Greetings All,
Paint Shop Report
Covered Hoppers, Flatcars, and Boxcar
From time to time I review the freight cars in my ever expanding fleet to find cars that very rarely make it to the layout to try and better utilize them. If necessary I'll repaint and re-letter them to better fit within the scope of the layout and its operations. Here are a few of the recent repaint and re-lettering projects.
CB&Q Two Bay Covered Hoppers
Two CB&Q two bay covered hoppers that have in my fleet for about twenty years were the first cars to enter the Patti O Paint Shop. The two cars had been upgraded with knuckle couplers and metal wheelsets many years ago but languished in the box.
Right or wrong I just couldn't picture these tiny covered hoppers traveling from the mid-west to my layout in the northeast carrying cement.
The Penn Central H-33 Fleet
PC series 876170-876368, ex PRR 255850-256049 were small 1958 cubic foot covered hoppers built at Altoona, PA. The cars featured the early square hatch design prevalent with early covered hoppers and were generally used in cement service.
The newly painted and lettered close enough H-33 covered hoppers are ready for reassembly.
PC 876223 and 876344 made their virtual ops debut in PCCM 107 where they were interchanged at North Side Yard with the LIRR for movement to a Long Island cement plant.
Four Flatcars
Various Road Names
The four Athearn BB flatcars in this project date back twenty or so years when they received metal pipe loads, Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets. The cars are RI, ATSF, UP and NYC one side only. To tone down the circus look of the red ATSF and yellow UP cars I tried weathering them with an over spray of rattle can flat black and rust colored primer which didn't turn out well.
The Rock Island Car is the best looking of the four and has received a temporary reprieve.
The one side only NYC car with pipe load is ready for repainting.
The ATSF and UP cars are also ready. The pipe load on the UP car was loose and easily removed.
"19970419 41 EJ&E Kirk Yard, Gary, IN" by davidwilson1949 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.
The EJ&E is a major steel hauler which is perfect for this project.
"Covered Steel Coil Car, EJ&E" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.
EJ&E 6630 is slightly different from the 6764 above.
EJ&E 6248 is slightly different from the above two EJ&E cars.
Rock Island 90090 survived the project unscathed!!
New car cards and waybills have been prepared for all four cars which I plan to run mostly as a four car block. The first loading that will bring them onto the layout is at American Steel in Joliet, Illinois that was served by both the EJ&E and Rock Island further cementing the RI flatcar continuing on as is.
"9/4/78, CPRail RS3 8433" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.
"Yellow TH and B train car in St Jacobs, Ontario" by User:Saforrest is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?ref=openverse.
The former WP boxcar is just out of the paint shop in TH&B colors. This is certainly a much brighter car!
THB 3284 is now ready for revenue service. The lettering near the door states "To be used only for newsprint, paper, flour, sugar or high class merchandise". Perfect for my needs!! BTW the NYCTL only deals with high class merchandise!!
The 3284 has arrived on the layout loaded with bulk sugar and poses for a roster shot in Terminal Yard prior to its next car movement. As noted above this commodity has three on layout consignees, Hostess in Bedford NY and Brach's at the Terminal Warehouse & Cold Storage Complex will receive bulk sugar. Ralph's Grocery Warehouse in Empire City will will receive five pound bags of sugar for retail sales. Off layout the car will travel to the A&P in Brooklyn, NY via the LIRR also with five pound bags of sugar for retail sales.
TH&B 3284 delivers bulk sugar from Dominion Sugar in Wallaceburg, Ontario to the Hostess Plant in Bedford NY.
Once back in Terminal Yard the 3284 can be included in a train heading to Selkirk or the blue car card can be flipped to fulfill an empty car request from Superior Furniture in Empire City.
The TH&B 3284 will get moved to Superior Furniture for either a load of furniture for Montgomery Ward in the TW&CS complex.
Or a load of TV cabinets for RCA in Owen Sound, Ontario which would take it off layout and back towards its home rails.
The newly painted UP flatcar and the EJ&E decals from K-4 purchaded for this project.
Prototype Info
The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway
The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway (reporting mark EJE) was a Class II railroad, making a roughly circular path between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operated almost entirely within the city's suburbs, only entering Chicago where it served the U.S. Steel South Works on the shores of Lake Michigan. Nicknames for the railroad included "The J" and "The Chicago Outer Belt Line". At the end of 1970, the EJ&E operated 164 miles of track and carried 848 million ton-miles of revenue freight in that year alone.
The EJ&E is a major steel hauler which is perfect for this project.
Three New EJ&E Flatcars Now In Revenue Service
The newly painted and lettered EJ&E 40' flatcars are now in service.
A TH&B Boxcar Joins The Roster and a
Western Pacific Bulk Sugar Boxcar Exits the Roster
This Athearn BB WP bulk sugar boxcar is another car that just didn't get on the layout much if at all based mainly on looks. For whatever reason I just didn't care for the tired looking paint and lettering but did like the commodity which is one that has three on layout consignees and offers off layout interchange with the LIRR.
Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo
Prototype Info
In searching for decals to spruce up the WP boxcar I came across a set of TH&B boxcar decals from K4 Decals. The TH&B was jointly owned by the New York Central(73%) and Canadian Pacific(27%) and after February 1st, 1968 the PC and CP. The TH&B was based in Hamilton and interestingly never built out to Toronto or Buffalo instead relying on trackage rights of their owners to reach the namesake cities.
The TH&B boxcars featured a yellow body with black doors, roof and ends that began to appear in 1952. The colors were chosen in honor of the Hamilton Tiger Cats football team.
The former WP boxcar is just out of the paint shop in TH&B colors. This is certainly a much brighter car!
When made empty at Hostess the 3284 will be picked up by the Bedford Turn for movement to Terminal Yard and forwarding back to the TH&B at Hamilton, Ontario.
Final Thoughts and Comments
With these projects now completed I've added six freight cars that better fit my layout and operations. This is in addition to the four Turtle Creek flatcars I repainted and lettered last month as MEC and BAR flatcars respectively.
The decals used for the above projects are from Highball (PC H33s) and K-4 (EJ&E and TH&B cars).
The Patti-O Paint Shop continues to be busy with several more projects either recently completed or awaiting completion. Look for additional blog posts in the future detailing these projects.
Additional Resources and Links
Elgin Joliet & Eastern Railway Wikipedia
TH&B Historical Society
TH&B Wikipedia
Thanks For Reading!!!
