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

New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is a New York Central baggage car that I am building for John Mills. It will follow along behind the J1e I built for him a few years back. This has been a fun project as it is much simpler than a locomotive. I have put together a passenger car kit, but have never scratch built one. Some fun little puzzles like the brake rigging for a six wheel truck and the clerestory roof. First the six wheel trucks were put together from partial casting set that had been kicking around for twenty years or so. The equalizers were missing so these were cut out of 1/4" T6 aluminum. Then some leaf springs were made up
and then the brake rigging. The brake shoes were some single piece shoes that I had. The brake beams were made up from 9/16" round stock. The clevises, pins and pull rods were machined up from some L series steel. The curved pieces of the poll rods that fit around the axles was made from 3/8" square cold rolled.
Attachments
Bag1.jpg
Bag2.jpg
Bag3.jpg
Bag4.jpg
Bag5.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Here is a bit more. The brake rigging was quite a puzzle as this truck was designed without prototype brake rigging in mind. There was no provision for a center axle brake hanger or a central brake lever. After a bit of head scratching this was overcome. The main brake lever has curved end that operates through a hole in the center plate. I'll try to get you a photo of that later on. The sides are 3/16" T6. The under frame is steel. The clerestory roof will be mostly wood with a stationary center section and a side pivoting roof section on either side of the center section. There will be a compressor, air reservoir, and batteries inside. The compressor will be mounted on double isolation mounts for quietness. There will be a thermostatically controlled cooling fan for the compressor. There will also be a storage area for oil cans and tools and such. The brakes will be the automatic air variety.
More to Come
Jack
Attachments
Bag6.jpg
Bag8.jpg
Bag9.jpg
KidAmato
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Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 9:31 pm

Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by KidAmato »

Jack,
Really looking forward to watching the progress of this build. I am sure John will be blown away by the final product.


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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thank you Nico, this is a different sort of project. Here are some more snappies of progress. The sides are mostly done, lots of drive rivets. The sides are joined to the frame and floor with round head snap rivets. The side doors won't actually open. The two bottom photos show part of the clerestory roof being laminated. This will form the lower sides of the roof. This is two 1/8" door skin layers laminated on a form tool. The car will have a full length roof with a stationary center portion with a hinged lift up roof portion on either side. The ends of the roof will be stationary. More to come.
Jack
Attachments
Baggage10.jpg
Baggage11.jpg
Baggage12.jpg
Baggage13.jpg
Baggage14.jpg
Cary Stewart
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by Cary Stewart »

Hello Jack,
Nice work as usual. Do you suppose the part kit you have for the trucks are/were from RRSC. The horn blocks and the cast aluminum frames do look a lot like RRSC product. Also I see that you are a believer that you can never have too many clamps.
Also as to air transport for locomotives, the nest time you come to LALA and Nick Guzman has the thunderbolt out take at his two boxes he transports the loco and tender in. These boxes were built for Bruce Ward in England and were used to ship by air the Thunderbolt to LAX. Also David rose shipped many locos and other steam engines from England every time he went over. He did have some help from Don Coventry who worked in the instrument repair shop at British Air in Heathrow.
Cary
Cary Stewart
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by Cary Stewart »

It just occurred to me that the RRSC patterns came from someone in Chicago.
Cary
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Been making parts and such for the baggage car. The car will have automatic air brakes, but you still need to tie the car down if you leave it parked. The brake wheel is one of my castings and the housing was just made up from some T6 aluminum that was laying around. It has a ratchet mechanism and the release lever is sticking out the right side. I had some steel welded link chain just the right size and length in the old stash box. I have no idea where it came from, wish I had more. The pivot casting where the chain transitions from vertical chain to to a horizontal tie rod is a casting I got from Howard. The car is still upside down and I want to get the underside completed and painted along with the trucks before flipping it right side up so once the roof is finished it can stay upright. It has been nice and warm lately during the day, just perfect for painting but it will no doubt turn cold and wet when it's time to paint...Murphy's law you know.
See ya' later alligator.
Jack
Attachments
Brakes1.jpg
Brakes1.jpg (21.67 KiB) Viewed 18451 times
Brakes2.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
It looks like I goofed up resizing that first photo so here is another try. There that's better.
Jack
Attachments
Brakes.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 the baggage car.
Jack
Attachments
Baggage1.jpg
Baggage2.jpg
Baggage3.jpg
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PRR5406
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by PRR5406 »

Unreal detail. Perhaps I should say "real detail"! Blown away by the craftsmanship!
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Pappawolff11
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by Pappawolff11 »

Do you have any detail pics as to the construction of the leaf springs and the end retainers on the ends of the spring packs? This is beautiful work. I have always loved the attention to detail and craftsmanship in the pictures you share.
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makinsmoke
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Re: New York Central Baggage Car

Post by makinsmoke »

Jack,
How did you cut out the equalizers?
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