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A Tale of Two Rail & Tie Cars
Part Two
By Tom Houle
Our saga continues in this issue with Part Two of ”A Tale of
Two Rail & Tie Cars”. In the last issue I covered the construction,
in basswood, of a Jack Work rail and tie car. Jack’s original
HO article ran in the October, 1968, issue of Model Railroader
as one of the popular ”Dollar Car” articles. In Part Two, I’ll
show you how to build a more modern rail and tie car in styrene.
I based this car on an article by Merk Hobson that ran in
the December, 1953, issue of Model Railroader.
Merk based his HO car on a CB&Q prototype. Back in the
early fifties, while walking through the CB&Q yards in Lincoln,
Nebraska, Merk spotted a rail and tie car parked in an idle work
train. Strolling through a rail yard with camera in hand today
would be a rare, if not impossible, luxury. Luckily for us, Merk
shot pictures of the Burlington car and MR included them in
the article. Merk closely followed the prototype, which I also
did with my O Scale car. It’s actually a simple styrene project,
consisting of scratchbuilding a tie carrier, plus adding details to
an existing flatcar. I’m sure the Burlington shops did it the same
way, adding a shop-built wood-framed tie carrier to a flatcar no
longer suitable for interchange service. My drawing of the tie
carrier is shown in Figure 1 Page 16.
For my project, I chose a Red Caboose flatcar kit (in CNW
livery) I had on hand. Other flats are available. AHM 40’ flats,
though no longer produced, are still plentifully available at
swap meets and on Ebay. Weaver just released a new 40’ flat.
Smoky Mountain may still have some of their resin-cast 40’ cars
available. A 53’ flat could also be used and are available from
Berkshire Valley, Chooch, and Weaver. Whatever flatcar you
choose, be sure to adjust the tie carrier post centers to match
your flatcar’s stake pocket centers. The tie carrier post centers
on my drawing match the Red Caboose flat. Other flats will
have different stake pocket centers.
I began construction with the tie carrier side- and endwalls.
To ensure uniform board and post lengths, I cut both on
a NWSL Chopper with a stop. The horizontal 0.040” x 3/16”
side- and end-boards were then pinned down over the drawing
(which I covered with waxed paper). The posts were pinned
down over the boards. With a small brush I flowed Testors liquid
cement into each board-post juncture to hold everything in
place. The sides and ends look delicate, but they are actually
quite sturdy. Due to the irregular centers of the Red Caboose
stake pockets, the two tie carrier sides must be mirror images of
each other. I oiled my drawing copy and turned it over just like
I did when I built the Jack Work cabin sides. The tie carrier ends
are identical.
To replicate the carriage bolts that hold the boards to the
posts, I drilled #77 holes at the board-to-post junctions and
installed Tichy 0.030” rivets. By drilling all the way through
each post and board, and then gently enlarging the interior
holes to 0.030”, I was able to add Grandt Line nut/bolt/washer
castings to the interior faces of the sides and ends. This is a neat,
noticeable, and appreciated bit of detail.
On the prototype, the tie carrier floorboards rest on crossmembers
supported by right angle wrought iron angles. I made
up my angles, ten were required, from Detail Associates 0.015”
x 0.060” brass strip. Each leg is 3/16” long. They are positioned
on the posts per the drawing and attached with CA glue. It’s
easier to add these angles before you assemble the four tie carrier
walls. With the walls still unassembled, I added the grabs at
both ends of the car. Protruding grab ends on the interior faces
of the ends are nipped off and filed flat. The tie carrier walls are
ready to assemble.
July/August ’07- O Scale Trains • 15