Modeling municipal waste trains, Part III: spine cars
A Details West hand brake (above right) is mounted on the end frame while at the other side of the B-unit (below left) a white metal
brake rod extends from the front of the car to the center. The paired brake reservoirs (below right) are attached to the center beam.
2502 and 2505 brass wire, .030″×.060″ styrene strip and the valve casting from the Athearn Impack kit.
While most of the detail parts can be used straight from the kit, the brake cylinders should have brake levers added by cementing the centering rod from the brake set into the open clevis of the cylinder. Gently twist it so it will face the car. This can be cut in such a manner that the lever will meet the center sill as shown in the photos. As the two car spine set is divided
into A- and B-units each side and each spine will receive different details. Be- ginning at one side of the A-unit, in- stall a length of No. 2505 wire rod and extend it from the point where the cen- tersill depresses towards the center of the car.
Moving toward the B-unit, add a length of No. 2505 wire from the rear end of the car to the center. Bend it at a right angle and insert it into a hole drilled in the center sill.
On the right side of the center con-
tainer beam, add a brake cylinder with an 8-foot length of chain extending from the cylinder toward the end of the car. Form two short pieces of No. 2502 wire into U-shapes and place these over the chain and into holes drilled into the center sill to act as supports. With the second one inserted through the last link in the chain, secure it to
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the center sill. To complete the first side of the B-
unit, add the Details West handbrake by mounting it on a frame of .060″ styrene channel as shown in the photo. Moving to the opposite side of the B-
unit, attach the white metal rod from the Details West brake kit and extend it from the front of the car toward the center.
Next, install the cluster of brake gear to the right of the center container beam. To add the brake parts, begin by at-
taching the valve casting from the De- tails West kit, followed by two air reservoir tanks and finally the valve casting from the Athearn kit. With all this in place, add No. 2505 wire by ex- tending it from valve to valve, across the lower edge of the air tanks. A sec- ond length of wire should be bent into a downward angle and inserted in holes drilled in the valve and the upper portion of the first air tank. With the B-unit complete, the final piece of brake gear may be added to the A-unit. Install a brake cylinder to the right of the center container post to complete the basic brake equipment on the spines.
The final step prior to painting is to modify the Athearn trucks if you choose not to replace them with heavier trucks. The 33″ wheels should be added to the spine cars. To accommodate the larger
wheels the guide marks on the top of each truck must be filed back to allow the larger wheels to spin freely. The trucks and Kadee couplers can be in- stalled. Once the Kadee No. 22 couplers are installed, they will balance the dif- ference in wheel sizes versus coupler height once the car is fully assembled. If the correct coupler height is not achieved by adding the overset shank couplers shimming with Kadee washers will correct the height issue.
Painting
The prototype ULTRA spines have been painted in several colors since they were developed. Originally, they were painted with a boxcar red, and more recently, black, both with white lettering. In the case of the older box- car red EPIC cars, they also had a large EPIC stencil as well as the DEP permit number applied to the spines. Graphics for the spines can be taken from alpha-numeric sets with car data taken from one of the heavy duty freight car sets. In the case of the EPIC cars and containers, a custom decal was commissioned to save the time of cutting and splicing. This also allows the specific lettering fonts to be placed onto one sheet. (For more information on the custom decal sets used, contact the author at
conrailstuff@yahoo.com). Containers in use with the ULTRA
JULY 2012
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