Modifying the Tichy Flat Car Part IV

In the first post I showed how I modified the deck and assembled the basic kit.

The second post covered scratchbuilding side sills and measuring and installing stake pockets. The third post covered how I was handling the rivets with an addendum from my buddy Bill Gill here.

The impetus for this particular project was a photo of a T&P flat car which also includes prototype information for that and similar cars.

What else can we do with the Tichy kit?

I forgot to mention an important version of the kit in my earlier posts. The Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society has offered the Tichy kit for several years with custom decals to raise funds to restore a CG flat car built in 1925. As of this writing there are only 9 kits left, but they have decals available too (in several scales). Again, only 5 of the HO ones today. I don't know if they will be getting more of the decals.

While I don't have a diagram, it's a nominal 40' flat car with straight side sills and 12 stake pockets. The end sills are different, so I think I'll scratchbuild those.

But I originally started experimenting with these kits because I wanted to model at least one of the New Haven's 36-foot flat cars.

NH F-232 at New London, September 24, 1951, photographer unknown.

While I have quite a bit of data on the disposition and life of these cars, I only have limited info on this particular one. I know it was renumbered sometime in x-15-1949, but not the original road number or month. Presumably this renumbering was when it was removed from interchange service and reassigned to work service. It was rebuilt (see below) at Readville on 8-2-1938, and was presumably built 1906.

In the March 1951, and February 1953 books it was assigned to a Providence Work Train. It was condemned/sold 4-24-1956.

41000-42149, 42175-42188

These were 36' flat cars built by Standard Steel Car Co from 1906 to 1908, and rode on 40-ton archbar trucks until c1938.

It was the largest (and by the depression, only) class of NH flat cars through the era, with 1116 of a little more than 1200 cars in August 1925. There was a slow decline over the next 10 years, with 1,000 remaining in 1935. From there it accelerated, with 738 in 1936, and only 40 left by the end of 1937.

In 1938, they were split into two groups, 42150-42173 received 40-ton cast sideframe trucks, and 42174-42188 received 30-ton trucks. However, starting in the September 1943 Summary of Equipment, it is more specific, with 13 of them still 30-ton cars with archbar trucks, 2 with 30-ton cast sideframe trucks, and 24 4-ton cars. Over the next two years the cars with archbar trucks would receive new trucks, and in September of 1945 there were 12 30-ton cars, and 24 40-ton. Many, but not necessarily all, received AB Brakes.

Interestingly, the 40-ton cars would be retired faster, with several apparently receiving 30-ton trucks again, as by December 1947 there were 15 40-ton cars, and 19 30-ton. By the end of 1948 it was 13 and 17 respectively, 8 of each in December '49, and only 4 of the 40-ton and 5 of the 30-ton in December, 1950. 

In November 1951 through at least March of '52 only two remained, 42157 (30-ton) and 42168 (40-ton). Both were gone by December. However, in NH documentation is the following note dated 12-31-1952:

These two flat cars have not been located for quite some time and it is presumed they were destroyed.

Many of the cars had been converted to work service through the late '40s. Records are incomplete, but it appears that none of them lasted in work service past 1960, with most being condemned and/or sold from 1955 to 1958.

Modeling the NH Car

The Tichy model seemed the obvious choice to start, and even better there is still a prototype in existence, at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. They have ex-NH 414944. This car still has it's original KC brake system.

The easy approach is to shorten the car in the middle (instead of lengthening it like the others), then modify the side sills to fit the shorter frame. I started one version with this approach. Since it's so easy to make the side sills and the end sills are different from the model, I opted to do a more substantial kitbash. In addition, I used an underframe from an Accurail 36' double-sheathed box car since it's a better match for the NH car.

This shows the shortened Tichy version on top, with the more extensive kitbash on the bottom.

One thing I found interesting is that I had shortened the side sill by cutting just past the second stake pocket from each end, and then shortening the middle section to remove one stake pocket (the NH car has 11 instead of 12). When I measured out and applied the stake pockets for the other car, I was surprised to see that they line up almost identically. The rivets aren't necessarily correct, but this is a quicker option.

You can see that difference between the Tichy (left) and Accurail (uhh...right) underframe is quite noticeable, even from the side when the car is on the track.

The largest differences were in the end sill. The poling pockets themselves are from Cal Scale, but I built up the casting around them from styrene, along with the buffer. 

Because this car is at the end of its life, I decided it would be fun to attempt a severely distressed deck. 

This will be one of the 40-ton cars, and based on the records I have it will be 42153 (condemned 6-14-1951). To my knowledge, this car was the last of this class in revenue service.

I'll cover the specific modifications in more detail in the next post.

New Haven Yard Operations III

On October 21, 1948 the New Haven Railroad published a booklet entitled New Mechanized Train Consist and Car Record System in which it states: 

"...developed by New Haven officers in cooperation with engineers of the International Business Machines Corporation. Studies first projected in 1940 by the New Haven's transportation and communications departments culminated in a definite plan in 1942, but, because of war-time priorities, equipment was not received until the latter half of 1945 when operation was commenced between Maybrook, Cedar Hill, and the car service office at New Haven."

This booklet tells the story in great detail of the old and new Yard Operations processes and paperwork. In my quest to better understand the the inner workings of  New Haven Railroad, this was the single most informative document I found regarding the paperwork and processes used in yard operations. 

This is that story.

I first learned of the booklet in a post on the NHRHTA Forum that led to a post on The Arts Mechanical where John C. Carlton shared the entire book.

I later hunted down my own copy of the booklet, and I should have pulled it out when I started posting on Yard Operations again. It's not uncommon for me to take a quick look through a document like this when I first get it, only to set it aside until I get back to that subject.

The first section of the booklet contains an explanation that is similar, but not exactly the same, as the Along the Line article of the system and the processes. So I won't repeat that here. Instead, what I found most useful are the exhibits.

The New Process

One notable difference between this process and the one used for tank cars earlier is that the punch cards also have the information printed at the top of the card, so they can be read by people. They also aren't codes like what was used on the tank cars, but the actual data (which then shows up on many reports). I covered the basic process in this post.

Exhibit 1 is an overview of the new process compared with the old process and is a nice overview of how the yard operates. Exhibits 2-4 are flow charts that are directly related to this summary.

This is quite informative, and covers the process well, but the focus is understandably on the paper processing process, not necessarily what happens on the ground. What I found more informative are Exhibits 5-12, which provide examples of the old paperwork, and the new paperwork that replaces it.

Switch Lists

These are old and new switch lists, in this case for Maybrook Yard. Of note is that the handwritten one doesn't follow the form, instead they simply divided it into two large columns to fit all of the cut on one form. The information as used is Car Initial and No, Station from, gross tons, and Track No. However, there are several cars that don't indicate either, so I'm not sure what to make of those.

The teletype one appears to have the same information. I don't know what the 1, 7 and 7 between the Station From and gross tons for three cars means, nor the QU 17 for RDG 2271 means.

Also of note is that the switch list is specifically for use in yards. On the handwritten form, you'll note a column (not used) that says 'Rider.' This is referring to the brakeman that rode the car down the hump, if one did. Although the form does have a Station To and Consignee field, so it could be used for the road if those fields were completed.

The teletype replacement, however, makes it clear that it is only useful in the yard, since all of that information is not on the report.

This is the form (whichever version is appropriate for a given layout) that can be used when modeling Yard Operations for an arriving train. If it's the handwritten version, the Yardmaster will prepare the form for the switching crews to break down the train.

Interchange Report

The page showing the old forms show three different ones. The first is an Inbound Train Arrival Sheet. This form was completed by yard clerks to record the consist of the inbound train. This was provided to the Yardmaster so they could create the Switch Lists.

The information was also used to type up the other two reports, the Broad Sheet and Interchange Report Cut-Up Slip were typed simultaneously, the Cut-Up Sheet being a carbon copy. These two were replaced by the new Interchange Report.

A process change eliminated the Train Arrival Sheet, and they started to work directly from the waybills instead of a clerk handwriting this report. This is easy to replicate on the model - the inbound conductor gives the Yardmaster their waybills, and the Yardmaster can use those to write out the Switch List.

Yard Car Record

These were accounting forms, recording the movement of every car through the yard. While interesting (and a gold mine if you can find historical ones), they serve little purpose for modeling.

Inbound Train Consist

The Inbound Train Consist was transcribed from the waybills, and only used in the yard. It's not clear what the difference between this and the Train Arrival Sheet is.

But the biggest change, aside from the report being printed by teletype, is that the new report was received as the train leaves the prior yard. So it would be prototypical to have Inbound Train Consist reports for each inbound train, which would be compared to the waybills to account for any cars dropped or picked on the way. This is a major change in the way the railroad operated because the Yardmaster would know ahead of time what cars are inbound and prepare for their arrival, instead of having to wait until the train arrived and the handwritten report was completed.

Passing Report

Cut-up slip reports (like the Interchange one above) were literally designed to be cut into individual strips by car, so they could be organized by Initial and Number when compiling other reports, such as this Passing Report. With the new punch cards, a sorting machine could be used to resort them prior to running through another machine to generate the teletype tape needed to print the reports locally or the Car Service Department. It looks like it was for accounting purposes (per diem, etc.) and won't be needed on a model railroad. But you can see how much more efficient the punch cards made the process.

Junction Reports

As you can see, the old Junction Report were cut up slips that were gathered by road and mailed to car owners. The replacement is an actual report generated from the punch cards. A much more elegant solution. Again, not something needed for a model railroad.

Outbound Train Consist

Along with the Switch List, this is the most important report for modeling in my opinion. It states:

This report is a copy of the hand written wheel report, the original of which was given to the conductor with the bills...the train could not depart until this report was made out.

No copies of this report were given to the "next" yard, but the conductor's copy of the wheel report was mailed to the Superintendent of Car Service after the train reached its destination.

The handwritten one happens to be for OA-4 (Maybrook to Hartford) on May 6, 1942. There are cars bound for Terryville, Plainville, Westfield, Holyoke, Florence, Collinsville, and North Hampton that would go via the Highland Line. Cars for Terryville, Torrington and Winsted will be dropped at Waterbury on the way to Hartford. In 1941 it looks like OA-4 may have stopped in Plainville too. In which case all of the remaining cars would have been dropped there.

The loads are interesting too, one box car (NYC?) of evaporated milk for Terryville, a GATX tank car with kerosene for Torrington, a MILW box car of doors for Winsted, a PRR gon of pig iron for Plainville, and the remainder of the train is for anthracite (5 cars) and bituminous (16 cars) coal. Hoppers were from PRR (9 cars), WM (5 cars), RDG (1 cars), and one each from D&H, NH, B&O, and CRR, and PMcK&Y. One of the Reading cars and the Pennsy car of pig iron are drop end gondolas ("DE"). The total consist is a box car, tank car, box car, gondola, 10 hoppers, another gondola, and 10 more hoppers. This highlights how much coal came via Maybrook.

On the right hand side there's a notation A&P Tea with what might be a long list of car numbers. But one sequence (732152, 732152, 732251, 732152, 732152) seems to preclude that. I'm not sure what to make of it. Initially I thought they were seal numbers, but the bulk of the train is hoppers and there are too many of them.

The teletype version lists consignees, but the handwritten one does not. Furthermore, the example for OA-4 doesn't have any indication that the cars for Winsted or Torrington would need to be dropped at Waterbury, where it has a scheduled stop, and in that year it may have been scheduled to drop the rest at Plainville. In other words, they seem to be missing the operational part of the run, which is required for reporting to the Superintendent of Car Service.

So I'm not clear what report (if any) would be used by the conductor for manage the work on the way. In my opinion, there must have been some sort of document that provided instructions on which cars to pick up or drop (similar to the Switch List), if for no other reason that the railroad operated by written orders. They didn't leave things to chance or interpretation, everything was documented, even if it was a form that wouldn't be filed for later reference.

So there are still some mysteries to solve, but I think this gives us a much clearer look at the yard operations on the New Haven in this era.

New Britain Passenger Trains 131 and 136

One of my ongoing projects to get the layout ready for operations is to gather the necessary information and supplies to build the passenger trains. It's easy to identify which direction the train is running, since they didn't turn the entire train at Waterbury, only the locomotives. So eastbound trains have the baggage car (and RPO where used) on the end of the train instead of behind the locomotive.

Train 131/136 was frequently photographed in my era, probably because it's the only daytime passenger train (12.30 pm and 5.40 pm). This is the only train with consistent consist information, as all of the other Highland Line trains are commuter trains and are not listed in the consist books.

Train 131/136

1 Express

1 Apartment

1 Coach (M) SL

1 Smoker (M) De Luxe (yes, that's how it's spelled...)

1 Coach (M) SL (Fri & Sat, sometimes only Friday)

What exactly does this mean? I'll start with a picture:

One of my favorite Kent Cochrane photos from March, 1947 of an I-2 with Train 131

In addition to the Russell & Erwin stacks and the 44-tonner shoving a hopper of coal up to the coal trestle, this is a fantastic side view of the entire train. It looks like a Friday train, due to the fifth car, but an extra car would also be added as needed on any day.

The first car is the Express car, that is, a baggage car carrying storage express mail. There's a compartment set aside for mail, 9 ft. from Boston to Waterbury, plus an additional 6 ft from Hartford to Waterbury. In most of the photos this is a wood baggage car, available as a kit from Bethlehem Car Works. It's Sparrows Point kit SP-61. I don't see it listed on the site right now, so you'll need to contact John to see if it's available.

Note that the New Haven clearance diagram has the doors located in the wrong incorrectly (which resulted in the first run of the model also having them in the wrong place - John fixed the issue for the later runs). I purchased cars as soon as they were released, so I'll just be modifying mine.

The second car is an RPO, or a 15' Apartment Car. This means that it has a 15 ft RPO section, and the rest of the car is a baggage car. 

It's easy to spot 131/136 from this era because of the RPO as it's the only train on the Highland assigned one. This is also available from Bethlehem Car Works, kit #263 and it looks excellent. I'll be finishing mine soon.

The third car is the Smoker, even though the consist lists a coach next. This is a heavyweight De Luxe (DL) car with mechanical (M) air conditioning. The De Luxe (also noted as Deluxe, or DeLuxe in NH documents) Smokers are numbered 6800-6823, 6824-6827, and 6829-6843. This car will be a challenge to model. I'll most likely start with a Branchline (now Atlas) single window heavyweight coach. I have a decent idea of how I'll approach it, though, I'll get to that process in a later post when I get around to building one.

Note the 8 exhaust type ventilators, plus the round vent at the end for the saloon. On the Smokers, there is only a mens' saloon at one end of the car. The car is oriented in the photo with the saloon to the right, instead of to the left as in the diagram.

The final two cars are Pullman-Bradley lightweight coaches. They were built with mechanical (M) air conditioning, and are designated as streamlined (SL). The first one is from the 8270-8369 series of cars. These are known as 11-window cars and were built for commuter service with walk-over bench seating for 92 people. The second car, however, is a 10-window coach (8200-8269 series), with twin rotating chairs on each side of the aisle, and seating for 84 people.

There were 10-window Pullman-Bradley Smokers as well. However, there were only four of them (8500-8503) until more were converted in October, 1949, and they were assigned to specific trains.  Once more were converted one was assigned to this train to replace the 6800-series heavyweight.

Note that both of these still have full skirts. The skirting was removed from in front of the trucks starting c1949. 

The 10-window coaches and smokers were both produced by Rapido in the past and can be found on eBay and at shows. In addition, to those cars, the 11-window coaches were produced by E&B Valley and brass from Custom Brass. Neither are up to the standards of the Rapido cars, which is why I have started experimenting with using the brass sides on the Rapido car. My buddy Bill reminded me that I'll also have to alter all of the rivet lines on the roof if I go this route. I've reminded him that Rapido still needs to do the 11-window coaches...

So it's the heavyweight smoker and the 11-window coaches that will be the most challenging aspects of this train, but I'm hoping Rapido will at least get around to the coaches soon.

This was the last train to run with steam on the Highland, until November/December 1948, since it received power at Boston. It was usually hauled by an I-2, but I have photos of this train behind an I-1, I-4 and DER-1 (DL-109) in this era. After the steam was pulled, it was usually assigned a DER-1 (DL-109), but was also run with a DERS-2b (RS-2) or DERS-2c (RS-3), before locomotive-hauled trains were replaced altogether with an RDC-1 and RDC-3 for this run in 1953.

More Rivets!

Modeling buddy Bill Gill contacted me after he saw my post on rivets with yet another technique he has developed. I have to reiterate this is one of the main reasons I like blogging, getting new information, techniques, and ideas from others. It's also great to hear from Bill, who I first met at RPI, and with the current state of the layout still in limbo (plus the pandemic) I miss seeing him a few times a year.

This is an Athearn flat car he modified to match a D&H flat car for the NEB&W at RPI.

There are 2 replacement rivets over the grab iron, 8 rivets between the first two stake pockets, then vertical rivets (3, 4, 8, and 3) noted by the arrows. I have to say his are more precisely placed than mine are on the flat cars I just did...

Here's a look at the finished and weathered car with a marble load.

He never had luck with harvesting rivets, and the smallest Tichy ones are still quite large. At the time the Archer rivet spacings didn't match.

How did he do it? I'll let him tell you:

The rivets on these cars are tiny dots of thick cyanoacrylate applied to tiny needle pricks that located the precise spot for each rivet. I printed the patterns on  a piece of Scotch Magic tape and applied that to the side of the car to use as a guide for the needle marks. It took a little practice to get the feel for how much pressure to apply to the needle (held in pinvise) to get consistent size/depth, but that came quickly.

Then a bit of practice applying just the right amount of CA. A tiny dot of CA was picked up with the needle point and carefully lowered until just the bottom of the droplet touched the tiny divot.

If I got too much CA on a spot, a quick, flat scrape with tip of #11 blade removed it and I made another needle poke before trying again. It sounds more tedious than it is once you get the feel for it.

One improvement I made on later projects was to use JB Weld epoxy instead of CA. It has a much longer working time and was easier to wipe off when I goofed. It also settled better to a more uniform looking rivet head than the CA, which sometimes set pretty quickly.

I'd had a terrible time trying to harvest and use Athearn rivets, The smallest Tichy rivets were a lot bigger than the rivets on the Athearn flat cars I was trying to match and (at that time anyway) none of the Archer rivet spacings matched the Athearn spacing.

I got overly optimistic and tried this method for applying a double row of staggered rivets along the center of a tender's sides. Too many rivets to be absolutely consistent in size and spacing.

But I managed to gently scrape those off and sand away the needle marks with just a little work with 600+ grit wet dry paper. I then found some archer decals that worked ok although I wish they were just a tiny bit larger and kept the same spacing.  

Thanks for the tip, and fantastic model work as always, Bill!

New Haven Yard Operations II

On October 21, 1947 the New Haven Railroad published a booklet entitled New Mechanized Train Consist and Car Record System in which it states: 

"...developed by New Haven officers in cooperation with engineers of the International Business Machines Corporation. Studies first projected in 1940 by the New Haven's transportation and communications departments culminated in a definite plan in 1942, but, because of war-time priorities, equipment was not received until the latter half of 1945 when operation was commenced between Maybrook, Cedar Hill, and the car service office at New Haven."

This booklet tells the story in great detail of the old and new Yard Operations processes and paperwork. In my quest to better understand the the inner workings of  New Haven Railroad, this was the single most informative document I found regarding the paperwork and processes used in yard operations. 

This is also not that story.

But it is the story of an article in the February, 1946 Along the Line that provides an overview of the new system.

Another New Haven First!

The article proudly states:

Revolutionary developments in the handling of interchange reports and train consists are being put into effect by the Car Service Department. They represent the first civilian adaptation of techniques used during the war by the Army Air Forces and the Office of Defense Transportation in Port Control work.

The piece is largely promoting the benefits,

...each yard will receive detailed train consists showing all pertinent information on each car in the train well in advance of the train's arrival at the yard. This will enable the yard to know exactly what is coming and allow it to plan its work before the train has arrived.

This is the biggest advantage, and the biggest change in operational procedure because of the system, as we'll see in the booklet that was published later. 

Already installed between Maybrook, Cedar Hill and the Car Service Office, the new procedures will be extended to Bay Ridge, Oak Point, Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, Northup Avenue, Framingham and Boston.

It continues to detail how it will streamline the processes of moving freight trains through the yards quicker, reducing errors, and providing information more quickly between points on the railroad, among other benefits such as,

Prompt transmission of this information and its quick availability also will forestall many of the telephone calls now being made to various interchange points and yards. For example, since January 15 the Car Service Office at New Haven has been furnishing most of the car records and passing information that previously was only available at Maybrook. This will relieve the already crowded telephone circuits and should make for general improvement in telephone service.

It provides an example of an Erie freight entering Maybrook:

As soon as the train reaches us at Maybrook, the bills are forwarded to the General Yard Office through a pneumatic tube and cards are punched from the bills on a printing key punch which types across the top of the card as it punches holes in the body of the card. Punched and typed on these cards is the car initial and number, contents, kind of car, gross tons, billing road and route, arrival train and time and data of arrival, the origin, shipper, consignee and destination. 

 

These cards are then put through a card-controlled tape punch which cuts a teletype tape. The tape is put through the teletype printer which simultaneously prints the interchange report (at Maybrook this is the inbound consist) for Maybrook's use and transmits it to the Car Service Office. 

 

After the cards have been used to make the tape, they are racked with the bills in the eastbound bill rack, awaiting departure in an outbound train. 

 

When the track check for the outbound train is received at the yard office, the bills with the cards are pulled from the rack and arranged in the outbound train order. The cards are then separated from the bills and put through the card-controlled tape punch to cut a teletype tape, which is put through the teletype printer to print the outbound train consist and simultaneously transmit it to the Car Service Office and to Cedar Hill. After the train has departed, the cards are sorted in car number order and filed for index record purposes. 

 

Under these operations, it is no longer necessary to sheet by hand the inbound train consist, type the interchange report and write up by hand the outbound train consist or wheel report, nor post the records manually to index books. 

 

When the advance consist of a train departing from Maybrook is received at Cedar Hill, a teletype tape is produced at the same time as the consist is being printed. The printed sheet goes to the various clerks at Cedar Hill for checking diversions, etc., while the tape is put through the printing punch to produce a card covering the cars in the train. 

 

These cars are held until the arrival of the train when - after necessary checking and making out of new cards for any cars that might have been picked up enroute - they are used to make a teletype tape and print a final inbound consist, which is transmitted to the Car Service Office. This final inbound consist becomes the wheel report in the Car Service Office. 

 

Following this, the cards at Cedar hill are racked with the bills and the same cycle of operation as occurred at Maybrook is repeated to secure an outbound consist of a train as it leaves Cedar Hill.

The emphasis is mine, because that particular bit of information is not noted in any of the other sources I've found on this system. This accounts for the fact that even on a through freight there may be work on the way to the "next" yard.

It also includes a two-page photo essay of the process:

12 a. Interchange Report of receipts from the Erie at Maybrook prepared from cards punched from bills, in lieu of typing from hand-written train sheets. 

 

b. Advance Outbound Consist of OB-2, printed from punched cards and transmitted to Cedar Hill, Supt. of Frt. Trans. and Supt. of Car Service immediately after departure of the train from Maybrook. Inbound train reference appears after each car on outbound consist. Punched record cards for (c) and (d) a loaded car, and (e) and empty.

This last photo also gives us some additional information we can mine from the paperwork.

Freight Cars from Erie NE-98 January 30, 1946

SFRD    33313    loaded with cauliflower from Mobest, AZ via ATSF-ERIE

NWX    2269    lettuce from Huma, AZ via SP-ERIE

FGEX    51211    lettuce from Blythe, CA via ATSF-ERIE

RD    24663    lettuce from Blythe, CA via ATSF-ERIE (with typos)

BREX    75825    GRJC (?) and it looks like there's a second line for that car

Freight Cars on OB-2 (Maybrook to Boston) January 5, 1946 

PFE    93889    carrots from Watsonville, CA via SP-ERIE

IC    via B&O-ERIE

CN

WM

MBK

NH

WFEX

WFE 

 

RDG    74107    coal from Meadowbrook, WV via B&O-LNE

PRR    348864    empty

Some industries as well, Sawyer CO, and S. Strock Co in Boston receiving produce, WJ Fallon Lea (?) in Boston, Thompson Wire Co in Fairmont, Blaine C Co in Midway.