Winter 2010 - Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society

No. 72 Winter 2010 

Inside: 

• Two PRR Gondola Reviews 

• Model Roster for Operations on 

the on the Panhandle 

• Build “KASE” Tower in HO 

• Kitbash an NA Cabin Car 

• Easy Station and Tower Signs 

•

Published Quarterly by 

The PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 

TECHNICAL and HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

A non-profit organization 

OFFICERS 

President Alan B. Buchan 

Vice President John J. Consoli 

Corporate Secretary Robert D. Brubaker 

Asst. Corporate Secretary Ralph M. Weischedel 

Treasurer Edward Swain 

Marketing and Sales Director Fred Freitas 

Membership Coordinator Andrew J. Hart 

Publisher Frederic V. Shaefer 

General Counsel James G. Trope 

Public Relations Manager Stan Trzoniec 

Station & Archives Chairman Rich Ader 

Historian Christopher T. Baer 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Term Expires 2010 Term Expires 2011 

Robert D. Brubaker Chuck Blardone 

James B. Winslow Ivan E. Frantz 

Term Expires 2012 

Alan B. Buchan 

John J. Consoli 

Edward Swain 

THE KEYSTONE MODELER STAFF 

EDITOR 

Jim Hunter 

Jhunter6360@comcast.net 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Jack Consoli 

jjconsoli@comcast.net 

NEWSWIRE EDITOR 

Steve Hoxie 

stevehprr@cox.net 

EDITOR EMERITUS 

Al Buchan 

abbuchan1@comcast.net 

CHAIRMAN MODELING COMMITTEE 

Elden Gatwood 

Elden.J.Gatwood@sad01.usace.army.mil 

ART DIRECTOR 

Tim Garner 

t.a.garner@verizon.net 

Send comments and corrections to the Editor at: 

Jhunter6360@comcast.net 

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 

PRRT&HS, PO Box 54, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-0054 

PRRT&HS MONTHLY E-NEW S 

Keystone-e-news-request@lists.keystonepubs.org?Subject=subscribe 

Number 72 CONTENTS Winter 2010 

FROM THE CAB 

Jim Hunter, Editor ......................................................................................................... 3 

TKM NEWSWIRE 

By Steve Hoxie ............................................................................................................... 4 

MODEL REVIEW – N-SCALE G26 MILL GONDOLA 

By Bob Losse Jr. ........................................................................................................... 6 

MODEL REVIEW – HO-SCALE G31B GONDOLA 

By Jack Consoli ........................................................................................................... 10 

BALANCED LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER FOR OPERATIONS ON 

THE PANHANDLE 

By Bill Neale ................................................................................................................ 17 

KITBASHING AN NA CABIN CAR IN N OR HO 

By Claus Schlund ......................................................................................................... MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 

25 

MAKING MODEL PRR PRRT&HS, STATION P.O. AND Box 54, TOWER Bryn Mawr, SIGNS PA 19010-0054 

By Tim Garner ............................................................................................................. 31 

MODELING “KASE” TOWER IN HO 

By Chuck Cover ........................................................................................................... 34 

Front Cover 

C-Liner #9452 on a Coal Drag enters Johnsville 

Tim Garner repainted and detailed this set of Proto 1000 C-Liners for PRR service on his 

PRR Willsburgh Division layout. Tim likes to model cab units fresh from the factory including 

pilot coupler covers. He used Scalecoat Brunswick Green and a mix of Champ and 

Microscale decals. One mistake, since corrected, is the protruding exhaust stacks. Tim installed 

a Soundtraxx DSD sound decoder and speaker in the lead unit along with a Miniatronics 

LED headlight. A special fog spray was used during the exposure to create the humid 

effect. 

The Keystone Modeler 

This publication of the PRRT&HS is for the purpose of disseminating PRR modeling information. 

The copyright is owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical 

Society – all rights reserved. It may be reproduced for personal use only. Not for sale other 

than by the PRRT&HS. 

Manuscripts and photographs submitted for publication are welcome. Materials submitted 

are considered to be gratis and no reimbursement will be made to the author(s) or the 

photographer(s) or his/her representative(s). The Society reserves the right to reject, for 

any reason, any material submitted for publication. 

Please contact the editor for information and guidelines for submission. If you submit 

photos, preferably at 800x600 pixels, not less than 640x480, preferably in TIFF format. 

Statements and opinions made are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent 

those of the Society. 

The Keystone Modeler 

CD-ROMs – Issues 49-60 and 1-60 

A CD-ROM of TKM issues 49-60 is now available for members residing outside of New Jersey 

($16.05 for New Jersey members); TKM 1-48 with over 1,500 pages of PRR information 

now also is available for $60 for members residing outside New Jersey ($64.20 for New Jersey 

Members). 

CD-ROMs are also available for issues 1-12, 13-24, 1-24, 25-36, 37-48, and 1-48 at a cost of 

$15.00 per 12-issues (one year). Each CD-ROM contains a very comprehensive index of all 

previous issues. Send a check or money order in US dollars payable to PRRT&HS to 

Al Buchan 

785 Cornwallis Drive 

Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054-3209 

To subscribe to The Keystone Modeler, click on the link below and send: 

mailto:the-keystone-modeler-request@lists.keystone-pubs.org?Subject-subscribe 

To unsubscribe, click on the link below and send: 

mailto:the-keystone-modeler-request@lists.keystone-pubs.org?Subject-unsubscribe 

The Keystone Modeler 2 No. 72, Winter 2010

The challenge of paint matching 

Modelers never seem to finish their discussion of the “correct” 

color for the models they paint. For many, especially prototype modelers, 

color is a serious business. What did that car look like when it 

was fresh out of the paint shop? Did the paint fade? What color is under 

all that soot and grime? How did film quality, or lighting conditions, 

or computer technicalities affect what I see? Our Society even 

has a Paint Committee to advise model manufacturers. 

Recently, I have had the opportunity to observe first-hand how the 

same kinds of questions perplex those who have the responsibility to 

restore a piece of equipment for display in a museum. Sometimes it is 

possible to find traces of earlier exterior colors in the crevices of wooden 

equipment or other hard-to-reach places in steel equipment. These 

traces can be analyzed by companies which specialize in that kind of 

detective work. Traces of paint down through fifteen or sixteen layers 

may be discovered. Restorers may consult experts in the history of the 

railroad which owned the equipment being restored. Photographic evidence, 

if it exists, together with the known limitations of old photographs, 

often only in black and white, may be examined. Finally, there 

is the issue of what period in the history of that piece of equipment 

should be represented. If the piece has had several owners or has been 

extensively modified, it may not be appropriate to repaint it into its 

original color, so the restorer may choose to approximate a later color 

and lettering scheme. 

In this process, just as in modeling, there often is no absolutely 

correct choice. The restorer does the best he can, and, inevitably, 

someone will look at the result and declare it is not correct. If you find 

yourself being critical of a modeler’s or restorer’s color choice, be prepared 

to show how you arrived at your opinion of what is “correct.” 

In roughly five months we will be holding the Annual Meetings 

again in Camp Hill. Since that location is nearer the epicenter of Pennsy 

fandom, I hope there will be more models on display. Time to finish 

up that project and bring it to the Meetings. 

This past October was the final Prototype Modelers’ Seminar in 

Naperville, Illinois for Sunshine Models. The Seminar will continue, 

but Joe Delia of Proto Power and ALine models will be in charge. This 

event has always been exciting and informative, and I hope it continues 

to be so. For further information, the web site is: http://www.PPW- 

ALINE.com. 

In this issue of TKM, we have an article by Bill Neale about operations 

on his Pennsy layout. Bill’s beautiful railroad recently appeared 

in Great Model Railroads 2010. Jack Consoli has contributed a review 

of Tangent Models new G31B. Coincidentally, additional prototype 

information can be found in Ed Hawkins’ Railway Prototype Cyclopedia 

#19, which appeared just this past fall. Two essays of interest to N 

scale modelers also appear this month. Bob Losse, Jr. has written a review 

of the new G26 by Eastern Seaboard Models, while Claus 

Schlund has kitbashed an NA cabin. We also have Tim Garner’s howto 

article on station and tower signs, plus Chuck Cover’s article on 

scratchbuilding “KASE” Tower from styrene in HO-scale. 

Jim Hunter, Editor 

The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical 

& Historical Society 

The purpose of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical 

Society is to bring together persons interested in the history and modeling 

of the Pennsylvania Railroad, its subsidiaries and its acquired companies. 

Our goals are to promote the preservation and recording of all 

information regarding the organization, operation, facilities, and equipment 

of the PRR. 

The Society’s quarterly illustrated journal, The Keystone, has been 

published continuously since 1968. Each issue of 64 or more pages contains 

illustrated original authoritative articles about locomotives, cars, 

other equipment, facilities, and operating practices of the PRR. The Society 

also publishes its own thoroughly researched books and other materials 

concerning PRR history. The Keystone Modeler is also a quarterly 

special 30-plus page online publication of the Society. 

The Society meets annually, usually during a weekend in early May, 

providing an opportunity for its members to get together and learn more 

about the PRR. Local chapters around the country also provide members 

and guests with regular meetings that feature PRR related programs. 

Information about our Society may be found on our website – 

www.prrths.com. To join the Society, send $35.00 to: 

PRRT&HS 

PO Box 54 

Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-0054 

All memberships are for a calendar year, back issues of The Keystone 

for the current year are sent upon joining. Overseas membership 

has added postage fees. 

PRRT&HS Interchange 

Selected Society Merchandise of Interest to Modelers 

PRR Equipment Drawings on Microfilm 

Copies of PRR equipment drawings are available from the Society’s 

microfilm collection. To order drawings, you must know the drawing 

number and title. Ordering information and lists of arrangement 

drawings are available on the Society’s website. Go to 

www.prrths.com, select National Society, and then The Interchange. If 

you require a printed copy of this information, please send your address 

and a check for $2.00 made out to PRRT&HS to: 

Richard C. Price 

779 Irvin Hill Road 

McVeytown, PA 17051 

The Keystone CD 5 

The Keystone CD No. 5, The Glory Days, 

covering 1998 to 2002, is now for sale at the 

price of $75 for members. New Jersey residents 

add $5.25 sales tax. Order CDs from: 

Al Buchan 

785 Cornwallis Drive 

Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054-3209 

The Keystone DVD 1 

The Keystone DVD No. 1 covering 35 

years of The Keystone from 1968 to 2002 is 

available. The navigation of this product is 

being upgraded as are some of the administrative 

notes and text. The improved edition 

will be ready for ordering soon. Those few 

who have already purchased the DVD will 

be able to trade it in for a new one when it’s 

available. The price of this DVD is $375. 

This DVD requires a computer with a DVD 

drive. It is NOT a video disk that can be 

played on a DVD player for viewing on 

your TV. 


PRR Product News 

Division Point 

http://www.divisionpoint.com 

PRR/NH/B&M/MEC East Wind Passenger Train – HO 

Division Point is taking reservations for brass models of all the 

cars in this train. Individual cars will also be available. 

Eastern Seaboard Models Corporation 

http://www.esmc.com 

PRR G26 Gondola – Special Limited Edition – N Scale 

Detail Parts – N Scale 

ESMC has made available their G26 gon expertly finished and 

weathered by Tom Mann. They have also launched a line of N 

detail parts. 

InterMountain Railway Company 

http://www.imrcmodels.com/index.html 

PRR X29 Boxcar – HO Scale 

IMRC is scheduled to deliver Red Caboose X29 boxcars in circle 

keystone in March 2010. Planned car numbers are 504219, 

504263, 504326, 504388, 504415, and 504477. They will all 

have a re-weigh date of 1-51. These car numbers model cars 

with flat plate ends built new in 1924-25. 

JnJ Trains 

http://jnjtrains.com 

Diesel resin body shells and detail parts – N Scale 

JnJ has developed resin shells designed to fit on available chassis 

from Atlas, Bachmann, Kato, or Life-Like. Available PRR 

shells include Erie-built A & B, RF16 A & B, H16-44, and 

SD45. 

Middle Division 

http://www.middledivision.com 

Decals – HO Scale 

Middle Division has a very welcome new decal set, HHP-4 for 

PRR two bay hoppers in the Circle Keystone scheme. The 

PE NNSY LVAN IA is divided to fit between the ribs. Classes 

covered include GLA, GLD, GLG, and H31. The decals are 

printed and are awaiting packaging. A corresponding set in O 

scale is planned. Order direct from Northern Central Supply at 

http://www.northerncentralsupply.com/indexdc.html . 

Sunshine Models 

(Although Sunshine does not maintain a web presence, a current 

summary of products is available at an independentlymaintained 

site at www.sunshinekits.com.) 

PRR G24 Gondola - HO 

With Steve Hoxie 

Sunshine has available four versions of the G24 (USRA) gondola. 

This class was covered in TKM #7, February 04. 

• Kit#92.2 steel sides, Murphy ends, circle keystone decals 

(1937-60’s) 

• Kit #92.3 steel sides, Murphy ends, Long Island decals, 

(1937-40) 

• Kit #92.4 steel sides, Murphy ends, “A” frame for loading automobile 

frames, circle keystone decals, (1937-44) 

• Kit #92.5 steel sides, WW II replacement ends, circle keystone 

decals, (1943-60’s) 

Tangent Scale Models 

http://tangentscalemodels.com 

G31B Gondola – HO Scale 

Tangent is offering a ready-to-run, highly accurate model of the 

70 ton welded G31B class gondola built by ACF. The cars are 

lettered in the circle keystone scheme and are available in several 

numbers. This class was covered in TKM #17, December ’04. 

See product review in this issue of TKM. 

Tom Haag Decals 

haagtk@aol.com 

Shadow Keystone Boxcar Decals – HO Scale 

Tom has a new decal set for lettering PRR 50’ boxcars in the 

Shadow Keystone scheme with 7” numbers and reporting marks 

(SK2a and SK2b). X45, X47, X50, X52, and X56 classes can be 

lettered. 

Traincat Model Sales 

http://www.traincat2.com/ 

PRR G22B Gondola – N Scale 

PRR GRA Gondola – N Scale 

Traincat is taking reservations for class G22B and GRA gondolas 

in brass. 

Weaver Models 

http://www.weavermodels.com/page76.html 

PRR Passenger Sharks BP20 A & B – O Scale 

Weaver is taking reservations for ¼” scale brass Passenger 

Sharks offered as an A and B unit combination or as a single A 

unit. 2 and 3 rail, Brunswick Green and Tuscan Red, with and 

without sound will be available. 

The Keystone Modeler 4 No. 72, Winter 2010 

.

Upcoming Events 

January 30-31 – West Springfield, Massachusetts 

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show 

http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com 

March 13 – Peabody, Massachusetts 

Spring TRAINing – Hub Division, NMRA 

http://hubdiv.org/springshow/index.htm 

March 26-28 – Malvern, Pennsylvania 

Railroad Protoype Modelers of Valley Forge 

Contact Paul Backenstose at prrpaul@aol.com 

April 29 – May 2 Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 

PRRT&HS Annual Meeting 

http://www.prrths.com/conventions/PRR_Annual.html 

Host New England Chapter has model room forms available online 

so you can fill out more detailed model descriptions in advance. 

By doing so, you’ll have more time for fun at the Annual 

Meeting and you’ll give the TKM staff more to work from in describing 

your efforts. 

Follow the link above or go to: http://prrths-ne.org/. 

June 4-5 – Collinsville, Connecticut 

New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet 

http://www.neprototypemeet.com/Welcome.html 

Additional Information 

RP Cyc Publishing Co. 

http://www.rpcycpub.com 

Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Vol. 19 

Vol. 19 includes a 53 page article with photos documenting the 

G31 class of gondolas. This is an outstanding soft cover reference 

for the modeler. 

Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine 

The Jan/Feb 2010 issue is available for downloading at 

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com 

The B&O Modeler 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Historical Society has the latest 

editions available at http://borhs.org/ModelerMag/index.html 

The Seaboard-Coastline Modeler 

Our friends at the ACL & SAL Historical Society have the latest 

edition of this magazine available at http://www.aclsal.org/ . 

Paul Ziesmer, a long-time Society member and founder of the New England Chapter, has a passion for building antique HO kits. 

The two PRR P70GR coaches were kits produced by Megow in 1939 or 1940. Paul saw cars like these in Wanamaker’s Store in 

Philadelphia in 1943. They are shot on Tim Garner’s PRR Willsburgh Division layout. Tim Garner photo. 


Model Review – Eastern Seaboard 

Models N-Scale PRR G26 Mill Gondola 

By Bob Losse Jr., photos by Jack Consoli unless noted 

(Above) Eastern Seaboard Models PRR class G26 65 ft. 6 in. mill gondola. (Below) Eastern Seaboard Models’ two G26 offerings. 

Recently, Al Buchan passed on two of Eastern Seaboard 

Models Corp’s new N Scale G26 class gondolas. When he did, 

he asked me if I could help. He needed a product review and I 

said yes. This is the first time I’ve ever done this and it leaves me 

with one thing to say to all you rivet counting sharks out there, I 

give good indigestion. 

A brief history about the G26 and its successors. In October 

1930 Altoona built the first 200 cars. From January 1931 through 

May 1931 the PRR built 1500 G26 gondolas. Construction was 

divided up amongst Altoona, Enola and Pitcairn and they were 

numbered PRR 439010-440709. The Lehigh Valley had 50 cars 

built in 1931 by the PRR numbered LV 34000-34049. In 1941 

the PRR made some subtle improvements to the design and built 

the G26A. 700 cars were built by Altoona and Pitcairn in the last 

quarter of 1941. The Norfolk & Western liked this design and 

had the Virginia Bridge Co. build N&W 70500-70524 G-3 in 

1941. In 1949 the N&W received N&W 70525-70549 G-3A 

again from Virginia Bridge Co. All of these cars as built were 

rated at 70 tons capacity. 

So much for the cars as originally built. The LV cars operated 

in almost total obscurity and were gone from the roster by 

1965. As far as I know, no photos of these cars exist. At some 

point, the N&W started to upgrade their cars to 77 tons capacity. 

I don’t know if any other changes were made to these cars. By 

1989 these cars had disappeared from the roster. 

The PRR was a little different. In the mid 1960's two distinct 

versions, the G26C and G26S, would emerge from the shops. The 

G26C was basically an upgrading of the two earlier classes and 

used in revenue service. The G26S was a radically different car 

and was used in company service. This configuration was used to 

carry prefabricated switches. 

This past Labor Day, I found two in Roanoke, VA working 

for NS. Cars for these programs were pulled at random and not 

every car was rebuilt. Many found their way to the Holidaysburg 

Reclaim Plant, while others were sold to various steel mills, pipe 

plants and even Pullman Standard. 

By April 1, 1976, D-Day for Conrail, 16 G26 and 12 G26A 

were on the roster still painted PRR. Yes, these cars had serious 

longevity. 

Not only did they have longevity, they also got around. I 

have records showing these cars operated on the B&M, B&O, 

CN, CNW, EL, IC, L&N, MKT, SP, SR and UP. Unfortunately, 

the records weren’t indicating the types of loads. Only that the 

cars had been destroyed in wrecks. Some railroads liked proving 

this to me so much, that they did it twice. 

PRR company photo of G26 #439048, 10-27-30, neg. #E8963, displaying the as-delivered Circle Keystone lettering arrangement. 

PRRT&HS collection. 


PRR photo of G26 #439048, 10-27-30, neg. #E8964, showing brake end details and drop end door arrangement. The cars were 

narrower than shorter gondolas to deal with clearance issue due to the long wheelbase. This car is equipped with 2E-F4 trucks. 

PRRT&HS collection. 

Enough about the prototype, let’s talk about the model. In 

checking the dimensions, I used the General Arrangement drawing 

that appears in the 1937 Car Builders Cyclopedia and Clearance 

Diagram E-93171. When I checked the Circle Keystone lettering, 

I used various builders and in service photos. 

The Shadow Keystone paint scheme was easier. I used the 

Pennsylvania Railroad Compendium. For color comparisons, I 

used Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 of the PRR Color Guides. For anyone 

who wants to compare the G26 to the G26A, the General Arrangement 

drawing is available from PRRT&HS. PRR diagrams 

for the G26 and G26A, respectively, are located at: 

http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=g26. 

gif&sel=gon&sz=sm&fr= 

http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=g26a 

.gif&sel=gon&sz=sm&fr= 

The G26C and G26S don’t fit my plans, so I haven’t tried to 

locate them. 

The only dimension that was way off was the length over 

couplers. This has been an ongoing debate within the scale for 

many years. No I’m not going there. All of the other dimensions 

were within inches. The rivet detail is excellent and the various 

patterns match the prototype. They also took the time and effort 

to cast interior details. This is a nice touch, but the way it needed 

to be done can cause problems. To get a clear picture of the quality 

of this casting, check out the area around the brake wheel. As 

built these cars were equipped with early Dreadnaught drop ends, 

the ones on this model match and work. 

Fine details of the parts, inside and out, are visible here. This car is equipped with National-type PRR class 2E-F7 trucks, one of 

several correct options for these cars. 


Hand brake detail and end door shown in dropped position. 

I took the time to talk to Bryan Bussey of Eastern Seaboard, 

about the two freight car colors used. He told me that both freight 

car colors were provided by PRRT&HS. I think he got an FCC 

drift card and used it on both CK and SK models. The CK color 

is not orange enough. When it comes to the colors, only real consistency 

from manufacturer to manufacturer has been the inconsistency. 

Hopefully, the paint committee has come to a consensus 

and begun to put the right info out to the manufacturers. My observations 

about the CK color are that it is a little off. The SK 

color on the model is brown, while all of photos I looked at show 

a red. 

I’ll start with the lettering for the Circle Keystone, CK, car. 

It matched up perfectly with the photos I had. The quality and 

detail are amazing. You can read the “ACS” build date as well as 

all the other fine print. The Shadow Keystone, SK, car is a different 

story. The word “PENNSYLVANIA” and the road number 

need to be shifted one panel to the left. The keystone and all 

of the dimensional data are correctly placed. Aside from this 

misplacement, all of the other lettering is excellent. At first 

glance, you don’t notice this mistake. Bryan told me it would be 

corrected for subsequent runs. 

This car comes equipped from the factory with body mount 

couplers. Typically you’ll only see this in new locomotives or 

cabin cars. This caused me some concern, which was very quickly 

dispelled. 

As anyone in N Scale knows, we have several different types 

of couplers on the market now. I used an Intermountain FP7A 

and an Atlas C-420 as my two test locomotives. The FP7A 

comes equipped with Micro-Trains couplers while the C-420 has 

Accumate couplers. 

I also used an Atlas offset side twin hopper, an Athearn offset 

side triple hopper and a Micro-Trains boxcar. The Atlas car 

has the Accumates, the Athearn car has the new McHenry couplers 

and we know what the Micro-Trains car has. I was looking 

for a variety of things and all of my questions were answered. 

They all coupled easily and smoothly. Coupler height matched 

perfectly. There was basically, no difference between the body 

mount and truck mounted couplers. 

Next would be the road tests. Being an apartment dweller, I 

don’t have space for the model railroad that I want. What I do 

have is a test track. A few years back, Des Plaines Hobbies released 

a Pullman and it got its turn on my test track. Only by 

tweaking the trucks, would these cars tolerate my test track. 

Needless to say, any locomotive, freight car, passenger car or cabin 

car will get put through its paces on my test track. Using the 

five cars and two locomotives mentioned above, I put one gon on 

the end of the train and the other in the middle. I both pushed and 

pulled the cut of cars around the curves and through the crossover 

switches. These two cars had no problems. 

The body mounted couplers and the low profile wheels were 

used for a reason. Bryan wanted to get the height from rail dimension 

correct and this was accomplished. I did have one problem 

with the road tests. My track is the older 100-million-lbswon’t-wear-out-until-your-grand-kids-have-grand-kids 

trackage. 

In one direction only, it sounded like the flanges were hitting the 

ties. It was coming from the A-end of both cars. When I brought 

this to Bryan’s attention, he said it wasn’t the flanges. It was 

flash on the axles hitting the coupler box. My X-Acto knife 

seems to have fixed this problem. 

ESM G26 in as-built Circle Keystone lettering (above) and in the later repaint Shadow Keystone lettering (below). 


One thing I discovered while investigating this problem, is 

how fragile these cars are. The two sides are glued to the metal 

frame. Needless to say, these cars need to be handled with kid 

gloves. Anyone thinking about doing kit bashing with this car 

has been warned. This problem with the trucks should be fully 

investigated, so it doesn’t come back to haunt anyone. 

My overall impressions are positive. This is a highly detailed 

car that handled itself well in tests. The only problems I found 

were either fixable or ones we’ve had before. It is a different car 

in the way it is assembled, but those differences are a positive. I 

took the time to do a little additional research on the welded G33 

and G37 classes. They share many common dimensions with the 

G26. The G33 was built with drop ends while the G37 was built 

with fixed ends. 

References 

The Keystone Modeler, No. 9, April 2004, page 32, G26- classes 

historical background and photographs. 

(Top) Underside view of G26 shows construction of plastic sides 

attached to a cast metal floor. 

(Above) Correct proportions and long length (causing the depth-offield 

focus problems) of the ESM G26 is evident in this view. 

(Left) Detail showing where flash has been removed from the near 

axle. The flash was interferring with the with the coupler pocket pin 

only on the A-end of the car. 


Model Review – Tangent Scale Models 

G31B Gondola 

By Jack Consoli, photos by the author unless noted 

Class G31B HO injection-molded plastic model. 

Let’s just cut to the chase: this is the nicest off-the-shelf, 

ready-to-run, state-of-the-art PRR gondola model out there, period. 

And unless you are overly concerned about a few details of 

the underframe which can’t be seen in any normal model pose, 

you won’t end up with a better gon starting with any brass import 

or plastic or resin kit, even after you assemble, paint and letter it. 

Even better news is that (the vast majority of) we modelers need 

this car, badly. So let me explain why and then get to the details 

of the model. 

The Prototypes 

Following World War II, the PRR’s freight car fleet was in 

serious need of repair and replacement following the abuse of 

supporting the war effort, particularly on many classes of aging 

cars. The PRR thus undertook a massive building program of 

new freight cars, including gondolas. The first gon type they targeted 

was the 52’6” inside length general service mill gondola. 

As per their historical mode of operation, they developed a new 

design, their first state-of-the-art all-welded gon class in this 

case, and proceeded to build the 2900 G31 (no-subclass) cars 

from 1948 to 1950. These cars featured thirteen welded side 

stakes in a W-N-N-N-W-N-W-N-W-N-N-N-W (W=wide, 

N=Narrow section stake) pattern. Although the side sheets had a 

fishbelly contour, the stakes all ended at the same height across 

PRR photo of G31B B-end, showing Universal lever-style hand brake and A.S.F. trucks. 

the length of the car, not extending fully down over the fishbelly 

area. The cars had steel floors and drop-type 2-rib Improved 

Dreadnaught style end doors. The G31 had a 3’6” inside height 

and 1745 cu.ft. capacity. 

The Railroad then did something very un-Pennsy-like and 

farmed out the construction of all the subclasses to several of the 

major commercial car builders. In the end, there were only three 

types of cars: drop-end/steel floor, drop-end/wood floor and 

fixed-end/wood floor. However, since the three commercial 

builders opted to construct the last two types per their own respective 

preferences, a total of six class designations were required 

to keep similarly built cars segregated. Pullman Standard 

built the 4800 welded, drop-end/wood floor G31A in three lots 

from 1950 through 1952 with their proprietary PS end. This 

stamped end door had two large, essentially straight horizontal 

corrugations. American Car & Foundry built one lot of 2000 very 

similar welded, drop-end/wood floor G31B in March through July 

1951, using instead the 2-rib Improved Dreadnaught style end 

doors that were used on the G31. They also constructed the 1200 

G31D in 1951 and 1952, essentially just a fixed-end version of 

the same car. These welded cars had 3-rib Dreadnaught ends. 

General American, like AC&F, also built both drop end and 

fixed-end, wood floor cars, with corrugated ends. Their 750 

G31C of 1951 had 2-rib Improved Dreadnaught end doors and 


their 500 G31E of 1952 had 3-rib Dreadnaught ends. The big difference 

between the General American cars and all the others 

was that they chose to stick with riveted-style construction. 

These would be the last riveted gons acquired by the PRR. (The 

only other post-war riveted gons, the 2000 46’0” inside length 

G34 cars, were actually built earlier, starting in late 1950.) 

In addition to the G31-classes, a very similar car, the G35, 

factors into this discussion. This class was essentially a slightly 

upgraded version of the G31B. The primary differences were that 

the newer design incorporated uninterrupted floor stringers and a 

taller inside height due to a beefed-up top chord configuration. 

On the G31’s the crossbearers had straight tops and fit up against 

the bottom of the floor, requiring the perpendicular stringer 

members to be cut and fitted in between all the cross members. 

On the G35 the crossbearers were dipped on top allowing continuous 

floor stringers to pass over top of them along the length of 

the car. The G31’s all had a “Z” member for a top chord along 

the car sides. For increased strength, the top chord on the G35 

was a welded assembly of two horizontal channel members to 

form a stronger box beam. Although the inside height of these 

cars was 3” taller than the G31B, they had the same side construction 

with just a larger top chord. This difference accounts 

for the larger cubical capacity of 1745 cu.ft. versus the 1646 

cu.ft. of all the wood floor G31-subclasses. The G35 were built 

with three different types of flooring. 

PRR G31 & G35* – CLASS GONDOLAS (as built) 

Class Number Series Quantity Builder Body Ends Floor 

G31 363400-366299 2900 PRR Welded 

G31A 

Drop – 2-rib 

Imp.Dreadnaught 

Outside 

Length 

Inside 

Height 

The Keystone Modeler 11 No. 72, Winter 2010 

Cubic 

Feet 

Hold-down 

clip location 

Steel 54' 8" 3' 6" 1745 Side panels 

373950-374949 1000 PS Welded Drop – 2-rib - PS Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 Side panels 

612000-614999 3000 PS Welded Drop – 2-rib - PS Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 Side panels 

374950-375749 800 PS Welded Drop – 2-rib - PS Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 

G31B 371950-373949 2000 ACF Welded 

G31C 371200-371949 750 GA Riveted 

G31D 375750-376949 1200 ACF Welded 

G31E 376950-377449 500 GA Riveted 

G35 

377450-378449 1000 PRR Welded 

378450-379149 700 PRR Welded 

379150-379349 200 PRR Welded 





Fixed – 3-rib Dreadnaught 

Fixed – 3-rib Dreadnaught 







All classes above: IL = 52' 6", IW = 9' 6", EXH = 10' 7", Capacity = 70 tons 

PS = Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co. 

ACF = American Car & Foundry 

GA = General American Transportation Corp. 

Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 

Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 

Wood 54' 8" 3' 3" 1646 

Wood 54' 0" 3' 3" 1646 

Wood 54' 8" 3' 6" 1745 

Nailable steel 54' 8" 3' 6" 1745 

Composite 54' 8" 3' 6" 1745 

Outer side of top 

chord 


chord 


chord 


chord 


chord 


chord 


chord 


chord 

Note: All the G31 classes had the same height sides: the G31 had larger capacity due to the steel floor – the wood floor consumed approximately 100 

cubic feet of volume. The capacity in the ORER is listed as 1646 for all the wood floor cars, but the G31A and G31B were stenciled as being 1647 cubic 

feet. 

* Note: The wood floor G35 essentially the same as G31 design except for having main crossbearers dipped to allow for continuous passage of the 

floor stringers between the bolsters and the side height extended by the top chord to yield the same capacity as the steel floor G31. 

REBUILDS Date Details 

G31F Rebuilt from class G31 1960 

G31H Rebuilt from class G31 1966 StanRay corrugated side panels 

G31K Rebuilt from class G31A 1967 

G31L Rebuilt from class G31B 1967 

G31M Rebuilt from class G31C 1967 

G31N Rebuilt from class G31D 1968 

G31P Rebuilt from class G31E PC era 

G35A Rebuilt from class G35 PC era 

Breakdown and details of the G31- and G35-class gondolas.

There were a total of 12,150 G31-class cars constructed; 

14,050 if the G31 – plus the similar G35 – are included. With the 

loss of many older cars during the decade preceding their construction, 

The G31/G35 classes comprised a very significant part 

of the PRR’s gondola fleet. To illustrate the magnitude of the 

place in the PRR roster these cars filled, look at the totals from 

the Official Railway Equipment Register roster dated October 

31, 1952 (issue cover date January 1953). Keep in mind there 

were almost 1000 G35 not yet built as of this date. 

ALL FREIGHT CARS 

Number of Percent of 

Freight Car Type Cars Total 

Open Hopper 75,077 38.57 

Box Car 68,145 35.01 

Gondola 44,594 22.91 

Flat Car 3,189 1.64 

Covered Hopper 2,297 1.18 

Stock Car 1,327 0.68 

Total 194,629 100.00 

Here is the breakdown by gondola class (with subclass included 

within the base class for simplicity). 

PRR Gondola Number of Percent of 

Class 

Cars Total 

GR 3,689 8.27 

GS 882 1.98 

G21 1 0.00 

G22 6,127 13.74 

G24 545 1.22 

G25 2,461 5.52 

G26 2,348 5.27 

G27 4,495 10.08 

G28 1,895 4.25 

G29 2,981 6.68 

G30 997 2.24 

G31 12,149 27.24 

G32 2,100 4.71 

G33 950 2.13 

G34 2,000 4.48 

G35 974 2.18 

Total 44,594 100.00 

Here is the breakdown by sub-class for G31/G35. 

PRR Gondola Number of Percent of 

Class 

Cars Total 

G31 2,900 6.50 

G31A 4,799 10.76 

G31B 2,000 4.48 

G31C 750 1.68 

G31D 1,200 2.69 

G31E 500 1.12 

G35 974 2.18 

Total 13,123 29.41 

So the bottom line here is that in the early 1950’s gons made 

up close to one quarter of the total PPR fleet of nearly 200,000 

cars and of those, almost one in three was a G31/G35. PRR and 

non-PRR modelers alike need these cars. 

Additional background can be found in the previous TKM 

articles on the G31: 

• G31, G31A/B/D, G35 Gondolas – Vol. 16, page 23: background, 

diagram, numbers and quantities, photos. 

• G31, G31A/B/D, G35 Gondolas – Vol. 17, page 24: supplemental 

photos. 

• G31C/E Gondolas – Vol. 17, page 8: background, diagram, 

numbers and quantities, photos. 

The Model 

There is frankly very little to say about this model because it 

is so well done. The construction of the car is fairly typical, the 

execution is exemplary. The sides, ends and underframe members 

are a one-piece injection molded part. Small details including 

the tack boards, defect card holder, poling pockets, end sill 

gussets, drop door latches and weld seams (including those on 

the inside of the car) are molded into the body where appropriate. 

Especially well executed are the shallow oval slots along the face 

of the corner posts that aided in the welding process of the prototype 

as well as the small holes along the length of the top chords. 

Note also that the non-symmetric end sills on the car are properly 

recreated; this is not a mistake. Whereas the A-end sill has a 

shallow taper, the B-end sill has a much deeper taper to extend 

the draft gear outward and provide space from a coupled car for 

the hand brake and platform protruding from the end of the car. 

(Above left) A ¾-view of G31B model. (Above right) G31B A-end showing the shallow sill, drop end door, side bracket grab, etc. 

Note that the drop steps are not mangled here. The inside leg was vertical, but the outer leg was angled due to its being attached 

out on the angled part of the corner post. 


(Right top) Inside view illustrating the floor 

detail, corrugated ends, weld seams and top 

chord holes. The recesses on the top of the 

corner posts and the door top stiffener rivets 

are prototypically correct as well. 

(Middle) Underside view of G31B showing 

brake gear and partial-depth center sill and 

crossbearer members with steel weights buried 

beneath. 

(Bottom) Fine detailing of the hold down 

clips, retainer valve, and side ladder. 


The rest of the fine details are separately attached 

parts that appear very close to proper scale 

size and cross-section. All the grab irons, ladder 

rungs and cut levers are wire parts. The half-bracket 

grabs on the left end of the sides and the half-ladders 

on the right ends are beautifully done. The retainer 

valve and piping, perforated brake platform (US 

Gypsum type), drop steps and air hoses are all nicely 

done as well. Tangent is to be thanked for their effort 

expended on the hand brake gear. Prototypically correct 

and scale-size lever-style handbrakes so common 

on drop-end gondolas have historically been a problem 

for modelers. Tangent tooled both Universal and 

Equipco styles, each in two parts: the gear housing 

with attached chain and a separate lever. Even better, 

Tangent is selling them separately, two of each type 

on a single sprue per set. All their decorated G31B 

come with the Universal style. The prototypes are reported 

to have been equipped with a mixture of 500 

Universal, 1250 Equipco and 250 Klasing sets of 

brake gear. The underframe air brake gear, piping, 

rods and levers appear to be molded and applied in 

two sections. The delicate, open hold down clips attached 

along the outside face of the top chord have 

been cleanly molded onto a separate strip, and then 

applied along the top of the sides. 

The 2000 G31B were equipped with PRR class 

2E-F22B and 2E-F22C trucks. The first 1500 cars 

had 70 ton A.S.F. A-3 Ride-Control trucks and the 

last 500 had National C-1 trucks. Since no appropriate 

A.S.F. trucks existed for these models, Tangent 

tooled the 70 ton A-3 Ride-Control truck to fill this 

void. They are very nicely detailed and include casting 

markings and brake shoes along with the correct 

configuration of four visible springs. 

Fortunately, Tangent offers these trucks for sale separately 

also. (The 70 ton National C-1 trucks are available from Atlas if 

you care to model a car with them applied. If you replace the 

Tangent trucks, you can always use these A.S.F. trucks elsewhere 

as they were used under a number of gon classes.) The 

models are equipped with Kadee “scale” Whisker ® shank couplers. 

I have only three minor criticisms of this model. The first is 

that the prototypes only had one defect card holder. It was on the 

side of the car such that when faced, the B-end of the car would 

be to the viewer’s left, as seen in the prototype photo above. The 

model has two; one on each side of the car. This can be easily 

(Top) Drop end door and latch hardware, Universal lever handbrake gear, 

cut levers and corner ladders are visible here. (Above) Tangent 70-ton 

A.S.F. A-3 Ride-Control trucks. (Bottom) Decorated G31B in its as-built lettering 

scheme with gray wood floor. 

remedied with one flick of your handy #17 X-Acto knife blade. 

The second item is that although the 26 hold down clips are included 

along each top chord, the prototype also had one mounted 

at an angle on each of the 2 nd and 3 rd side stakes in from each end 

for a total of 30 per side. Understandably, these would have been 

pretty much impossible to mold onto the model side stakes. It 

would require minimal effort to add these as separate bent plastic 

or metal rod pieces by the modeler. The last item is that the drop 

end doors of the assembled models are glued in (quite well), as 

shipped from the factory. This is only an issue if you wish to 

configure your car with the doors in their dropped positions. 


I had heard that gluing in the doors was a compromise to keep 

the car cost down by eliminating all the extra work to decorate 

and handle parts which have numbers on them that need to match 

the car to which they are applied. I started to try to free one with 

the sharp tip of a #11 blade and I think it is possible, if care is 

exercised. Any minor damage to the parts could be disguised as 

“weathering” anyway as prototype end doors were abused relentlessly. 

I have not yet purchased the kit version of the car (for 

conversions) to know for certain, but I am hopeful that the doors 

are not assembled to those bodies. 

Undoubtedly, some modelers may complain that some of the 

upper underframe member details are missing due to their 

“space” being occupied by the car weights. I personally would 

much prefer to have the car properly weighted right out of the 

box at the expense of some details I will never see anyway once I 

place the car on the rails, than have to fiddle around trying to 

squeeze little bits of weight here and there later. Agreed, that on 

some freight cars this approach could be a visual problem, but 

that is not the case on a gondola with low hanging sides like this. 

If it really bothers you, you can easily pop out the floor piece by 

pushing up on its underside at the ends of the car and then peel it 

out once you get the first end lifted, remove the weights, glue in 

a bunch of little styrene pieces and replace the floor, and then 

add the weight back via some other means: knock yourself out. 

Finishing 

The decorated cars are painted a color that is well within the 

bounds of what we believe PRR Freight Car color of the early 

1950’s to be. The simulated wood floors are painted a neutral 

gray. Since on the prototypes the floors of these cars were known 

to be unpainted even when new, the gray is intended to give the 

modeler a convenient starting point for getting a weathered bare 

wood look on the model. The air hoses are even painted black on 

their simulated rubber section. The truck sideframes are unpainted 

black plastic. 

All the lettering is properly applied in white. Note that with 

the dispersal of construction of the G31- and G35 classes 

amongst several builders, a few non-standard lettering practices 

appeared on the cars when built. Although the historically correct 

abbreviation on the PRR for the application of one-wear wrought 

steel wheels was “1W WRT ST WLS” (dashes and periods not 

withstanding), ACF stenciled both the G31B and G31D “1W 

WRT STL WLS” while General American stenciled the G31C 

and G31E “1W WRT ST WHLS”. ACF also used an angled line 

in the fraction in the spring travel data, whereas standard practice 

dictated a horizontal line. Further, ACF also formatted the “THIS 

CAR PROVIDED WITH HOLDDOWN CLIPS…” note in the 

center of car side to be both right- and left-justified, whereas on 

most all other classes, the note was only left-justified. Although 

PRR practice seemed to vary somewhat, the G31B were delivered 

with the “B” suffix in the class notation as a full height 4” 

capital letter. In later repaints, some cars received the smaller 3” 

capital “B”. Note also that in the period these various classes 

were being built, the PRR was in the process of moving some 

stenciling to the ends of the cars and then further rearranging 

their positions on the ends. Tangent got all these subtleties correct 

on their G31B. 

Other Versions? 

The G31B is a great addition to the stable of available models 

out there, but what does the introduction of this model mean 

to us modelers to help complete the whole picture of the PRR 

gondola fleet? How do we get to a G31, G31A, G31C, G31D, 

G31E, G35 and all the later rebuilt subclasses? As mentioned 

above, a significant part of the PRR gondola fleet was made up 

of this collection of cars. 

We certainly hope at a minimum, Tangent considers releasing 

this car in the later Shadow Keystone and Plain Keystone 

paint schemes as this is a fairly simple extension of their product 

line and is particularly appropriate as these cars lasted through 

and past the end of the PRR era. 

How similar are all the other classes mechanically? Ignoring 

little details like brake gear and trucks that can be very easily 

changed/corrected by the modelers (even on a decorated model), 

there are only a few features of the car to be discussed. The G31 

and first two groups of G31A had the hold-down clips attached to 

the side panels of the car (in addition to the two at each end on 

the side stakes). The last group of G31A, 374950 – 375749, all 

the subsequent subclasses built new, and the G35 had the clips 

along the edge of the top chord as on the Tangent model. Retooling 

the body for the side-mounted clips would appear to be a significant 

undertaking/expense, and I frankly don’t know how it 

could be done to yield open clips, short of applying them as separate 

parts. 

(Left) G31B B-end showing well detailed brake gear and end lettering. (Right) Enlargement of the fine small lettering and the 

open hold-down clips. 


On the other hand, the modeler could easily cut off the G31B 

top chord clips or remove the entire piece they are molded onto 

and replace it with a styrene strip. Although adding the clips by 

hand is a little tedious, doing it with a plastic-bodied car is the 

best case scenario. (See the G31C/E construction article in TKM 

Vol.17.) 

The G31C and G31E were riveted construction cars. I would 

not expect Tangent to do these cars as they are almost completely 

different from the tooling perspective and were the smallest 

groups of cars of the lot – not likely a good business decision for 

Tangent. Even from the modeler’s perspective, a better starting 

point to build either subclass would probably not be the G31B. 

Since the drop end doors are tooled as separate parts on the 

model, Tangent could very easily tool a new Pullman Standard 

three-corrugation style door. With this new door and some minor 

changes to the painting details they could then produce cars 

matching the last group of G31A with the hold-down clips along 

the top chord. If a modeler then purchased the unpainted kit version 

of this car with the P.S. door, making the change to the holddown 

clip location would be all that is required to get the first 

two groups of G31A. This largest subclass of the lot would then 

be covered. There are no P.S. ends currently on the market so if 

Tangent does not tool one, the modeler would have to scratchbuild 

these parts to make the G31A. (Note that after a few 

years, the end doors on all these classes seemed to get mixed up 

due to repairs, so some G31A did eventually end up with G31B 

doors.) 

Similarly, the straight G31 could be made from the existing 

G31B body and end doors by making the change to the holddown 

clips. The only other part needed is a steel floor. Since this 

is also a separate part, it could be tooled by Tangent or built by 

the modeler to get a G31. 

The G31D has fixed ends, but is otherwise very similar to the 

G31B since ACF constructed both classes. It would appear that 

Tangent could accurately address this subclass by tooling just the 

new fixed end and changing the painting accordingly. The particularly 

advantage to building this car is that it opens the previously 

untouched market for the “skid and cover” cars which the 

PRR specially converted to haul steel coils and plates. The G31E 

and G31D were similarly equipped and were the PRR’s first large 

scale venture into this special equipment. If this subclass is not 

tooled, it still would not be a particularly difficult kitbash. 

Side view of G31B. 

The G35 differed from the G31B primarily in its top chord 

construction and some underframe details (that would be obscured 

by the weights in this G31B model). The cars were also 

built with three variations of flooring. Tooling the top chord 

changes might be messy, but it makes for a very simple kitbash 

from the existing car. I have already started that conversion, so 

buy some undecorated cars and get ready for the details in the 

next issue of TKM. 

Penn Central and Conrail modelers need G31-‘s as well, but 

most/many of the classes were modified in the late 1960’s to become 

new subclasses (see the table above) and some physical 

changes would be required beyond just paint and lettering. I am 

not fully familiar with all the changes, but I expect it to be a fairly 

tangled web. It may be quite unrealistic for Tangent to spend 

the money necessary to make the tooling changes required, so 

this is likely to be a project left to us modelers. We have a G31L 

conversion article already in pipeline for the next issue as well. 

Summary 

So to summarize: this G31B is an excellent model and goes a 

long way towards allowing a significant group of related cars to 

be modeled, compared to what was previously available (nothing). 

If Tangent will do the later paint schemes, tool the G31D 

fixed end and/or possibly the PS end door, we modelers would be 

in great shape. If they tool the skids and covers… wow. 

Bottom line here though is that we consumers need to show 

our support of their efforts by buying the products. Additionally, 

please contact Tangent and let them know what you’d like to see 

as this “marketing” information can be valuable to them in 

choosing where to direct any potential future energy regarding 

this project. 

References 

• The Keystone, December 1980, page 35, article and photographs. 

• Rails Northeast, November 1976, Circle Keystone painting & 

lettering diagram. 

• Railway Prototype Cyclopedia: RP CYC 19, Ed Hawkins, page 

113, G31- article, photos and data, (also similar cars on other 

roads). 

• Tangent Models website, http://tangentscalemodels.com, prototype 

information and photos. 


Balanced Locomotive Roster 

for Operations on the Panhandle 

By Bill Neale 

An eastbound symbol freight moves through Steubenville, Ohio behind by M1A #6734. 

Many modelers like to put their models to work, doing in 

model form what their prototypes did. More than just circulating 

a train, prototype operation implies a purposeful use of the 

equipment that replicates the actions and events that might have 

taken place on the real PRR. Prototype operations provide a 

meaningful reason for each train, which enhances the experience 

of the operator. It affects the way we think about the trains we 

run and can increase our enjoyment of the fine equipment we 

create by putting the rolling stock into context. Of course not 

everyone enjoys operations and frankly not all operating sessions 

are enjoyable. However, I think many modelers of the 

PRR intend to have operating sessions even if that point is some 

distance in the future. They might find my experiences interesting. 

I model the PRR Panhandle in 1939, so only steam engines 

need apply for the front end of trains. Maybe it’s obvious, but 

which engines do what tasks? What are the limitations I have 

found putting together a roster to operate my railroad? Which 

brands of models seem to work best for what service? At least 

once or twice during every operating session I hold, I am asked 

about the brand of locomotives, and what modifications I have 

done to get then to run nicely. Perhaps my experiences can help 

others, so I put together this synopsis of my approach to an engine 

roster, and related it to how I operate my section of the 

PRR. This is not a recitation of PRR practice; instead, it is focused 

on how to model operations on the PRR using today’s 

models. 

In the process of developing an operating scheme, some of 

the prototype operations of various trains were modified to fit 

the model. Over time, the make-up and importance of certain 

trains change. Maybe train PH-10 starts out as a hot-shot freight 

in the early 20 th century, degrades to a mixed freight in the 

1930’s, but becomes more important as traffic patterns shift 

again in the 1950’s. For model operations, I may choose to use 

PH-10 as a mixed freight, which may not be accurate for this 

train and time period, so please be cautious about taking the information 

in the modeling context and assuming it applies to the 

prototype PRR. In some cases I manufactured train numbers 

because I simply could not find the right information at the time. 


(Top) The Steubenville Shifter behind a B6sb spots cars at 

the freight house. (Left) L1S #1122 drifts downgrade on 

PH-125. (Bottom left) An I1SA shoves hard against an N5B 

cabin car and a train of loaded H21A hoppers. 

Like most model railroads, my representation of the 

Panhandle is selectively compressed. I represent about 15-20 

miles of real track in three scale miles. My tracks are shorter 

and my grades are steeper than the prototype, but those compromises 

are very common on most model railroads. I have 

one main yard (Weirton Junction), one complex industrial 

area (Steubenville), and a multi-track mainline with a long 

2% grade that requires helpers. The operating pattern is 

based on many through trains interacting with the local facilities. 

I have substantial staging at both ends of the modeled 

section to support a large number of trains that roll across my 

section of the PRR. 

Let’s start with the through trains. The hottest trains on 

the railroad are powered by M-class engines. In 1939, the 

big 4-8-2 M1 and M1A Mountains were the most modern 

power available. These manifests are 20 to 25 cars long, and 

consist of reefers, boxcars, and tank cars. My desire is to require 

a pusher if the train is more than about 22 cars. Manifests 

PH-10, VL-2, and JC-5 have BLI M1A power. CIN-1 

has a Westside M1A. The Westside has more pulling power 

than I like, so I keep it on the Westbound – down bound 

trains. That disguises the extra tractive effort this engine has. 

I also run a 30 car eastbound stock extra that is M1A powered. 

I intend to put a Sunset M1 (short tank) in service 

soon, as an alternative engine for any of these trains. However, 

the Broadway engines are the best for this service as 

they are reliable and pull just enough to occasionally need a 

pusher. 


Trains PH-4 and PH-7, PH-11, and CIN-2 are symbol 

freights that are mixed in consist and do some work 

on the railroad. Often these trains will pick up or set off 

cars at Weirton, and a few trains also stop at Steubenville 

yard. I use I1’s, L1’s and sometimes N1’s, on 

these trains. The Precision Craft Models I1SA Decapod 

is one of the best plastic models done to date. However, 

in stock form, it did not pull sufficiently to meet the 20- 

22 criteria on the hill. I did some modifications to improve 

the pulling power and now they pull just fine. The 

N1’s are Westside models, and are some of the finest 

running five-axle brass engines ever made in my opinion. 

The N1’s required some TLC to straighten the 

valve gear and rods so they would run correctly. 

The PFM L1S is another nice running engine, but I 

found that a new NWSL gear box and can motor made it 

even better. The older Japanese built engines tend to 

have a sturdier frame and better running gear than later 

imports. I had to add weight to most of my brass engines 

to get them to pull better. However, I don’t want 

the L-class engine pulling more than the N-class, so balance 

and moderation are needed when setting up the engines. 

Casting an H6SB boiler out of depleted uranium 

so that it will drag 150 cars up the hill defeats the purpose 

of needing certain engines to do certain jobs. 

All along this part of the panhandle, small mines 

dotted the region in the 1930’s. I use PFM L1S locomotives 

to handle the mine shifters along the mainline, 

one each way. These are trains PH-124 and PH-125 

(these are manufactured numbers but are within the 

scheme of train numbering that was used in the region). 

(Top right) H9S and B6SB yard shifters wait by the 

Weirton Yard Office. (Right) An I1SA backs down to 

an empty coal train in Weirton. (Bottom) The Weirton 

Shifter moves an N6B cabin car as a road freight 

rolls by. 


(Above) The Steubenville Shifter, a B6SB 0-6-0, services Central Sewer Pipe and Supply Co. over some complex industrial trackage. 

(Below) A hard-working I1SA “Hippo” charges into Steubenville with a loaded coal train. 

The L1S locomotives operate exceptionally 

smoothly, so they make excellent 

engines to switch with, and they 

have enough muscle to handle 20-25 coal 

loads on the hill. Maybe an I1 would be 

a better choice if there were more mines, 

or an H10S if the line were more level, 

however, the Mikado seems to have the 

right balance of power for this service. 

Coal service out of the Burgetts 

Branch is I1-powered. Because I want 

the Burgetts Branch Coaler to operate 

without the need of a helper, I used a 

PFM I1 on this train. The PFM has a 

Precision Scale gearbox and a can motor, 

so the operation is smooth and reliable. 

Extra weight was added to this engine to 

ensure it was sufficiently strong enough 

to handle the eastbound (up bound) leg 

of its turn. On the prototype, coal from 

Burgettstown moved eastward. On my 

model, the coal moves down to Weirton, 

and empties go back up the hill to the 

Burgettstown mines. 


(Top) K4s #439 on Train #412 paused in Steubenville next to a female admirer. 

(Bottom) K4s #1122 with a mate on Train #10 rolls through Bertha. 

Every day, a train load of steel products departs 

Weirton Yard for the east. Generally this consists of 

10-15 cars of plate steel, and 20-25 cars of rolled steel. 

The plate steel is heading for the Navy Yards on the 

East Coast. For this train, one or two PFM I1s are 

usually on the front end pulling and an I1 pusher is on 

the back end. Usually the pusher is a PFM Decapod, 

but lately I have been using a PCM Decapod very successfully. 

It gives enough push to get the train over 

the hill, without overpowering the back end of the 

train. Sometimes an N1S subs for one of the lead I1SA 

locomotives. In its modern configuration, this was the 

last train I saw on this section of the prototype Panhandle. 

Even with modern diesels, it still needed a 

pusher at the back end. 

The other big train eastbound train is metallurgical 

coal out of Mingo Junction, east to Pittsburgh. This 

is the heaviest and longest train on the Panhandle, 

usually 35-40 loaded cars. Usually two I1 pushers are 

needed, and two lead I1’s also. One session required 

the Weirton Yard engine to push, just to get the train 

up Hanlin Hill. The Weirton crew got extra pay that 

day as it took all five engines to get the coal train moving. 

I should note that some photographic evidence 

shows that eastbound prototype coal trains were of 

moderate size in steam days, and had one engine on 

the front and one engine on the back when they 

climbed Hanlin Hill. 


An I1SA still equipped with extended piston rods rolls past the Diamond Café in Steubenville with a mixed freight. 

Passenger service is supported by a fleet of K4S Pacific’s. 

Most of these are Broadway Limited engines, which are reliable, 

and capable of handling a normal 8-9 car passenger train on the 

hill. Double headed K4S engines are used on the front of #10, 

the eastbound mail, a significantly long train. A couple of remotored 

PFM K4S locomotives also supply power for the Spirit 

of St. Louis (#30 & #31), and the Cincinnati Limited (#40 & 

#41). The PFM’s have extra weight added and have just a tiny 

bit more pull than the Broadway engines. Both run smoothly at 

slow speed. Local service is provided by a Westside G5S, and a 

rebuilt Alco E5S (Alco made some of the worst running brass 

engines ever imported. My E5S was gutted and a Bowser mechanism 

was installed by my good friend Rev. Jon Barker). 

Peddler freights (PH-120 & PH-121) are headed by H10S 

engines. I have three Sunsets and one re-motored/re-geared Gem 

that share this work. I rotate the four engines across the two locals 

during the year. That ensures I have backup power should 

any engine fail during a session. The Sunsets are my favorite because 

they have better proportions and a lighter look than the old 

Gem, but the Gem holds her own when in service. 

A Sunset H9S is assigned to Weirton Yard as the primary 

shifter on the east end, while a B6SB or a B6S holds down the 

west end job. The west end shifter pulls and spots cabin cars, 

and moves cuts of cars from the west end of trains in the receiv- 

ing yard. The east end job has the heavy classification work. 

The B6SB is a Sunset model which I am very pleased with. The 

B6S is from Overland, and while a beautiful engine, it has trouble 

staying in electrical contact with the rails. It currently waits in 

the roundhouse for additional electrical work. On a quick note, 

the Sunset Consolidations have a tendency to short. Often this is 

caused by the back of the pilot wheel touching the little pilot 

truck carrier frame. This can be solved by adding fiber washers 

to the axle on either side of the frame. 

The Steubenville industrial area and yard has another Sunset 

B6SB assigned. This engine and crew often work in conjunction 

with the Peddler crew to switch out the industrial tracks scattered 

throughout the city. 

Traffic on the Wheeling secondary is handled primarily by 

Consolidations. A Sunset H8S and a Lambert H6SB handle most 

of this work, while another Lambert H6SB works the Weirton 

steel Mill and along the New Cumberland Branch. The Lamberts 

are stock, with the older open frame motor. They run very well 

and work their tails off for most operating sessions, but a new 

gearbox and can motor is planned in the future for each of these 

little giants. I might note that the Lambert had tender truck bolsters 

that were not soldered to the tender frame. After some time, 

this becomes a point of failure, fixed by soldering a wire directly 

to the tender trucks from the decoder. 


All these engines have sound decoders. Most are 

Soundtraxx Medium Steam Tsunami’s, including the PCM decapods. 

The Broadway M1A and K4S engines have QSI decoders. 

The QSI decoders have excellent PRR passenger whistles, and 

the Tsunami decoders have the best freight whistles (single 

chime) in my opinion. I have found that sometimes the QSI decoders 

get confused and lose programming. However, that is 

fairly rare and can be easily corrected. The QSI decoders also 

have a heavy in-rush of current when resetting from a short. 

That heavy in-rush looks like a short to my Digitrax DCC system. 

I have yet to find a good fix for this problem that is permanent. 

Each engine has a programming sheet on which I record all 

CV programming done to that decoder, so reproducing any programming 

is quick and easy. I can also check to see how I set up 

the last engine, when doing a similar engine. I like to add just a 

little momentum to make the engines run smoothly, but my 

crews complain if there is too much! 

Gear box noise is always a problem when it competes with 

the sound system. Most of my engines are very quiet, but some 

will produce some noise. A friend of mine, Ron King, a local 

MMR, gave me a tip that has worked wonderfully. He suggested 

An I1SA Decapod and L1S Mikado round a four-track curve with an eastbound loaded coal train. 

that I add a drip of STP Oil Treatment to the gear box along with 

some light lubrication. The STP coats the gears and prevents 

gear tooth-to-tooth contact. The engines got even quieter after 

getting the Ron King STP treatment. 

You may note that I have not mentioned Bowser models. 

Many Bowsers saw early service on the Panhandle, but I have 

since retired these engines. I had three H10S Consolidations that 

were kit based from an MDC boiler and cab, with a Bowser mechanism, 

NWSL gear box, and a can motor. They ran very well, 

but their tenders were just not up to the better looks of the Sunset 

engines. The Consolidations continue to soldier on, somewhere 

around Philadelphia on Pete Forbes railroad, and near Crestline 

on Floyd Foust’s PRR. I also ran a fleet of super detailed Bowser 

decapods. The pulling power of these engines was such that 

pushers were never really needed, thus diminishing the “play 

value” of the models. With the arrival of the PCM decapods, the 

Bowsers were retired. The Bowsers also had Alco replacement 

motors so they ran nicely, but the gear noise was distracting once 

I went to sound. Please note that without Bowser’s support of 

PRR models, the long coal trains and steel trains would not happen, 

so I have nothing but good things to say about the company 

as a whole. 


A big N1S 2-10-2 Santa Fe-type has just coupled onto the Steel Train at Steubenville Yard while two N6b cabin cars look on. 

Model steam engines share some of the characteristics of 

their prototype brethren. They can be infuriatingly unreliable. 

Perhaps a running gear screw backs out, or the value gear gets 

bent when re-railing. Maybe the paint wears off an important 

part of some metal surface, and the engine begins to short at random 

times. Actually there are a couple dozen ways a perfectly 

good running engine on Friday becomes a lousy piece of junk on 

Saturday. Usually, you cannot take time to solve the problem 

and fix the engine while running an operating session. You have 

to have backup engines available so critical operations can continue. 

Using four H10S engines to handle the two peddlers allows 

the extra engines to pitch in at Weirton Yard if one of the 

usual engines goes down. An extra L1S can step in as the second 

engine on the steel train or coal extra east if one of the decapods 

has a problem. My point is to plan for a certain percentage of 

your engines to fail, so you build redundancy into your roster. 

This whole article is a personal perspective on operations on 

a PRR railroad. My approach may not be the right way for everyone 

else. I have no doubt that many of you may have very different 

perspectives, which should also be shared. I also suspect 

that many PRR modelers have better and more original solutions 

to some of the challenges I described in operations. I strongly 

encourage you to provide your opinions on this topic through the 

society’s discussion boards, or write a follow up article about 

how operations are supported by your roster. Several articles 

outlining how many of us approach our operations would make 

outstanding reference material for anyone starting to design their 

operations. 


Kitbashing an NA Cabin Car in N or HO 

By Claus Schlund, photos by the author unless noted 

This Richard Burg photograph is captioned “NA #997621 

blt. 10/86, c. 1925, R. W. Legg, photo Collection of W.V. 

Russel”. 

A few years back, I purchased a Richard Burg photo of 

PRR #997621 – a class NA cabin car. I recently decided to 

take the plunge to model this car, using a Bachmann bobber 

caboose as the basis. I built mine in N scale, but since the 

same starting point is available in HO, scale is less of an issue! 

Cutting and splicing body and underframe 

This article outlines the steps I went through to build a 

model of this car in N scale. To the degree I can, I’ll let the 

pictures do most of the talking, with the text simply highlighting 

what has been done at each point. Naturally, if you 

choose to do this work in HO, you will need to make some 

adjustments. 

The first few steps… 

1. Cut down body to correct 15 ft. 1 ¾ in. length by removing 

a center section 

2. Cut down underframe to match body. 

3. Label the “A” and “B” ends of the car body and underframe 

at this point. Doing this helps you get a better fit 

because you always put them together the same way. 

4. Fill in the remaining body center window opening using 

styrene and spot putty. 

5. Use a pin and straight-edge to scribe the filled-in area 

where the center window was to match the surrounding 

scribing. 

6. Fill cupola center window area with styrene and spot 

putty, file and sand smooth. 


7. Reinforce the cut down underframe 

with brass sheet used as a splice plate 

and weight. 

8. Cut off factory end railing from underframe. 

9. Trim off horizontal bars joining wheel 

supports and the toolbox from the underframe. 

The photo shows the underframe 

test fitted for NWSL 36 in. dia. 

wheels and MT couplers (more details 

on this later). 

10. File off the cast-on roofwalk, then keep 

on filing until the factory board lines 

disappear from the roof. 

11. Remove cupola roof and ends, leaving 

only the sides. 

12. Fill in the factory smokestack hole 

(seen at lower right) and file smooth. 

Cupola ends, roof, and windows 

13. Build new cupola ends – this is more 

work that these few words can convey! 

Make the ends from scribed styrene and 

make them oversized – in other words, 

too tall. Install some 0.040 in. by 0.040 

in. strip styrene above cupola sides to 

make the sides taller. Once the ends are 

installed and the glue has been allowed 

to set overnight, use files and sandpaper 

to reduce the cupola ends down in 

height and to give a suitable round contour 

on top. I simply did this by eye 

alone. 


14. Cut and install roof of 

0.020 in. sheet styrene, 

leaving some overhang. 

Clamp until glue is set. 

Leaving a little too 

much overhang is better 

then leaving too little, 

since things can be corrected 

with a bit of filing 

and sanding. 

15. Once the glue attaching the roof is thoroughly set (as in the next day), cut two cupola end windows in each end. I started with a 

drill, and then enlarged the opening to the required shape using jeweler’s files. You can see end windows in various stages of 

completion above. Note the finished windows are not square, and worse still, the top and bottom edges could be thought of as 

slightly curved, although a straight edge here would be allowable. As an aid, I lay down a strip of styrene across the roof and used 

a pencil to mark in a line somewhat offset upward from the roofline – see photos. This helped to mark the window lower edge. 


Detailing the body 

At this point, all the fundamentals of the car 

body are there, so you get to add whatever level of 

detailing works for you. 

16. Shorten roof overhang above end platform by 

removing approx 0.030 in. from both ends of 

roof. 

17. Drill #80 holes for cupola braces, attached between 

cupola ends and rooftop, made of thin 

(maybe 0.008 in. dia.) copper wire threaded as 

one single length. 

18. Make and install curved side rails (made from 

0.010 in. dia. phosphor bronze) on left and 

right car body ends, supported in the middle 

with etched standoffs from Gold Medal Models 

(160-42 Steam Loco Details, part #9). 

19. Add smokejack (from a KATO caboose) and 

support rod. 

20. Add cupola sun shield (0.010 in. by 0.040 in. 

styrene strips) above windows. 

Still more detailing work – this time the work 

is on the roof. 

21. Add sections of MT reefer roofwalk cut to 

length supported underneath by 0.010 in. x 

0.020 in. blocks. 

22. Modify four etched standoffs from Gold Medal 

Models (160-42 Steam Loco Details, part 

#9). These standoffs start out as a lollipop 

shape – modify them by sanding the tops off to 

make a “Y” shape. 

23. Drill #78 hole for the standoffs at the four corners. 

24. Drill a pair of #80 holes at each corner to accept 

the roof grab ends. B-end and add roof 

grabs – this is tedious work, but is very visible 

on the finished model so I think it is worth the 

trouble. 

25. Add cupola end marker lamp block (0.060 in. 

by 0.020 in. strip with a pair of 0.020 in. dia. 

holes drilled), visible on the cupola end just 

above and to the right of the roofwalk. 

26. Glue 0.010 in. by 0.020 in. strip as top of cupola 

window frame. 

27. Glue 0.010 in. by 0.040 in. strip as cupola 

window bottom sill, protruding out slightly 

over the end of cupola siding. 

At this point, the car body is looking pretty good. 


Underframe and draft gear 

The underframe and draft gear need some 

work… 

28. Glue a short strip of 0.020 in. by 0.060 in. styrene 

to underframe down the center of coupler 

pocket and then mount MT1131 couplers using 

the original Bachmann springs and draft 

gear box as seen previously. The styrene strip 

restricts the movement of the coupler inside 

the draft gear box – without these the coupler 

has too much room to move about and droops 

badly. 

The following work completes the underframe… 

29. File the end platforms smooth, trim off factory 

end platform stairs, then glue two 0.010 in. 

sheets of styrene over the entire surface of 

each end platform with ACC. This provides a 

flat surface that covers the areas that were the 

former stairwells. Make the sheets oversize, 

and when ACC is set, trim & file to match existing 

end platform outline. 

30. Fill in open areas in underframe with 0.020 in. 

by 0.015 in. by 0.040 in. styrene blocks and 

fill in end stair areas with 0.040 in. blocks. 

31. Glue on Detail Associates 8019 “tender steps” 

at four corners of car. 

32. Drill holes for end ladders and posts, install ladder from 

GMM 160-42 Steam Loco Detail set, install car end vertical 

posts and railings (Creative Model Associates/Tichy #1106 

0.0125 in. dia. phosphor bronze wire), install MT vertical 

brakewheels on each of the end platforms. 

33. Install a trapezoidal styrene underframe support bracket (in 

grey in the photo) under car at midpoint. 

34. Install a pair of 0.010 in. by 0.030 in. styrene strips spanning 

between the undersides of the axle bearings. 

Painting and lettering 

Finally, the car body is painted and lettered… 

35. Northeast Decals BAR-10. 

An image of the end helps show some of the end railings 

better. You can see the white 0.010 in. styrene cover that was 

glued to the end platforms. Vertical staff brakewheels have not 

yet been installed in this photo. 

The last few steps… 

36. Paint underframe parts weathered black, then dry brush with 

some rust or rail brown paint. 

37. Add weight as desired (I added a ¼ oz. slug of lead). 

38. Paint entire car with Testors Dullcote. 

39. Weather. 


Final assembly 

40. Glaze windows. 

41. Install car body onto underframe. 

At this point, 

you can optionally glue 

the end ladder and verticals 

to the underside of the 

roof overhang for security: 

I simply left mine unglued 

so the carbody is still removable. 

42. Install couplers and 

wheels. 

A view of the other side – 

the cabin is ready to be placed 

in service. 

Information and References 

• Robert Schoenberg’s excellent PRR web pages have two general elevation drawings for this car class: 

o http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=NA-.gif&sel=cbn&sz=sm&fr= 

o http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=NA-12948.gif&sel=cbn&sz=sm&fr= 

• October 1996 Railroad Model Craftsman has drawings for the early as-built (three-window) class NA cabin car. 


Making Model PRR Station and Tower Signs 

By Tim Garner 

If you have stations or towers on 

your layout, you’ll want to include 

PRR’s standard red and gold station 

signs for the classic PRR look. Using 

your computer, photo paper, and a 

tool on the web, making them is easy. 

PRR’s standard cast station sign 

design dates to March 1906. The 

main body of the sign for the end of 

station buildings and platforms was 

15 in. tall and varied in length with 

the name of the station. The rim and 

letters stood out ¼ in. from the background. 

Approach signs of similar 

design 7½ in. tall were also cast. The 

rim and letters stood out 1 /8 in. These 

were bolted onto station lamp posts, 

facing the track, 100 ft. from each end 

of the station. At stations with more 

than one track, the approach signs 

would be on both platforms. 

The red background is PRR’s 

standard Touledine Red – the same 

color used on PRR’s keystone locomotive 

number plates. The letters 

and edges are polished brass. 

(Top) Station and tower signs for much of PRR’s glory days were individual castings with 

mounting lugs. The letters on these signs are nicely polished. The “SOUTH DANVILLE” 

sign features the 1928 keystone design. (Above) The “YORK HAVEN” sign is an example 

of the 1906 straight design. In both cases, the rectangular section is 15” tall. At the time 

these photos were taken, the signs were owned and photographed by Jim Raffa and posted 

on Rob Schoenberg’s web site. 

(Bottom) This digitally enhanced PRR drawing shows PRR standards for the keystone station 

sign casting. The length varied by the number of letters in the station name. In later 

years, PRR switched from castings to painted sheet metal to save cost. 


(Top) A screen shot of the sign on the PRR Sign Maker Tool web 

page. (Above) The image as is comes from the web site is a little 

cartoonish, but has the right shape. Changing the yellow with a 

fill tool improves the appearance. 

In December 1928, a new drawing was approved that added 

a keystone shape to the center. The keystone section increased 

the height to 2 ft. on station signs and 1 ft. on approach 

signs. 

A keystone sign design for interlocking and block stations 

was also adopted in December 1928 and revised in July 1929. 

This features the same outer dimensions as the station building 

signs (2 ft. height for the keystone and 15 in. height for the 

letterboard), with only 1/8 in. relief on the letters and a more 

narrow letter style. 

Thanks to Rob Schoenberg and his great PRR web site, 

modelers have an easy way to create both versions of standard 

station and tower signs in any scale for any combination of letters. 

His PRR Sign Maker Tool is located at 

http://prr.railfan.net/makesign.html. With this tool, all you 

need to create convincing PRR signs is a decent photo editing 

program such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, an ink-jet photo 

printer, and a yellow fine-tip Sharpie permanent marker. 

Making the sign image 

Step 1: Go to the web site, select whether you want a straight 

or keystone sign, and enter the letters of your sign. In this example, 

we’ll make a sign for “SLOPE” tower. Click “Make It” 

and the site will create your sign. 

Step 2: Next, click on “Create a savable version of this sign”. 

This combines all the individual images that make up the sign 

into one image file. Position your cursor over the sign image, 

click your right mouse button, and choose “Copy Image”. 

Step 3: Open your image editing program, create a blank image 

document, then paste the “SLOPE” image into the space. 

Photoshop Elements has a “File > New > Image from clipboard” 

command that does this very simply. 

Step 4: The image created from the web site does a good job of 

capturing the overall shape and lettering style. To my eyes, the 

yellow color is too bright to represent polished brass or gold 

paint. In Photoshop Elements, I open the color variations window 

and select more of a yellow ochre color reminiscent of the 

Dulux Gold color used on PRR locomotive lettering. 

Step 5: Next, I highlight the paint bucket fill tool and set the 

tolerance to 50%. Point the tool in each letter and click two or 

three times. This will change the color of the letters and reduce 

the width of the black letter outlines. Do the same for the sign 

border, clicking the bucket until the black edge vanishes. This 

will make cutting out the sign and coloring the edges easier 

when we get to that step. 

Step 6: The next step is to resize the image for printing. If you 

know the millimeter equivalent of a scale foot for your scale, 

this is easy. In HO, one foot equals 3.5 mm. In Elements, go 

to “Image > Resize > Image”. Under “Document Size:” choose 

“mm” for “Height”. For the keystone station sign, enter “7” – 

the equivalent of two feet. For approach signs, you would enter 

“3.5” for 1 ft. For older station signs, enter 4.375 mm for the 

15 in. height. Change “Resolution” to the maximum dots per 

square inch your photo printer can handle. In this example, 

we’ve entered “600”. Click “OK” and save the file as a “jpg” 

file. 

(Left) Filling a 4 in. by 6 in. sheet of glossy photo paper will 

give you plenty of signs to work with and convincing results. 


(Above) Tim mounted large keystone 

signs on the shelter and station at Johnsville 

on his Willsburgh Division layout. 

(Right) Approach signs are mounted on 

lampposts near the end of the platforms. 

These are a scale 1 ft. tall with the backs 

painted black. 

Printing and mounting the signs 

Step 7: Once you have created the images for all the signs 

you’ll need, create a document in a word processing program 

like Microsoft Word. Open a document file in your word 

processing program, set the page dimensions to match as small a 

sheet of glossy photo paper as your printer can accommodate, 

and set the page margins as small as possible. For most printers 

this will be ½ in., but some photo printers can go much smaller. 

I created a 4 in. by 6 in. document. Glossy photo paper is stiff 

enough to use as a sign without any backing and is designed for 

long life. 

Step 8: Insert multiple copies of your sign images on the document 

without manipulating the size. Do more than you think 

you’ll need in case you damage any during trimming and 

mounting. 

Step 9: Print out a copy. Cut out the signs using a straight edge 

and a very sharp No. 11 Xacto blade in a hobby knife. I recommend 

cutting them out on a piece of mat board or gift-box 

cardboard to give you a good edge. I also recommend using 

some sort of magnifier so you make more precise cuts. 

Step 10: Once the signs are cut out, go over the edges with a 

fine-tip yellow Sharpie marker. If the back of the sign will 

show (particularly for approach signs), coat the back with flat 

black paint and a very fine brush. 

Step 11: Mount the signs. Use images of the station you are 

trying to duplicate to match the mounting method. Some are 

mounted on a flat surface near the roof line. Others are mounted 

on brackets positioned above or hanging below umbrella platform 

sheds. In any event, you can use white glue or a drop of 

ACC to mount your signs. When tower signs are mounted on a 

flat surface, PRR standards call for the sign to be mounted on 

furring strips to hold the sign about 1 in. away from the surface. 

You can use scale lumber or scale styrene strip for this purpose. 

Originally published in The East Wind, Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 2008, New England 

Chapter, PRRT&HS. Used by permission. 

The TKM icon we use at the end of each article (known in publishing as a “dingbat”) was made using the same methods described in this article. 


Modeling “KASE” Tower in HO Scale 

By Chuck Cover, photographs by the author unless noted 

(Above) “KASE” Tower in Sunbury, Pa. looking due north in the late 1950’s. Ahead to the left is the bridge over the Susquehanna 

to Northumberland Yard. Behind us is the line to Harrisburg and the connection to the Shamokin Branch. Crossing to the right 

of the tower are two legs of the wye connecting to the Wilkes-Barre line. Chuck Cover collection. 

My model railroad is built in a 23 ft. by 50 ft. studio and is 

based on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in about 1959. I 

model the Shamokin Branch and some of the main line of the 

PRR along the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania between 

Harrisburg (Enola yard) and Williamsport. The Shamokin 

Branch left the PRR main line at Sunbury, north of Harrisburg, 

and continued east through the valley following the Shamokin 

Creek to Mt. Carmel, Pa. where it interchanged with the Lehigh 

Valley Railroad (LVRR). I also model the LVRR’s Hazelton 

Branch which leaves Mt Carmel and goes east toward the steel 

mills and Allentown, Pa. 

I began building the layout in August 2005 and have completed 

the bench work, track, wiring (DCC) and have begun 

some scenery on the main line and the branch line from Sunbury 

to Mt. Carmel. The main line consists of a staging yard to the 

south (Enola), the town of Sunbury, “KASE” tower, the Susquehanna 

River Bridge, Northumberland Yard, the major industries 

in Milton and a northern staging yard (Williamsport). The Shamokin 

Branch consists of the horn track going through Sunbury, 

Crowl (including the General Store), Weigh Scales, the Glen 

Burn Colliery, Shamokin and Mt. Carmel with the interchange 

with the LVRR. The LVRR portion includes the shared Mt. 

Carmel Station, the industries in Hazleton and the LVRR staging 

(Allentown). The Main line is about 1.5 scale miles and the 

Branch models over 4 scale miles of the 28 mile Shamokin 

Branch. 

I am attempting to build the model railroad so that specific 

real locations, including buildings and industries, are modeled. 

Some photographs of the real railroad are displayed on the backdrop 

and I am attempting to copy these scenes on the layout. I 

have been operating my layout without tower protection at 

“KASE” for a few years now, so I thought it was time to build 

“KASE” tower. I do not have any diagrams of the tower; however, 

I have collected a number of photos from various places 

that give me a good idea of what the tower looked like in the late 

1950s. “KASE” tower was built, I think, early in the 20 th century, 

as a wood tower. It was modified over the years with various 

window placements as can be seen in some of the photos in 

my collection, and it was finally replaced by a concrete block 

tower after being damaged in a wreck about 1959. 

The back side of “KASE” in the late 1950’s. Note the concrete 

tower. Chuck Cover collection. 


Without diagrams, I needed to get some idea of the dimensions 

of the building. By finding the measurements, footprint, 

and panel size of other PRR wooden towers, I was able to develop 

a pretty good idea of the size of “KASE”. The other critical 

bit of data that went into the model dimensions was the size 

of the windows and the door that were needed to model the 

tower. I broke the overall measurements down into panel sizes 

for this project, and all measurements in this article are in scale 

dimensions. There are eight panels along the length of the front 

(trackside) and back walls and three wider panels on each side. 

After taking the measurements of other wooden towers and 

considering the available model window sizes, I finally decided 

that the front and rear panels would be three feet six inches 

wide and the side panels would be six feet in width. The first 

floor windows are not as tall as those on the second story. 

From the photos, comparing the number of siding boards 

and the door height, I estimated that the prototype board spacing 

is four inches. I counted the number of four inch siding 

boards in each panel, and taking into consideration the model 

windows available, I estimated the heights of the panels for the 

model. From the ground to the bottom of the first floor windows 

is four feet. The first floor windows are seven feet, the 

next panel is two feet, and then there is a one foot shingled 

panel, water table, which rises to the bottom of the second story 

windows. The second story windows are nine feet, and the last 

panel, a shingled coved eave, is one foot. The overall dimensions 

are L28 ft. x W18 ft. x H24 ft. to the base of the roof. 

I built the tower in three major components: foundation, 

main structure and roof. The main structure of the wooden 

tower is constructed of shiplap siding so I used Evergreen 

#4062 Novelty siding as a starting point. This siding has spacing 

slightly wider at five and one-quarter inches compared to 

the prototype’s four inches, however, it is the closest to the 

wood siding for PRR towers that I could find. I measured the 

four sides, the front (trackside) and back are 28 ft. x 25 ft. and 

the sides are 18 ft. x 25 ft. and cut them out. The extra scale 

foot in height is to accommodate the separate roof unit which 

on my model is removable to allow access to the interior to repair 

any window glazing or to do some interior changes at a 

later date. 

Next I drew the panels on each of the sides with a pencil. I 

used a photo of “KASE” in the late 1950s as a guide to the 

window placement. The first floor windows are double hung 

nine over two panes and can be modeled with Grandt Line 

#5193. The second story windows were not found in the commercial 

market, but I lucked out when Ron Hoess offered to 

cast them for me. The single door on the side of the tower can 

be modeled using Grandt Line #5072. Once the door and windows 

were selected, I measured the openings in the panels and 

cut them out with a sharp chisel blade and installed them in the 

walls. 

The bay window is the most difficult part of the construction. 

I cut out the panels in the front wall where the bay was to 

be installed and constructed the bay as a separate unit. I first 

cut out the floor for the bay and test fit it into the space that had 

been removed from the front side of the building. Mine measured 

21’ along the inside of the bay (the width of 6 panels) and 

tapered to 14’ (width of 4 panels) on the track side. The bay is 

four feet deep. Your bay may differ slightly, depending upon 

the windows you decide to use for the second floor. 

(Top) Four walls and bay window unit. The panels on each wall 

are marked off, window, door and bay openings are cut our and 

doors and windows are installed. Note that the rear wall (on right 

in back) is placed upside down. 

(Middle) Walls squared and assembled. Bay window unit is installed. 

(Bottom) Trackside photo with the gables and all horizontal trim 

and water tables in place. Some vertical and corner trim needs to 

be attached. 


(Top) The south and track sides of the tower with black primer paint. 

All trim is in place. I originally thought that the tower had a pyramid 

roof but realized later during construction that it had a hip roof. This 

photo and #7 show the tower with the pyramid roof. I built a hip roof 

as described in the text and shown in photos and now have it correct 

(I seem to always make a mistake or two like this in my projects). 

(Bottom) The tower with the PRR structure paint before weathering. 

Once you are satisfied with the fit of the bay floor into 

the opening, attach the windows to the floor and reinforce 

them with strip styrene. I test fit this component in the front 

wall a number of times until I was satisfied with how it 

looked. Next I built a ceiling for the bay window component 

and attached it to the top of the windows. This will 

make the entire bay window unit sturdier and will help 

maintain its shape. The completed bay window component 

was slid into the opening and attached to the front wall. 

Now the four walls could be squared up and attached. The 

wall junctions were reinforced with strip styrene. 

The next step was to add all the outside molding using 

Evergreen strip styrene. The horizontal molding is one by 

eight inches with a piece of two by six on top, with the two 

inch side against the wall. This makes what is termed a water 

table that allows moisture running down the side of the 

building to accumulate and drip off away from the siding, 

much like a window sill. The vertical molding is one by six 

inches. The corners of the building were covered with six 

inch angle stock which makes the corners more presentable. 

Adding all this molding was probably the most tedious part 

of the construction. The one inch panels that are covered 

with shingles (Plastruct #91630 Asphalt Shingles) are angled 

out from the walls using strip styrene for support. 

Framing was added around the windows. I used Grandt 

Line Gable brackets under the bay window unit. 

I built the roof as a separate component. I began the 

roof component by cutting out a base unit shaped like the 

roof-print (footprint plus the bay window) of the structure. I 

added a roof overhang of two feet six inches all around the 

roof-print. Although it is difficult to tell from some of the 

photos, the tower had a hip roof. I did not have any measurements 

for the roof, but after looking at photos I decided 

to make the main beam of the hip eight feet high. The sides 

of the hip angled in seven feet up to the eight foot main 

beam so the main roof support is 33 feet at the base and 19 

feet at the top and eight feet high forming a trapezoid. I cut 

out angles to support the front and back portions of the roof 

and attached all of these roof supports to the roof base. 

Before cutting out the roof material, I cut out various 

triangles and trapezoids from construction paper and test fitted 

them on base unit. Once the paper roof pieces were the 

proper size and have been test fitted to form the hip roof 

line, I cut the Plastruct Asphalt shingles using the paper 

templates and attached them to the base unit with the roof 

supports. The same process applies for the roof over the 

bay window. I cut out some paper templates and folded 

them to the correct angles and test fit them onto the hip roof. 

Once I was happy with the fit, I cut out the bay roof from 

the shingle sheet, scored the styrene along the fold line, being 

careful not to cut all the way through, and bent the styrene 

to shape. The bay roof was attached to the hip roof using 

a photo as a guide. Once the roof pieces were glued together, 

the junctions were sanded smooth with a file and 

sanding board. I cut an eight inch wide piece of masking 

tape and covered each roof junction where the bay roof joins 

the hip roof. The edge of the scalpel handle was used to 

burnish the tape tightly to the roof material. Then a bead of 

ACC was run along the junction of the tape and roof material. 

When dry, I repeated the procedure until I was satisfied 

with the way it looked. 


The chimney was constructed from Plastruct HO 

brick sheet styrene. I cut out a piece of brick styrene 6 

ft. x 24 ft., scored it so that there were three two foot 

sections and bent it to form a channel. This was attached 

to the rear wall after trimming the molding so 

that the chimney was flush with the back wall. The top 

of the chimney is from my scrap bin, but there are several 

companies that sell them. The chimney was 

painted mineral red. 

I prepared a foundation using one quarter inch Masonite 

and fixed it to the scenery base so that the building 

fit right down over it. I built the cement steps and 

piping supports from sheet styrene and the piping for 

turnout control and step railings from brass wire. 

I paint all my models with a flat black primer, both 

inside and outside. I like the way the final cover paints 

look over the black primer. Also the flat black paint 

gives me a better view of the structure, to look for problems, 

than the bare styrene. 

I brush painted the building with Poly S paints, 

Aged Concrete for the base color, Roof Brown for the 

trim and Caboose Red for the window and door trim. I 

weathered my model heavily as it was in its final days 

in 1959, and the photo that I have shows that it had 

been neglected. For this building I used washes of 

burnt Umber and black, artists acrylic paints, applied 

with a brush to dirty up the structure. I used old copy 

machine transparency film for window glazing and 

used manila folders for window shades. The window 

shades were also heavily weathered. 

Even though “KASE” sits at the edge of my layout, 

I did very little detailing, just a light over the door and 

the “KASE” signs on the corners. Most of the photos 

show rain gutters and down spouts. Others modelers 

have detailed the insides of towers, installing various 

walls, and the machinery for switch control. Even 

though I did not do this, by constructing the tower in 

components, I have the option of going back later. I did 

put in a black paper view block in the structure so that 

you cannot see through from front to back. 

This was an interesting project. Although I did not 

have detailed measurements, I think that the tower, as it 

sits on the layout, is a pretty reasonable representation 

of “KASE” tower. Just across the Susquehanna River 

from “KASE” is an empty spot on my layout that is set 

aside for the Northumberland station. I’m in the 

process of collecting more information and hope to begin 

construction sometime next year. Thanks to John 

Sutkus, Gus Minardi and Ron Hoess for help with this 

project. 

(Top) Foundation component. 

(Middle) Hip roof base and roof supports. The base is 

the shape of the roof-print and extends 2’ 6” beyond 

the structure on all sides. The trapezoid major roof 

support spans the roof base and is reinforced with two 

triangle roof supports. 

(Bottom) Hip roof base with roof supports fitted onto 

the structure. 


Materials 

Evergreen Scale Models: 

• 269-291 – 0.06 in. angle stock for corners 

• 269-4062 – Novelty (Shiplap) siding, 0.06 in. 

spacing 

• 269-7106 – HO-scale 1 in. x 6 in. strip styrene 

for vertical molding 


for water table horizontal molding 


for water table horizontal molding 

Grandt Line: 

• 300-5072 – Four light door with transom 

• 300-5162 – Queen Anne Trim for gables 

• 300-5193 – RGS style Depot windows for 1 st 

floor windows 

Second story windows cast in resin by Ron Hoess 

Plastruct: 

• 91605 – HO Rough Brick 

• 91630 – HO Asphalt Shingles 

Poly Scale Paint: 

• Aged Concrete – base 

• Roof Brown – trim 

• Caboose Red – window trim 

Construction Details 

• Footprint is 28 ft. x 18 ft. calculated by looking 

at other wood towers and taking window sizes 

into consideration 

• Each side panel is 6 ft. wide 

• Each front and back panel is 3 ft. 6 in. wide 

• Height: 24 ft. at base of roof listed by panels using 

other measurements and window sizes. 

• Base to bottom of 1 st story windows = 4 ft. 

• 1st floor windows = 7 ft. 

• Next panel 2 ft. 

• Small panel with shingles (water table) = 1ft. 

• 2 nd story windows = 9 ft. 

• Last level with shingles (coved eave) = 1 ft. 

(Top) Paper templates for sizing the hip roof. 

(Second from top) Roof attached to base with 

roof supports. 

(Third from top) Finished hip roof before painting. 

(Bottom) Finished tower on layout, looking 

North with wider view showing road crossing 

tracks. 


All four sides of the completed weathered tower ready for installation on the layout.

Winter 2010 - Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society

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