New York Central Baggage Car

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JBodenmann
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Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 1:37 pm
Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
The equalizers were made from 1/4" T6 aluminum. They were laid out with a card stock pattern and a fine point sharpie. Holes were drilled to form the inside curves and then they were cut out with the band saw. Adjust the hole sizes to suit the radius. After band sawing the outer edges were cleaned up with the disc and drum sander, and some surfaces were cleaned up using the milling machine. There are only eight of them and not too much trouble to hack out. Here is a bit of a sketch. When laid out the equalizers were nested to minimize waste. I got them as close together as possible. The springs were cut to length using my shear. Cutting this spring steel is a bit rough on the shear blades. Then they were drilled with a carbide drill for the binder screws and squirted through the slip roll to radius them. I have cut springs with an abrasive blade in a cut off saw, and radiused them with a wood form and a big rubber mallet before I had a shear and slip roll. Get er' done. The clips for the ends of the springs were machined as a strip and then cut into short pieces. I'll get you some photos of these sometime this weekend.
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
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EQ.jpg
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Pappawolff11
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by Pappawolff11 »

Thank you for the information and I’ll check back for the photos. I also sent you a PM with a question unrelated to this project. Have a great weekend.
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is something you may find useful. The baggage car will have automatic air brakes, but instead of a triple valve it will just have a reservoir and check valve. Here is a check valve that is very dependable. It works great for air or oil. I would not use it for a boiler check. It is very simple and utilizes a bit of silicone tubing slipped over a tube with some holes in it. Our top photo here shows the parts laid out. At the top is the housing, in the middle is the part that the tube fits over. At the bottom, the silicone tube. This is 1/8" ID. tube. In the middle photo the silicone tube is fitted over the brass bit with the holes drilled in it. The bottom photo shows the whole mess assembled. The housing should have some clearance around the silicone tube. Simple, very positive action and, pretty forgiving to make. In this case the ends are threaded 3/16" model pipe threads. The OD. of the housing is 7/16" and the hex on the ends is 5/16". And then our last photo for now is the reservoir. Just made up from a length of brass tubing that was laying around. The ends were turned up and riveted and soldered in. Now it's time to prep and paint the trucks, brake gear, and underside of the car so when it's flipped back right side up it can stay that way.
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Attachments
Check1.jpg
Check2.jpg
Check3.jpg
Res.jpg
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makinsmoke
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by makinsmoke »

Thank you Jack. I need to cut some 3/8” T6 equalizers and am terrified the band saw blade will cut at an angle instead of 90 degrees.

I need to buy a brand new blade and experiment on a corner. I bought four cut blanks the right length and height from Online Metals. Not cheap, but at least I have parallel edges and straight tops and bottoms to start with.
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makinsmoke
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by makinsmoke »

Railroad Supply does sell the leaf spring end retainers if you don’t want to make them.
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here are a couple snappies of the spring ends. They are a simple matter to machine up as a strip if you have an angle vise for the mill. There is a little pin as you can see in the second photo that keeps them from wiggling out. For jobs like cutting out equalizers I will often use a brand new bandsaw blade like Makinsmoke suggests. Also my bandsaw blades all start out as brass cutting blades. Once a blade is used for steel it looses its freshness and doesn't work well for brass. Sometimes it's a pain to change blades back and forth for steel and brass but I think it's worth it. Same goes for files. They all start out as brass files with red handles and when they get a bit dull the red handles come off. I also have separate drawers in the work benches for brass and steel files.
Happy Model Building
Jack
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IMG_8156.jpg
IMG_8157.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit of an update on the baggage car. For starters we have the compressor with it's dual isolation mount. The compressor is mounted to a very heavy 1-1/4" thick steel plate with some fairly light neoprene vibration isolators. Then the heavy plate is mounted to the car floor with some fairly heavy isolators. The neoprene mounts should be different, not the same so as to cancel out different frequencies. A car body makes a pretty good resonator so this double isolation system makes for a very quiet system. Then we have the compressor and reservoir plunked down in the car just to have a look. Also visible is the cooling fan which will be thermostatically operated. It will pull air in through the bottom of the car and it will be ducted around the cylinder and cylinder head. The air will exit out the ventilators in the clerestory roof. There will be some sort of easily removable bulk head between the compressor, reservoir and the rest of the compartment which well be for oil cans, and tools and such. There is a center bulk head in the car to separate messy oil cans and such from things like your jacket and lunch. A large D series battery will go somewhere. Then we have the control panel. This has a main reservoir gauge and switches for the compressor, interior lights, and the red tail lamp on the back of the car. There will also be switches to turn on the interior lights when you open the roof access doors. There will be LED pilot lights for the switches, and illuminated lettering for night operation. This panel will be visible and accessible from the tender. Then the last two snappies here show the side doors. They will be stationary and won't actually open. Next up will be the roof. More to come.
Jack
Attachments
Comp.jpg
Comp&Res.jpg
Panel.jpg
Door1.jpg
Door2.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is an update on the baggage car. Time to start the clerestory roof. As sixteen roof ribs were needed and they should all be the same, a pattern was made to they could be trimmed using a router and an edge trimming cutter. In the first photo we have a card stock pattern stuck to a bit of 3/4" MDF. This material is very good for a pattern as it has no grain like plywood and can be shaped very precisely. The profile was transferred to the MDF and then was cut out using the bandsaw, then sanded and smoothed very carefully to profile. The parts to be trimmed will be no better than this pattern. Then the profile was marked out on 1/2" birch plywood and the sixteen roof ribs were cut out using the bandsaw being careful to leave about a sixteenth of an inch for the edge trimmer. The MDF pattern was fastened down to the work table with some sheet rock screws and the 1/2" roof rib blanks were stuck down to the pattern with more screws and zoomed around the edge with the router and edge trimmer cutter. Photo 4 shows the stack of roof ribs. This process will ensure that they are all identical. And our last photo for now shows the center roof section sort of mocked up just to have a look. Next will be to make a forming die to laminate the center skins of the roof. They should be made to the correct curvature of the roof before they are fastened to the ribs. The lower curved pieces are already made and now will be trimmed and fitted. No shortage of things to do!
Jack
Attachments
Rib1.jpg
Rib2.jpg
Rib3.jpg
Rib4.jpg
Rib5.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here are a few snappies of parts for the baggage car. The top two are the roof panel form tool and formed roof panel. The panels are made of two layers of 1/8" plywood glued together on the former. Then the un trimmed roof panels just set in place. Next to make will be the ends which I have not decided how to make yet. I have made them before and there are several ways to make them. Now I have a question for you. What colors did they paint the inside of baggage cars? John and I discussed this and thought the best thing to do was to ask the members here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Happy Model Building
Jack
Attachments
Roof1.jpg
Roof2.jpg
Roof4.jpg
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FLSTEAM
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Location: Central Florida

Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by FLSTEAM »

Baggage cars I have been in had Battle Ship Gray inside
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NP317
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by NP317 »

NP and SP&S baggage cars were painted a light green.
At least the one preserved at the NW Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, WA. It is a combine with baggage, seating, and RPO.
It even have its original seats, pot bellied stove, windows, RPO mail slots, and more. Light green...
RussN
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thanks for the information. Gray sounds like the choice.
Jack
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