Hi! This my first post...so I hope I put in the correct forum. Anyways... I have noticed three positions for brake wheels on box cars in the USA: 1. Sticking straight up out of the top along the roofwalk; 2. Sticking out the end just below the roofline and at the top of tall ladder; 3. Sticking out the end just above the coupler area at the top of a short ladder. Do any of you know approximate dates when they transitioned between #1, #2 & #3. Also, was there a year when #1 was banned? Was #2 ever banned? I'm trying to model Spring 2006 USA, and I was curious if position #2 would still have been valid for that time period. Thank you for your time!
Welcome to Trainboard! Your question is in exactly the right forum. The Inspection Pit cuts across scales and covers RR modeling topics as diverse as train show info, painting/weathering, product and manufacturer news, model lighting, and many other subjects. Brake wheel positions will certainly fit in. I, personally, can't answer your question, but over the next few days, you will probably have replies from modelers who have researched such a question themselves for their models, or who work in 1:1 scale and can tell you why something is done in a particular way on real trains. Off-topic question: does your screen name reflect number of layouts you've had in Z and N, or number of years in one scale or the other? If you haven't seen them yet, take a look at Trainboard's N and Z forums: wonderful things are going on in the smaller scales.
Hi, Dave!! Yes, my name reflects that since 1999, I have tried Z-scale 5 times and N-scale twice. I am still in my 2nd try at N-scale! If I can hold on until the end of November 2008, then that will give me 2 years in this current attempt--which will be the longest that I ever survived in any of my attempts in Z (a year and a half--previous record) or N. So, I hope that my participation on Trainboard.com will keep my interest and get me beyond just simply laying some track on a table and watching a train run around in circle. I have great plans in my head, but they never seem to get beyond hooking up a few switches!
Basically, positions one and two were meant to be accessed from the roofwalk. Roofwalks were banned long ago, so only position three would be valid in your case. I don't have exact dates, others may. Frank
You can still see type #2 in operation, I am am trying to remeber if I have seen it on box cars. I have used them on woodchip and coal cars. Not much worse than a high hand brake on a icy day. Adam
I thought they started to move the brake wheels from position #2 to position #3 at the same time they removed roofwalks in the late 60's-early 70's. But since there are quite a few older cars around, you'll still see position #2 in use, with coal hoppers being the biggest offenders, like what Adam stated. I would think any car manufactured past the early/mid 70's would have the brake wheel in position #3. Best thing to do is look at freight cars that you'll want to model and see where the brake wheel is. Railroad Picture Archives.NET is a great place for this. -Mike
Thank ya'll for your replies so far. I went through my N-scale MTL box cars and found 8 supposedly modern boxcars with that #2 brake wheel position. 3 of them are a set of Wisconsin & Central double-plug door boxcars that were painted 14 DEC 2001 to commemorate 9/11 (at least that is what the write-up on the back of the box says). There's also another MTL Wisconsin Central double-plug door boxcar "Celebration 70 Years" of Model RR Magazine. And I understand that that one is still seen on the rails! And then there 4 others: CN, CP Rail, CIRR & BAR. **Since all 8 of the reporting numbers for these boxcars are in my April 2006 ORER, would it be safe ASSUME that their brakewheels would still be in the same place in that year?**
yes and no. Model manufacturers make a model that is "close enough" for different railroads, then paint it for those different rr's which = cost savings, thou some of those rr's will have different details in different places. It is quite possible that the prototype for your cars do have the brake wheel in position #2, but the best way to find out is locate a picture of the car and see for yourself. Since they are MTL, I would be hesitant to assume they are in that position on the prototype. On a side note, manufacturers are getting better at putting out railroad cars with specific details for the road they are painted in, which is great for us modelers. =) -Mike
Thanks again everybody, but especially Mike for sending me to Railroad Archives Net!! I looked up WSOR 503149 (the Wisconsin & Southern boxcar that is painted for the "Celebrating Model RR Magazine's 70 Years"), and ...guess what...? The picture shows that the actual car has the brake wheel down in position #3--NOT #2 as the MTL model has it! WOW! Now, I will have to go see about the other 7 MTL cars I have w/ the brakewheels in the #2 position. I am crushed.... Is it worth staying in the hobby now?????
You're welcome! :tb-biggrin: Ha! Welcome to the club! Some things we have to live with or "bash" it till it's correct. :tb-wink: -Mike
Could it be that when MTL produced that boxcar....maybe...just maybe....the brakewheel was in the #2 position on the real car...but then the WSOR just went and changed it by cutting down the ladder to a smaller size and placing the brakewheel in position #3!!?? **(How'se that for hoping-against-hope with regards to the brakewheel position? Or maybe I'm just in denial and pushing it!!)**
We had a discussion of this same issue on another forum a few weeks/months back. That one focussed on the transition from the high top-mounted wheels to the (still high) end-mounted ones: This one is a Proto 40-foot Mather box car. We never did really come up with a date when they started switching from these to the end-mounts. The consensus was that it happened around the time of World War II. Does anyone have more info?
Thank you all! It looks like this thread is coming to its end. This being my 1st thread,...is this what normally happens? I mean, that a thread finally runs out of steam and just dies? Since I was the one who started it, do I need to "pull-the-plug" on it? Just curious.... And WHERE does it go?
You don't have to do anything, except check back from time to time to see if someone has dug up some new information. This was a good, informative topic. Thank you. Frank
There are a few threads that go to double figure pages, but most peter out after a few. Then they just get bumped down the list by new threads until they disappear onto the next page and beyond. It's a natural 'death' and quite painless really. They do sometimes get visits from people using the search function who wipe the green from the tombstone and scour it for useful snippets of information. Occasionally a zombie is created when a thread from years back is resurrected by a new post. These often cause confusion as the original postings may refer to long gone or out of date stuff (esp. if it's about DCC). Zombies can often be spotted by the telltales of being a multipage thread that wasn't there yesterday or by the number of broken links, redX pictures and 'dead' contributors in the posts. This suspicion can be confirmed by checking the dates of the posts - 'Today' for post n preceeded by post n-1 dated '4 July 2003' indicates a witch-doctor has been at work
