Work Train Cars

John,

It is nice to observe the wonderful work of others. Please, keep the photos coming.

I haven't gotten to cranking any out, but recently I did accumulate some old kits for Bob Peare Train Craft worktrain cars.  Since my road's colors are green and yellow, I

have wondered what color I will used for work trains....something different...  I will be

interested to see photos of others' efforts, AND more of unusual prototype work cars.

I think I should have some kind of snow clearing train...

John,

Great photos. and models of work cars.

I like work trains, with their interesting designed work cars.

Ralph

I wanted to add some text to my photos, but I didn't see any space to type after I downloaded the pics. The car is Weaver, I made the loads as maintenance of way for the gondola.

Don

Great post John! You could have some fun projects to work on especially if you have an overstock of traditional size rolling stock to experiment and be creative with.

Thanks.  really a good topic and nice examples.  I hope others add to it.  I particularly like rails' example.

As the above photos show, old passenger cars were converted for work train service. Some were "kitbashed" to make different cars. A car could also be left intact (maybe a few windows blocked off), heavily weathered, repainted in work train colors (yellow, gray, for example), and used that way.

I could be wrong.....dont let my wife hear that.....but the car at the top in black and white looks to me to be a poling car/platform..used in the bowl of a yard to shove cars on adjacent tracks using the poles you see carried under the tender. i saw one in a video of the PRR and by golly it looks like that !...conrail john

Edit: My original introductory comments are MIA. So I'm adding them again.

The following models are the work of a fellow Lehigh Valley HiRailer. (I just take the pictures and post them.) He is an avid Reading fan, and often scratch builds items he cannot find, or modifies those he does to match a specific prototype. Here is a smattering of his work. 

First up:  A RDG/CR Crane and tender. 

The prototype

 

Now as modeled. The Crane is a stock MTH for now.

 

Next is a Conrail Tender prototype. The picture is from earlier in this thread.

 

 

 

Now as modeled. The tender started life as a K-Line HWT Baggage car. The MTH crane has been modified to allow the boom to track around curves.

An old steamer tender becomes a water canteen. This one is completely scratch built except for the trucks and couplers.

 

Old baggage cars become tool cars. Prototypes and as modeled.

 

And of course, if you have a work train, you need some place for the workers to rest sleep during those long jobs. This is a 9 car camp train. The vans are built from custom kits and the cars are scratch built.

 

Chris

LVHR

Thanks for posting those Reading photos, lehighline. I like your 9-car camp train, too.

 

conrail john, that does look like a poling car. It's short with a beefy frame. The Reading had similar cars.

 

Poling was dangerous because a pole could slip out of a poling pocket or break apart without warning. Danger increased as cars and locomotives became bigger and heavier. The Reading addressed that situation with cars that had two poles that swung out from each side. They could work in either direction. One end of each pole was fastened to the car - slightly increasing safety.

 

I think that hump yards were built to handle cars more efficiently and reduce poling to a minimum. I'd say poling went out of fashion by the 1970's as cars approached 100 tons.

 

Ok, I'll play.  I have a few scratchbuilt cars....

 

Here's a crane....

 

 

I'll see some pictures for the tender/boom car next.

John, Here ya go!!!!  Tom

Thanks!  Think I have plaque for it from the NMRA and a 1st place from one of the O Scale Nat'l conventions

Here's the tender/boom car for the crane...

 

lehighline, your camp cars remind me of the subway under construction in China during March of 2013.  Camp cars were lined up along the right of way where the subway tunneling was occurring.  In fact the camp cars were stacked two or three high for the workers.  Thanks for sharing your photographs.  Frank

Blacksmith car....

 

 

There are some really nice looking models attached to this thread!
Don

I am working on a model of this derrick car, but it will be NYC, of course. This car in in Roanoke at the Virginia Transportation Museum.  

 

 

Here is a mock up of the derrick car I am working on

 

 

The outline of the box is on the right. the black object next to the trucks is a mock up of the " spreader", the device used to guide cables between car bodies when being lifted by a crane.

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

 

Tool & Water car - L&N prrototype.  One of the few that I've built that actually follows the prototype plans.

 

 

 

I've been working on a custom-built Jersey Central wreck/service train project since last September.  Below are a few photos of a crane tender/spare truck car that I made from a gondola, and a picture of the prototype.  Click here to see my thread documenting the process (and progress!) of the entire build project.

Beautiful work guys!!  Great pictures...

 

Alan

Very interesting thread.

work trains are a great addition to any model railroad.

thank you for the ideas.

Here's an interesting trio.........that were an exercise in what one can do with coffee stirrers,

 

Engineering car...

 

Commissary car...

 

Bunk car...

 

 

 

 

There is a hollow frame under the stirrers, but there is some weight added to the interior floor to bring cars up to NMRA specs.  Somewhere I may have pictures of the series of cars that I built following White's book that depicted the interior framing that I followed. Had 3-4 cars on a module in an assembly line being build showing all of the framing and interior truss rods, etc.

 

These cars all have peaked roofs.  Might be an illusion or camera angle?  Again, more interior framing to make the roof.  I use milled roof stock when I want a round roof - stuff is still available from Northeastern Scale Lumber - a tad pricy, but beats making your own.  Whenever I see it at swap meets at a realistic price, I grab & go.

Now those beat-up. modified, boxcars shown by mwb look like what I used to see in worktrains on the Southern as a kid.

This is a great thread. Thank you for sharing!  Terry

Here's one I built a long time ago - cooks car.

 

You can see the interior framing on this car and the truss rods in the framing.

 

 

 

Here's an A-Frame side door gondola...

 

 

 

Very nicely done!
Don

Wheel & Tie car.....

 

 

 

Scrap Metal car...

 

 

 

 

 

Rectangular wooden water tank car.....