realworkingsailor

Hi Sjors! Glad to see you’re back. Good luck with the new build, you look like you’re off to a great start! Andy

Thanks Kevin! (And all the “likes” too!) Yes the wait was definitely worth it! Andy

The last couple of days have seen some slightly cooler (albeit no less sunny) weather. I've begun work on the seating... although... some assembly required. The Grandt Line seats are great, and although they are a D&RGW prototype (that's Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway for the non-railway types), they are about the only proper walk-over type seats out there. Most of the other available seats are the "sleepy hollow" streamliner seats of a much later era. For those unfamiliar, walkover seats could be set up to face forwards or backwards by moving (walking over) the seat back. The seats consist of a beige moulded seat and back, and grey moulded armrests and legs. And as you can see by the 1cm grid on the cutting mat, they are not particularly large. There is a limit to how many I can make in one sitting without going crosseyed! The first few finished examples. These are just dry-fit on the car floor for now. The actual spacing with have to be carefully marked out in conjunction with the windows, and the centre aisle. Hmm... I think that bulkhead needs some attending to as well... it's awfully curvy.... Andy

So... the strangest thing happened today.... my seats have arrived at last! I was beginning to lose hope, but by some miracle they found their way to my mailbox. I wish they could tell me about all the (mis)adventures they had on their long (and possibly far roundabout) journey, but I will just have to satisfy myself that they are here, now, and that’s all that matters. Order placed April 28th, shipped May 1st... arrived June 9th.... From Milwaukee to Mansfield (Ontario!) in six weeks.... I think one could get there faster by walking! What a truly bizarre world we find ourselves in! For comparison, I ordered some sweet corn seeds (for a summer project 😁) from a company in Brandon, Manitoba, on May 25th. International borders not withstanding, as the crow flies it is, suffice it to say, a tad further away than Milwaukee. My seeds made it here on June 1st... um... hmmm... Anyway, it’s not really good modelling weather at the moment (hot and sunny out😎), so the delay in building will continue. But in the off chance there’s a day when the weather proves more favourable for indoor projects, work will resume. Stay tuned! Andy

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and likes. I wish I had an update, but things are on a bit of a pause while waiting for parts (and the recent spell of unseasonably hot weather!). About the only thing I’ve received from Walthers was a customer satisfaction survey in my e-mail. For giggles I decided to go through it. The first question: “Have you received your order? Y/N“ Of course I clicked “No” ”Thank you for your feedback, we’ll contact you again in a few weeks” *blink* *blink* Bwahahaha 😝 I think I’ve been stuck at home too long! 🤪 Andy

Time for a small progress update. The underside has been painted black and lettering has been largely finished, both sides. The decals came from Black Cat Publishing. Up until the 1930s or so, CPR used gold leaf (actual gold leaf!) lettering on their passenger equipment, and even on their dedicated passenger locomotives too. As a cost saving measure the lettering was switched to what is known as Dulux Gold, a more yellow-ochre colour. Personally, I prefer the Dulux colour better as it adds a nice contrast to the dark tuscan red (it stands out a bit more, the gold leaf gets a little lost at any kind of distant viewing). I have numbered the car #1548. One of three 15XX series cars assigned to the Dominion Atlantic, the others were 1544 and 1551. The decal set even includes service, inspection and test data stencils for the underbody appliances and tanks (you can just make them out on the two air tanks at the centre of the car). A few more end details; the diaphragms have been added (also leftovers from those infallible Branchline kits). The small car number on the door was a lot of "fun" to apply as all the numbers had to be put on individually (they're about 1mm in height). All that remains to be added to the car exterior are the safety chains and hooks. These will be mounted on either side of the coupler. After the chains are on, the car will needs a little touch up (there are a couple of tiny nicks in the paint) as well as a little dusting/cleaning before a coat of Dulcoat is added to seal everything nicely. Then it's on to the windows! Still no sign of my seats yet.... I expect it will be a couple more weeks... maybe...? Andy

Thanks! Although I don’t have a home layout at the moment (still in the planning stages), I do have access to a club layout. So when this covid stuff has calmed down, I will definitely get some photos and video of the car in operation. Andy

Over the last couple of days, I've managed a good bit of the painting, thanks to some better weather (although today is a literal washout). I should start off by mentioning that the primer was rattle can Tamiya grey surface primer, a nice go-to paint. I lack air brushing facilities in my house (something I hope to remedy in the future), so all of the car's exterior paintwork will be done by rattle can. Not the best, but I can make it work, but it means to avoid gassing myself out of the house, the majority of the painting must be done outside (fair weather only!). The CPR tuscan red is Scalecoat II lacquer. This can be a bit tricky to spray with a rattle can. I find the trick is to be moving fast (considerably faster than with other brands of rattle can or with an airbrush) to avoid heavy paint build-up and to keep the coats thin. The paint on the roof is a flat black from Tamiya. If the tuscan looks a bit speckly in places, it's due to the Scalecoat II being a gloss paint, which is great in that no gloss coat will be needed prior to doing the lettering, but it reflects the light from my flash. In person, it looks much better. Even though it's been a couple of days, I need to give it a bit more drying time before I tackle masking and painting the underframe. The interior will be done separately at a later point in time, once my seats have arrived and been assembled, so it still glares white behind the windows! Andy

This is the diagram I was working from: So any additional info you’re able to dig up would be greatly appreciated! Andy

It could also be possibly due to an upgrade. From what I have read, the 1500 series coaches were built around 1907-1909, prior to the introduction of the UC braking system, but they would have had some kind of air brake system. The cars were subsequently rebuilt in 1912. That seems, to me, to be an unusually low number of years in service to require a rebuild (considering there seems to be no further record of major rebuilding until retirement around 1960), unless regulations required it for safety reasons (ie an upgrade in braking equipment). I wonder, though, if the retainer valve was required as an emergency back up. If you read the NMRA file, the UC system was designed to allow for a gradual release of air (and hence the brakes), as opposed to the AB and KC systems. If the UC system failed either due to mechanical fault or freezing, or if the locomotive was not equipped for passenger train service, or even if the coach was used in mixed train service, a retainer valve would be a fail safe backup. Andy

Some further digging, and it would appear that you are right. Contrary to what I had initially interpreted what I had read, passenger cars were equipped with retainer valves: Air brakes for model railroaders Andy

As always, I can't thank everyone enough for the kind comments, helpful suggestions and likes! Work is now complete on the window mullions (WHEW!). It was a slow and tedious process (I think I may have mentioned that before, sorry for the repetition), but it was well worth the effort. Definitely a detail that, had I omitted them, would have nagged at me, and it saves me from having to make repeated (embarrassing?) explanations as to why I left these features out, if I ever take this car to a prototype modellers meet. Painting has now resumed with a second coat of primer, and this morning the car got it's first coat of tuscan red (photos to follow soon). During the mullion interlude, I was also struggling with another detail that I had missed: If you notice in the photo above of another prototype car (I'm fairly certain this is an official car), above the window just below the roof overhang of the adjacent car, there is a small valve and some pipework. This feature seems to be present on most (if not all) CPR wooden cars, but I couldn't find photos indicating on which end it was supposed to be located on my car. Until recently, so it was added in the appropriate place: The valve itself is a brass casting meant for the drain valve of an air tank, but repurposed here, with some brass wire for the piping. I'm not entirely sure what the function of this valve is. If it was a freight car, I might assume it was a retainer valve. In a KC or AB freight car braking system, a retainer valve slowed the release of air from the car's brakes when descending a hill. These valves allowed the brakes to release gradually while the trainline could be replenished from the locomotive(s), and helped to keep the train in control when descending steep hills. Brakemen working from both ends of the train would have to manually adjust each retainer valve prior to the train beginning it's descent. In a UC passenger car braking system, this function was integrated into the UC control valve, and could be controlled automatically. This allowed passenger trains to operate without brakemen. Anyway, regardless of function, the valve is in it's proper position. Andy

I have a pair of spike insertion pliers that work brilliantly. Andy

The tedious work of installing the mullions is progressing. There's decidedly a limit to how much I can do at one sitting (without going totally cross-eyed). I've just now completed one side of the car, and have started on the other side: With any luck I should be back to painting soon (after a brief stopover in "filler land" to fix the roof). Andy

What a difference a small thing, like changing glue, can have on an outcome.... (Thanks, Druxey, for indirectly giving me the idea) Some progress on the mullions, as of this morning. Switching to CA glue has helped restore some of my sanity, or, at the very least, cleared the air of the loud blue fog that shrouded my previous attempts.... 10 mullions done... 76(?) more to go... I think.... Andy