420s to North Side Yard for the LIRR to take possession.

Train EC-1 heads for North Side Yard.

The C420s are delivered and EC-1 engineer Alco Joe says hello to the Empire Belt trainmen.

Later that day LIRR Train MA-3 arrives at North Side Yard.

LIRR engineer Jimmy Alco checks in with the EBRR guys and takes possession of the new C420s.

Next stop Fresh Pond Yard. The C420s are now "officially" delivered!

Additional Reading, Resources and Links

LIRR Alco C420s. A plethora of great information on the locomotives.

LI 225 thru the years on Long Island

LI 229 thru the years on Long Island

Links for photos of nine ex LI C420s leased to the D&H.

Photos of new and used Alco C420s working for various railroads.

Railroad Model Craftsman January 2008 edition has prototype and Atlas C420 model information.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!