US $5.95 • Can $7.95 - O scale trains

“The O Scaler’s Own Paper”Last column I talked a bit about someof the earlier publications that treated ourscale, from its earliest times up until afterWWII, when the dominance it had enjoyedwithin the hobby began to be threatened bysmaller scales and the cultural and economicforces that encouraged them. I had hopedto treat a second part in this column, but Iam still trying to establish more facts aboutthe Vane/Corey Jones O ScaleRailroading. Inever had a chance to meet either, althoughtheir distinctive personalities came throughin their periodicals very clearly. Since manyof their friends are still around, as well astheir daughter/sister, Ginger, I would notwant to misrepresent their contribution tothe hobby through my ignorance. I wouldbe glad to have any reminiscences readerswould like to share about them for thatfuture column (I have some already).One follow-up to my last column, however:After I submitted it, I came into possessionof a nice, thick book titled Handbookfor Model Builders, by the Staff of the ModelBuilder, published by Lionel in 1940, muchof it reprinted material from the magazine.With this before me, I realized what hadhad been tickling my mind in discussing themagazine. Many of the articles, particularlysome of the more challenging constructionarticles, were anonymous, and there is nomasthead identifying any of the faceless staffin any issue I’ve found (at least so far). Thenthere is the matter of MB being published inMt Prospect, Ill., a very long way from thefactory in Irvington, N.J., or corporate headquartersin New York City. Perhaps someonecan enlighten me (or us) about this, butI do wonder if someone well-known (FrankTaylor? Al Kalmbach?) was not ghosting thepublication on contract for Lionel.But, in lieu of bringing O Scale magazinesdown to OST this time out, I’d like toshare what I know about one of my favoriteartifacts, questions about which recur fromtime to time on the OTrains List, the RailCraft freight car line.Rail Craft was based in Webster Groves,Mo., from the late 1930s up through theearly 1950s (with time out for WWII).If an O Scaler wants a model of thedistinctive but very common Norfolk andWestern peaked-end hopper, he has severalpossible options. He (or she) can buy oneof the excellent and highly detailed recentbrass imports from PSC and others. He canhope to find one of the Quality Craft woodand white-metal kits from twenty-odd years54 • O Scale Trains - Sept/Oct ’04ago (there are a few minor errors in the kit).He can spend quite a bit of time and ingenuityre-working an International importfrom the mid-1950’s to correct quite a lotof errors (I’ve done it, and it is WORK!). Hecan scratchbuild one, perhaps using the oldTaylor article in Twenty Projects for ModelRailroaders (with scale drawings usefulfor correcting either the QC kit or the IMPimport). Or, he can hope to find a Rail Craft,which will need only the level of additionaldetail the modeler desires.At its greatest extent, the Rail Craft lineconsisted of three hoppers, a USRA-typetwin, a panel-side twin (oddly termed “offsetside” by RC and best suited to a Wabashprototype) and the N&W peaked-end twin.There were also three gondolas, an Eriehigh-side (although that prototype had adrop-bottom which the model does notinclude), the Missouri Pacific panel-sidelong gondola (also available as a woodenkit in the Suncoast line) and a Texas &Pacific car. Also offered was that curioushybrid, the KCS hopper-bottom gondola,the unique (Ed Bommer, our resident B&Oguru, says there was only one) B&O “MoreService” experimental flat with variableends, and the basic B&O flat car on whichit was based. Perhaps it will have struckyou that each of the RC offerings is basedon a specific prototype car rather than therather generic kinds of kits that were usualuntil comparatively recently, when modelersbegan to be as particular about theaccuracy of cars as they had about locomotives.Some of Rail Craft’s prototypes are stillunavailable commercially today.Doubtless the most striking feature ofRC cars is the amount of galvanized (tincoated)steel used in their construction.Some time ago, another O Scaler (I can nolonger recall whom) said the test for a RCcar was simply to check it with a magnet.The B&O flat cars had a wood deck/core,but otherwise the cars were all metal withvarious formed shapes and stampings solderedtogether. Depending on when anygiven car was made, it may have more orfewer brass parts in addition to the galvanizedsteel components. While it is usualfor the stamped panels in the Wabash-typehoppers and MP gondolas to be brass, I doown one hopper that is entirely galvanized.I also have another hopper that uses brassfor the bulb angles at the top of the sidesand ends and for the frame members at thebottom, although every other one I’ve seenuses galvanized steel there. Although I haveseen scans of them and have instructionsheets that discuss their assembly, I havenever owned a RC car entirely in pieces,although that was the cheapest way to buyone. One could also pay a bit more for anassembled basic body, requiring only solderingon end detail and steps. Lastly, forabout twice the cost of the complete set ofparts, one could get a car ready for trucksand couplers (perhaps requiring installationof the brakewheel, too). As nearly as I cantell, the three-level pricing was commontoward the end of production, as modelersconsidered price more and more, and alsoas labor costs rose after WWII. It appears theearlier production was mostly of assembledbodies with some modest work needed bythe buyer.At least one of the “factory-assembled”bodies I’ve bought exhibited very poorworkmanship, and the reason may havebeen explained by someone who relatedthe history of the line some time back (Icannot recall who it was to credit him,but would be glad to do so). From what Ilearned, the owner/developer of the linewas a Mr. Beeman, in the suburban St Louisarea, who taught in a vocational (or “trade”)school. He had ready access to a full metalshop and the skills to use it. I conjecturethat he may well have used student laborin producing at least some of the line, withor without compensation beyond scholasticcredit. It would make sense, as those completinga unit of metal shop (industrial arts,as it used to be called when I was in highschool) would have learned how to form,bend, shear, die-stamp and solder, using allthe tools needed in producing a Rail Craftfreight car kit. That one car reminds me thatnot everyone is an honors student.At a model railroad show you may seea metal hopper or gondola, more than likelyunder a coat of thick enamel. If it is notobvious that it is a KTM piece, imported byMax Gray or US Hobbies, it is very likelya Rail Craft car. If most of the componentsare there and the price seems reasonableto you, I think you will enjoy cleaning itup and re-soldering the crooked details. Ifyou are indeed having a good day, you mayfind a kit in its original box, never built fromfifty or sixty years ago. I am not sure, butI think the first RC boxes were a deep redwith black lettering and fairly large (convenientlyso to hold a finished car with trucksand couplers). The later (I think) kits camein slightly smaller cream/beige boxes withred lettering, with the gondola and flat kitsin smaller boxes than the hoppers. If it isuntouched, you should find an envelopeor two of detail parts, a mimeographedinstruction sheet (perhaps done in theschool office?), and a genuine blueprint ofthe car itself—not highly detailed but suffi-