PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR Kitbashing a chlorine car This specialty car handles small tanks of chemicals/Michael Collins D
id you ever see a freight car that you’d like to have as a model running on your layout
but it is either not available in your scale or it’s too expensive? For me, that car is a chlorine car, a specialized flat car used to carry tanks of chlorine to water treatment plants. With no mass- produced models available and an HO scale brass model that was out of my price range, I opted to kitbash a model of the car, which seemed an appropri- ate way for me to modify and adapt it to my needs. From 1920 to 1950, the prototype car
was built by American Car & Foundry for five companies: Columbia Alkali, Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing, Elec- tro Bleaching Gas, Hooker Chemical and E.L. Dupont. These cars were a straight side-sill flat car that were very similar to a logging flat. They were painted black, and the tanks were a sil- ver color and were still on the rails into the 1990’s. Since I have a transformer manufac- turing company called Meg-A-Watts on my layout, I came up with a story that
66
the Pennsylvania Power & Light Com- pany (PP&L) needed a more efficient type of transformer which would use a special internal chemical between the windings. The railroad could more
RMC/Dremel Kitbashing Award........
A minimum of $100 and a Dremel Rotary Tool Kit with a variable-speed Dremel 3000 rotary tool and acces- sories are awarded to the monthly winners of the RMC/DREMEL KITBASHING AWARD. Entries must consist of at least two photos (high-resolution digital pic- tures should be at least 3,000 pixels wide; color slides or 5″×7″ or 8″×10″ prints are also acceptable) and a short text. Models must use at least 50% commercial compo- nents; unused entries may be held future editorial use.
readily deliver the small quantities of the chemical to Meg-A-Watts than oth- er modes of transportation. So with modeler’s license, I used an ACF straight-deck logging flat and modified it to do the work. The make believe company that produced the chemical was the Pennsylvania Chemi- cal Company (PCC) from Philadelphia. They not only made the special trans- former fluid, but also shipped it in half ton containers. In my case, PCC delivered the special transformer fluid to Meg-A-Watt’s Transformer Company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Since Watts didn’t have enough storage vats for holding this chemical, they kept the containers the fluid came in, paid the per diem and then returned the empties by the cheap- est method of transportation. For the model flat car, I used an ACF straight side sill, 40-foot logging car made by Bachmann Industries in their Silver Series line. As an alternative, Tichy Train Group and JV Models also make 40-foot, truss rod flat car kits. To start the modifications, I pried off
JULY 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100