Quality craft wood caboose kit at&sf windows

That's correct!

KD

AT&SF 1424 at Orange Empire Museum.

Rusty

Thanks KD for the reference.  Very nice caboose.

Thank you Rusty for the picture.  This is one of the ones I was looking at last night l, but there was no picture of the opposite side.

KD,

The PSC leaf springs you used on your athern trucks, do you have a part #, or what do they look like before being inserted?

Thanks!

@dkdkrd posted:

That's correct!

KD

Very nice. Question: those flanges look like 2 rail, yet the couplers...

Mark in Oregon

Mike...

The PSC leaf springs are their p/n 357.   Photo follows...

Mark...

Good eye!  They're Intermountain wheelsets.  I have Gargraves/Ross track throughout.  Their rail cross section  I've found to be compatible with the I/M scale wheels...sometimes.   I found scale wheels work best on a tail car since there is minimal axial load to the car in use.  Ergo, they track very well through turnouts, crossings, etc.  And, of course, they look nicer with the smaller flanges.

As for the couplers.... Well, the ol' lobster claws go with my territory.  If I hit the lottery Powerball someday...and bathe in the Fountain of Youth for several years to gain another, say, 15 years of life and dexterity...I may convert my fleet of eleventy-seventy cars/locos to Kadees.   I do think, however, I'll dispense with the 'thumbtacks' on the 'beese, at least. 

BTW, the couplers are Weaver diecast, body (center sill) mounted to pivot about 9/16" beyond the truck pivot point.  A couple of L-bent music wires keep them spring-centered.

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Actually, the photos in my first response, above, are of the second Ambroid/QC ATSF caboose kit I built.  Here's both for comparison...

The 1309 prototype I found in a photo from Stephen Priest's Santa Fe Waycars book.  It reflects a simple modification to combat aging applied to some cars of this series; a steel strap mounted along the middle and bottom of each side.  For my simulation it was four strips of styrene with punched rivet detail...a tad oversize, I'll admit, but good enough. 

The other construction detail I provided on car 1309 was battery power (Evan Designs) for the LED markers (Tomar).  I had attached a center rail pickup roller on one truck of car 1089, but have not been happy with the drag it adds to that car's rolling quality.  After the success of using battery power on a B&O 'boose build (Also Ambroid/QC kit) I used the same technique on car 1309.

To gain access for maintenance, removable roofs on these cars was NOT an option for me.  It unnecessarily complicates the build and post-finishing access due to the ladders, grabs, etc. that connect to body and roof.  Instead, I made one whole car side removable.  It's held in place with 6-7 1/8" dia. super magnets (neodymium).  The following photo is somewhat self-explanatory...

The magnets are in the body side supports.  They align with the clipped heads of small flathead nails CA'd to the inside of the car side.  You can see the slight counterbore in the side supports to accommodate the nail heads.  The battery holder (2032 batt) is above the truck, the click-on/click-off push button to its left.  The push button is part of the Evans Design package and has an extension glued to the button to reach below the car floor.  You can see the black button extension just to the left of the floor cross-beam, to the right of the triple valve.  The button, believe it or not, is easily reached with my finger without removing the car from the track!

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Oh, yes, Mark...  One other comment re the wheels on car 1089: they're from an old Athearn die cast metal truck kit.  Before using the Intermountain wheels, I tried the older (1950's-60's?) Athearn wheels, since their flanges were deeper than the NMRA scale standard of today, but shallower than typical tinplate.  They work as well as the I/M's on Ross/Gargraves, of course!

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But, after putting this response together and looking at the photos again....those coupler thumbtacks have got to go!  And I may re-mount them to reduce their extension beyond the end sill.  Talk about distractions!

KD

KD

In any case, those are very nice builds... 👍 🙂

Mark in Oregon

KD,

Thanks for grabbing the picture and part number.

Mike

I became curious and looked through my collection of surplus kits.  I found one of these, put out by Ambroid.  Looked at the instructions and man that's weak.  Absolutely no mention, drawing, or photo of the three window side.  That there are 8 window castings doesn't help either.

Mike if you need a set of the leaf springs I can help you out.  Over the years they made different versions.  One version has one slot in the middle, simulating two sets on leaf springs, and the other has two slots, simulating three sets.  Do you have a preference?

Jay

Jay,

Thanks for the offer.  I am kind of stuck at this point, as I have been looking for arch bar trucks for this project and also a NP caboose I have been working on with plans to mod them for 3 rail.  I have not been able to locate a reasonable price set of them.

I order some athern 2 rail trucks off the bay and when they arrived this week, I was really disappointed as they are just junk.  I was hoping for $20-25 a set for some older not as detailed arch bar trucks that I could swap wheels out for. No luck so far.

I am may be stuck with my 3 rail atlas caboose trucks, unless I get lucky and find something at the up coming Mid America train show coming up in a few weeks.

If you are planning on starting your kit any time soon, be ware of the plan set as I also found that the platforms  as drawn for each end of the caboose are not represented as the same size (length), where the coupla end platform is longer.  I didn’t expect that and would have done things differently if I knew.

Progress over the last week using the evenings has been good.

Mike,

Sorry you're having difficulty finding the appropriate trucks.  Personally, I can't help with anything 3R.

As far as building my kit, won't happen.  When I do get a chance to make anything for myself it's SP.  I'm not even sure where, or why, I picked up the Sante Fe kit.

Good Luck,

Jay

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

Jay,

Thanks for the offer.  I am kind of stuck at this point, as I have been looking for arch bar trucks for this project and also a NP caboose I have been working on with plans to mod them for 3 rail.  I have not been able to locate a reasonable price set of them.

Bill Davis has some nice looking archbar trucks for under a caboose; not sure what your definition of reasonable price might be though.

mwb,

But are they adaptable to 3R also?

Jay

@Jay C posted:

mwb,

But are they adaptable to 3R also?

Jay

Ah, unknown to me as I rarely indulge in trucks that exceed the total cost of kits that I build or even my scratchbuilt cars,

But, if they can be disassembled, probably.

Maybe adapting the modeler to 2R would be easier,

BTW, I'll be happy to take away the offending Athearn arch bars,

I’ve used the Wiseman white metal arch bars from the auction site. They require a little cleaning up but turn into nice trucks.

Malcolm

@Brother_Love posted:

I’ve used the Wiseman white metal arch bars from the auction site. They require a little cleaning up but turn into nice trucks.

Malcolm

Does he have archbars with leaf springs for caboose use?

BTW, generally cheaper to buy from Wiseman directly off his own site,

@mwb posted:

Does he have archbars with leaf springs for caboose use?

BTW, generally cheaper to buy from Wiseman directly off his own site,

No, I added leaf springs from PSC.

I also have run two rail trucks on three rail track. I would bet these would work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35349...d:g:scMAAOSwoytgmp~P

Pete

@Brother_Love posted:

No, I added leaf springs from PSC.

Okay; thanks!  A very viable solution.

PSC had some stunning one piece archbar caboose castings.

I am just now realizing that arch bar trucks come in different size wheel bases, why?  Is this for a logging operation vs a larger mainline railroad?  Looking again at the arch bar trucks I got from athern, they seemed tiny initially, especially when next to the 3 rail caboose trucks from atlas.  The athern measure out to 5’ center axle to center axle, is that the right size for Atsf caboose mentioned above and a NP 24’ wood caboose or should I be looking for a larger truck?  When under the caboose they look tiny to me ( truck on the right) , but maybe that is my 3 rail roots influencing me?  The plastic athern trucks have no bearings on them just plastic, besides the added drag, can one actually wear out one of the these trucks over the years?  I appreciate the education from others on this.

I would use the Athearns.  If you want fantastic detail, PSC has leaf spring arch bars for relative cheap.  You need wheels, and drilling skills.

There were lots of different arch bar designs - in addition to wheelbases, the bottom bar may or may not drop down.  Journal box lids were different from one to the next.  Not sure I have any useful photos, but I will look.

Yeah, found the PSC castings.  See above.

Don't know who did these - maybe Thomas?  Note the bottom bar.  Also, Lionel did a passingly good arch bar truck for the 717 caboose.  I think they cast more for the 6-18000 repro switcher.  Might be able to buy them from parts stores?

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

I am just now realizing that arch bar trucks come in different size wheel bases, why?  Is this for a logging operation vs a larger mainline railroad?

There were many different versions of archbar trucks; different years and weight capacities, and different applications.

Looking again at the arch bar trucks I got from athern, they seemed tiny initially, especially when next to the 3 rail caboose trucks from atlas.

The 3 rail caboose trucks from atlas are probably a much more modern arch bar and quite probably oversize, too

The athern measure out to 5’ center axle to center axle, is that the right size for Atsf caboose mentioned above and a NP 24’ wood caboose or should I be looking for a larger truck?  When under the caboose they look tiny to me ( truck on the right) , but maybe that is my 3 rail roots influencing me?  

Probably just that - those roots..... 

The plastic athern trucks have no bearings on them just plastic, besides the added drag, can one actually wear out one of the these trucks over the years?

They are Delrin and will outlast much of humanity.  Drag?  Put metal wheelsets in them and drag is next to zero. Delrin is not quite teflon, but it's seriously slippery stuff.