MODEL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR After extensive kitbashing, this HO model of a Barrett Division covered hopper barely resembles the Tichy tank car that it started out as.
The Barrett Division covered hopper
Modeling a tank car that was turned into a covered hopper/Mike Evans I
n 1948, the Barrett Division of the Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation needed covered hoppers to haul granulated slate from quarries on the Washington Branch of the Delaware & Hudson Railway to various roofing man- ufacturers. Rather than invest in new cars, they decided to convert 30 of their General American Tank Car Co. (GATC) circumferentially riveted, 10,000 gallon tank cars, (commonly referred to as Type 17, originally built in 1919) to cov- ered hoppers. This was accomplished by replacing the dome with three elongated hatches, adding slope sheets to the tank interior and fabricating discharge hop- pers that extended through the center sill. Some of the tank cars were convert- ed in the Barrett shops and Thrall con- verted the remainder. These cars were given the designation “LTA” (“L” – Spe- cial Car Type, “TA” – Tank), and are so listed in the 1953 Official Railway Equipment Register (which indicates that by then there were 80 such cars: BMX 800-879). Since the northern ter- minus of the Washington branch is on the D&H Rutland Branch, which is
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what I model, circa 1952, these colorful cars were a “must have.” Unfortunately, there is no model of the 10,000 gal Type 17 GATC available. Sun- shine offers an 8,000 gallon version, and while Barrett owned some 8,000 gallon cars, none were converted to covered hoppers. After a comparison of available tank car models, I decided that the Tichy USRA-ARA class III tank car would be the best candidate for a kitbash.
The tank To get started, I assembled the Tichy tank segments, weight and ends as per the Tichy instructions. There are four longitudinal riveted joints joining the four tank segments. To match the Barrett Division car, the two riveted joints that run horizon- tally across the upper sides of the tank needed to be removed. All of the details on the tank sides above the lower rivet strips were sanded until smooth and the grab iron and handrail bracket holes were drilled and filled with .025″ styrene rod.
I added .005″ styrene wrappers to form the circumferential
segments (the end wrappers are a scale 6′-9″ wide, the center wrapper 6′-6″ wide, and both are approximately 15′- 3″ long). I used 3M VHB®
very high
bond joining system tape, but these could also be attached with cyanoacry- late or solvent cement applied sparing- ly. (See top photo page 63.) Previously, when sanding the upper portion of the tank smooth, the saddle for the tank dome was removed. Now, with the wrappers added, a new dome saddle was fabricated from a 5′-3″ di- ameter .005″ styrene disc. Rivet decals (available from both Archer and Micro Mark) were applied to both ends of all three wrappers and the dome saddle. (Note: you should handle the model carefully as the rivet decals are deli- cate until they are painted.)
This car requires eight platform
brackets (Tichy part A14) be added to the tank sides. To represent the inspec- tion port covers on the lower tank ends, I cut the long end off drain valves (B10). (Note that only six of part A14 and one of part B10 come in the Tichy kit. The extra parts required can be
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