Freight Car Spotlight #7-2022 / Athearn D&TS 50' Boxcar #4053

 Greetings All,

Freight Car Spotlight #7-2022

Today's freight car spotlight will focus on this Athearn 50' double door Detroit & Toledo Shoreline boxcar #4053 that I purchased at an area train show in January 2022. 

The D&TS 4053 is an older kit and one I really wanted as soon as I saw it. As a fan of the Emery Gulash photos and videos the D&TS was a constant presence in his recording of railroad action. 

Prototype Information

The Detroit & Toledo Shoreline RR was a 50 mile Class 1 railroad jointly owned by the Nickel Plate and Grand Trunk Western. The RR was founded in 1903 and was absorbed into the GTW in 1981 after the GTW bought the 50% ex NKP share from Norfolk Southern.

The D&TS was a well maintained double tracked RR that featured a hump yard, CTC traffic control and became fully dieselized in 1953. Later locomotives, all EMD, were painted in a Nickel Plate RR scheme.

Most of the RRs revenue came from hauling bituminous coal from Toledo connections to industries in Southeast Michigan and Southern Ontario. Additional revenue came from hauling auto parts from Detroit to their Toledo connections.

Model Information 

The D&TS slogan boasted it being the "Expressway For Industry" as it ran under or along side the newly built Interstate 75. Car #4053 is in dedicated service and is to be returned when empty to the agent D&T Shoreline RR Detroit, MI.

A large square herald proudly shows the cars ownership.

The car is typical for an early Athearn Blue Box kit with a rusty weight and horn hook couplers.

The chassis, weight, trucks, coupler box lids and wheel faces have all been painted rattle can flat black. Proto 2000 metal wheelsets and Kadee #27 couplers have been installed.

The cars floor has been rattle can painted in gray primer and one ounce of additional weight has been added.

The car is assembled and tested on the height gauge.

The DT&S 4053 is now ready for service. A car card and waybill have been prepared for the car to haul auto parts from the Ford Rouge Plant in Detroit to my Bedford Park Ford Plant.

The D&TS 4053 makes its first delivery to the Bedford Park Ford Plant.

An empty car waybill directs the car to return to the Shoreline at Detroit, MI when empty in compliance with the D&TS car forwarding instructions on the car's sides.

Model to Prototype Comparison

Checking various RR websites I came across the following photographs of D&TS boxcars in the 4000 and 3600 series.

D&TS 4027 No date or location.

D&TS 4045 at Concord Ontario in 1970.

D&TS 3662 at Marshalltown, Iowa in 1969.

The above three cars closely resemble the model with the exception of the herald. The prototype herald has a red background and the model a black background.

Additional Comments

Having this boxcar running on the layout brings back memories of the Emery Gulash videos from Green Frog videos like the Penn Central Odyssey, New York Central Odyssey and Michigan Fast Freight and gives the car a time and place of origin that I both recognize and enjoy.

Empty Waybill Slips

I've adopted using an empty car slip or waybill for forwarding empty cars. The car card has a Return Empty To feature printed on it that is visible when you remove the waybill. Not wanting to have to store the waybills in a separate file the empty car slip allows the car to move loaded and empty with both waybills stored in the car card pocket.  

Additional Reading

Grand Trunk Wester RR Historical Society page about the Detroit & Toledo Shoreline.

Railroad Michigan

Small Model Railroads

The Detroit & Toledo Shoreline RR by Geletzke and Hague.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!

 

Freight Car Spotlight #6-2022 / Upgrading T.O.F.C Service

 Greetings All,

As reported in prior blog posts one of my favorite types of railroad rolling stock is the Trailer or Container on Flatcar known as TOFC or COFC. 

Photo by Gary Lee Todd, PHD. Courtesy of Creative Commons

When I decided to attend a used merchandise sale at my local hobby shop, Trainmaster Models, my top priority was to look for tractors, trailers and single trailer flatcars. When I got the box of train goodies home I believe I achieved my goals to upgrade my TOFC traffic and rolling stock. Let's take a look.

Tractors & Trailers

My big train store haul from June 3rd, 2022 included four tractors and eleven trailers for increased TOFC traffic. All of the models are Athearn BB and are in kit form. The green tractors are lettered "Time-DC" and the yellow tractors are lettered for "Hertz".

Athearn BB Trailer Kits

Here is the basic Athearn BB Piggy-Back Trailer kit that includes a refrigeration unit. The kits are simple and easy to put together with standard hobby tools.

The DC trailers are Denver-Chicago Trucking. The two green tractors painted and lettered for Time-DC after Denver-Chicago merged with the Time System in 1973 will be perfect for these trailers and fit the Penn Central era. 

A builders note on these older style trailer wheels in these kits. Pressing the axles together all the way will make the trailer wheels too tight for use on the all purpose TOFC Flatcars

The newer style wheels shown below don't have this problem.

After test fitting on the new Walthers TOFC flats and the Athearn BB flats in my fleet most of the older style trailer axles were cemented in place as seen below. 

The trailers will now fit both the Walthers, Athearn and McKean TOFC Flats.

Athearn Tractor Kits

The Athearn BB kit is based on the cab over White Freightliner Highway Tractors introduced in 1953. 

 

Here's a photo of the Hertz BB tractor kits.

The four tractors are built and make for good flatcar loads. Note the tractors come in both six wheel and ten wheel versions. I glued  some gray construction paper inside the rear of the cabs to eliminate the see thru look.

A Hertz six wheel tractor delivers a Sea-Land Trailer to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.

A Time-DC tractor pulls a DC trailer from the Terminal Yard TOFC track. Note that a driver has been placed in the cab.

On the layout the BUD of California trailer looks good delivering fresh produce from California to Empire Produce.

TOFC 89' Flatcars

A pair of Walthers 89' flatcars were part of the great train store haul of June 3rd, 2022. I took a chance that these cars would be able to negotiate the 24" radius curves on the layout.

Proto Information from Walthers

The introduction of the 89' flat car in 1960 opened the door for a new generation of piggyback service. Equipped with a pair of collapsible hitches these new cars could easily handle the older 35' and/or the newer 40' trailers then entering service.

The universal hitches eliminated the time consuming need for complex tie downs. New trailer handling equipment streamlined the loading process. 

The 1980s marked another turning point in TOFC technology as 45' trailers became the standard. But many railroads and TTX found themselves with fleets on 89' flats that could only carry one of these larger trailers. By 1982 Trailer Train, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific began a modernization program, developing the "Twin 45" flat car.

By moving the hitches and allowing for a slight overhang a pair of 45' trailers could be carried.

Below is an ATSF 89' TOFC Flatcar (Flush Deck) - Twin 45 version.

Two 45' ATSF trailers on the "Twin 45".

Walthers New Orleans Public Belt 89' TOFC flat car (flush deck).

The NOPB TOFC flat car is carrying a C&NW 45' trailer and an EBRR 40'er. This car comes with additional hitches and diagrams to convert it to carry two 45'ers and single 53' and 48' trailers. 

McKean Models 50' TOFC Conversion Flatcars

 

Prototype Information from McKean Models

Three major factors, the large increase in TOFC/COFC business, the increasing length of trailers of up to 48' making it difficult to work with railroad cars long enough to take two trailers of this length and the decrease in boxcar loadings have caused some railroads to to convert some of their excess boxcar fleet into 50' TOFC Flatcars.

The original prototype for these models was converted from a 50' boxcar for the Southern Railway by Ortner Freight Car of Cincinnati in response to a need for a car that could handle a trailer 48' long. 

There was an additional benefit to this program, new life for old boxcars.

Photo by Gary Lee Todd PH.D. Courtesy of Creative Commons

Building the McKean Models 50'TOFC Conversion Flats

The McKean TOFC Flatcars presented several building challenges that made the process go slowly. What I envisioned as Athearn type shake the box kits was not the case. The tooling left a lot to be desired with the parts needing a copious amount of drilling, filing trimming and CA.

Here are the two CP Rail flats with weights painted and secured with clear silicon. The ill fitting frame is secured to the car body with CA and clamped in place so the car will ride level.

Finished UP TOFC Conversion Flats with UP trailers are ready for service.

A close up of UP TOFC Flatcar #13861 and UP Trailer #UPZ 20579. The UP flats have a build date of 11/1974.

The CP Rail TOFC Flats are built and ready for service.

A close up of CP Rail TOFC Flat #505971 and BUD of California Trailer #BUDZ 503058

The CN TOFC Flats are built and ready for service.

A close up of CN TOFC Flatcar #686130 and Sea Land Trailer #40136. This TOFC flat has a rebuild date of 4-79.

All of the McKean TOFC flat cars received metal wheelsets from either Intermountain or Walthers. The McKean wheelsets were terrible and I'm not sure they were even round. #5 or #22 Kadee couplers were added as coupler heights dictated.

 

Newly purchased Conrail MP15DC gets the call to deliver TOFC traffic between Terminal Yard and the REA Ramp in Empire City.

New TOFC cars on the move!

Here are the six new cars on the Terminal Yard TOFC Track ready for their next movements.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!

Locomotive Spotlight #5-2022 / Conrail MP15DC #9624

 Greetings All,

Locomotive Spotlight #5-2022

Conrail MP15DC #9624

Welcome to another locomotive spotlight. Today I'm dipping my toe once again into the post April 1st, 1976 era as we take a look at the 1:1 and 1:87 scale Conrail MP15DC #9624.

Some Prototype Information

On April 1st the Consolidated Rail Corporation, Conrail, took over the operations of seven bankrupt Northeast railroads. Included in the Conrail takeover was the Reading Railroad, a once proud coal and passenger hauler and an innovative RR that provided a well respected customer based "Bee Line Service" introduced in 1966. 

The Reading Railroad (pronounced Redding) also known as the Reading Company was founded in 1833 and lasted until the April 1, 1976 creation of Conrail at which time the Reading had been bankrupt since 1971.

Here is a 1970 photo of a Reading train at Hagerstown MD. 

Photo by railfan 44. Courtesy of Creative Commons.org

Reading Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit at Lynchburg, VA in 2017 showing the Bee Line Service logo.

Photo by Kipp Teague. Courtesy of Creative Commons.

The Reading RR, reporting marks RDG, conveyed ten EMD MP15 switch engines #s 2771 - 2780 to Conrail's opening day roster of 4,877 locomotives. The units would be renumbered to CR #s 9621-9630.

So What is an EMD MP15DC

The MP15 series were the final EMD end cab switch engines introduced to replace the EMD SW1500 in the mid 1970s. Introduced as the MP15 the designation changed with the introduction of AC technology.

Here is ex RDG Conrail MP15DC #9624 at Reading PA in 1987.

Photo by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. courtesy of Creative Commons.org

The EMD MP15DC was a bit longer than the earlier SW series at 48-feet and also featured a bulkier and boxier car body and cab, even more-so than the updated car bodies of the SW1500 and SW1000. 

The MP15DC was built through 1980 and ultimately sold some 351 units, and turned out to be the best selling model of the series. 

Of note, EMD actually considered the MP15DC a true road switcher rather than just a yard switcher. While it carried the look of the latter, internally it was indeed a small road switcher that also offered 62,000 pounds of starting tractive effort and 48,800 pounds continuous (using General Motors' D77 traction motors).  

The MP15DC came with a multiple unit (MU) option (allowing more than one unit on the head-end to be controlled from the lead cab) as well as the ability to operate with dynamic brakes (another feature which EMD would install if requested).

Ex RDG Conrail MP15DC #9624 at Reading PA in 1987.Photo by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. courtesy of Creative Commons.org

The locomotive also utilized Blomberg trucks as had been featured on the SW1500 variant for Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, doing away with AAR and Flexicoil trucks used on the SW1500 and earlier models.

Model Information

Our Conrail MP15DC is an Atlas Master Series model that was purchased as part of the great train store haul on June 03, 2022. Here it is as purchased.

The model didn't look like it was ever out of the box. Below are the separate detail items that need to be applied to complete the model. 

Detailed assembly instructions were included. Thankfully!

A completed 9624 at the Terminal Yard engine terminal gives us a good look at the details of this locomotive.

Conrail SW1500 #9513 is an Athearn BB model and is posted to compare the MP15DC-SW1500 differences. The 9513 was built in 1972 for the Penn Central with the same road number. The Conrail Quality paint scheme began appearing on CR motive power in the summer of 1991. 

A front side view of the 9624.

The two switch engines ran together pretty well. Reading GP40-2 #3672 was conveyed to Conrail on April 1, 1976 and would become CR #3276.

What a difference a decade makes!!! 

The years 1966 to 1976 were amazing for the amount of changes that occurred in the RR industry. In 1966 the NYC and PRR are preparing their fleets for a merger that mayor may not take place. The New York Central discontinues its named trains in 1967 and the 20th Century Limited makes its final run in December, 1967.The New York Central - Pennsylvania Railroad merger takes place in February, 1968. The New Haven is forced into the newly created Penn Central in January, 1969. Penn Central is bankrupt in June, 1970. Amtrak takes over most inter city passenger service in May, 1971. Seven bankrupt northeast class one railroads are joined together to form the quasi government backed Consolidated Rail Corporation.

The 9624 brings a local freight train past RA Tower. The lead car is a Walthers ex Penn Central boxcar lettered for Conrail but retaining its PC number.

On another day the 9624 is working the Bedford Turn and spotting a Conrail boxcar at the Hostess / Wonder Bread Plant. 

Moving the calendar past 1991 the SW1500 9513 is in the Conrail Quality paint scheme. 

Here is the Conrail MP15DC #9624 with the SW1500 working the Bedford Turn with a mix of early and later Conrail rolling stock.

Final Thoughts 

With the amount of model railroading possibilities between 1966 and 1976 what's a train-aholic like myself to do? I find the NYC, PC and early CR years fascinating. I have a small amount of CR rolling stock and motive power and plenty of equipment from their predecessor roads to put together some early Conrail consists.

While I prefer the May 1976 Conrail my CR locomotives and rolling stock don't necessarily reflect the prototype for this era.  But if I don't get caught up in the prototype details this seven engine consist looks pretty cool to me!

Coming soon the Conrail MP15DC #9624 couples up to a string of TOFC flats in Terminal Yard. Next installment will feature the TOFC cars that also came from the great train haul of June 03, 2022.

Sources and Additional Reading:

Trains of the 1970s Kalmbach Publishing.

AmericanRails.com MP15DC/AC/T Locomotives

Conrail Cyclopedia: GP40-2s

1994 photo of Conrail SW15000 9513 in Conrail Quality paint

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!