Covered Hoppers for Phosphate Service

 But first, a Locomotive Update

Before getting started on covered hoppers, I thought I would post a photo of the "new" Norfolk Southern units in action.  Here is shot of the PMNSF (Preston Miller to Norfolk Southern Forwarder at State Line.  The trailing unit, a GP-38, is still in Southern paint.  I originally had the #3975 set up to run long hood forward.  After reviewing a lot of photos on the Net, I decided to set it up short hood forward.  First, I liked the way it looked running short hood forward and second, it made setting up consists less confusing. 

Following the last post, I received a email asking for a picture of how I install and set up decoders in my locomotives.  Here is a photo.  Note that I have removed the rear weights in order to make room for a large speaker.  I attached the speaker/enclosure to the inside of the shell, beneath the radiator fans, facing downward.  The TCS Keep Alive's (Green) are attached to the top of the Tsunami2 decoders.  Some people find it hard to believe that there are sections of track on my layout that have NEVER been cleaned, I use insulated (dead) frogs, and I don't have stalls. I am now using LED lights from Evans Designs.It takes me about 45 minutes to do one of these installs.

And now on to covered hoppers

 

About 18 months ago, my good friend Kurt Boyd and I spent a week or so in Florida.  Kurt's son, Matt Boyd, is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and we were in Lakeland, Florida for Spring Training.  While were there, we got to spend some time in the Bone Valley and take in CSX's operations in the phosphate capital of the world.  The CSX was using hundreds of older covered hoppers to move phosphate fertilizer from Florida to the Midwest.  As a result, I decided that the Madisonville Sub would benefit from some of that traffic.  

I have several Tangent, Exact Rail, and Intermountain Railway covered hoppers on my layout.  While these are great models, they are expensive, and in my mind, to fragile for use on a operating model railroad.  After doing a little research, I decided Accurail's PS 4750 covered hopper fit my needs perfectly.  They are nice layout quality models, easy and fun to assemble, and come in a variety of road names including CSX that can be easily modified for use in phosphate service.

For those of you who have not built one of the Accurail 4750's, here's what they look like and what you will need to build the model.

You may want to build your first car following Accurail's instructions.  I did, but only the first model.  Following the first model, I developed the following sequence.  Clean the weight with alcohol, roughen up with sandpaper, glue it to the Underframe with ACC, and set it aside to cure.

Next, cut the End Frames from the sprues.  Be careful, they are delicate. Clean up any rough edges with a file.  There are 3 small square holes along the bottom to attach the Cross Over Platform that sits above the coupler pocket.  I found that enlarging the holes slightly with an Xacto knife made it easier to add the platform.  Before installing the Cross Over Platform, and the Brake Wheel, install the Chain Fulcrum.  You will have to open up the slot in the Chain Fulcrum or it WILL NOT FIT into place on the End Frames.  Then, I added the Brake Wheel and Cross Over Platforms with Tamiya "Super Thin" cement and set these parts aside.

Cut the Slope Sheets from the sprues.  You may want to open up the slots on the bottom of the end plates to make it easier to slide the Underframe in place later on in the assembly process.  You may also want to run a file down each side.  Install the Triple Valve and Air Resevoir on to the Slope Sheets.  I sanded the mounting pins to make installation easier and then cemented the Bake Lever into the mounting hole on the Slope Sheet.  Then I mounted the End Braces to the bottom of the Slope Sheet.  The instructions that come with the kit have a great diagram for the installation of these parts.  You can test fit the Slope Sheets into the body at this point.

The ACC holding on the wight should now be cured.  Turn over the under frame and glue the Center Sill sections in place.  Then screw the Bolster Plate in place making sure that it sits level on the Underframe.  Then glue it in place.  I left the screws in place until it was time to attach the trucks.  I glued the Outlet Plates in place at this point but again, they are fragile and you may want to hold off on these until the car is being weathered.  You can install the couples now if you want.  YOU WILL HAVE TO SCRAPE AND OR FILE THE INSIDE OF THE COUPLER BOXES TO MAKE THEM FIT ON THE UNDERFRAME.

Note that I haven't mentioned the Roof  Hatches.   You can attach them now, but if you plan to weather the car, DO NOT GLUE THEM IN PLACE.  At this point, drop the Underframe in place and attach the End Frames.  These parts fit perfectly in place on my models.  I glued these parts in place but on future models I will not.  I think weathering will be much easier if these parts can be removed.  Since all my cars are going to be weathered, I left off the trucks.

Weathering

 

Up to this point, I had never weathered a freight car using tube acrylics and oils.  I had only used an airbrush and powdered pigments or chalks.   I spent hours on You Tube studying weathering techniques and came away convinced that acrylics and oils were the best way to achieve realistic effects.  I made two trips to my local art supply store before I came up with everything I needed.  In addition to what is shown in photo, I purchased a couple of cans of Dullcoat and Q-tips.  Colors include Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Titanium White and Black in both oil and acrylics (I need to go back to the art store for some yellow and stop by a drug store for a soft make-up brush).  You will also need a couple of "donor" cars to experiment on.

Most of the cars I saw in phosphate service were lessors.  I had a stash of 4 CSX 4750's along with an assortment of gray cars with various road names.  I started by removing most of the road names off the assorted cars with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.  I left the data in place.  Since these cars were going to get moderate to heavy weathering, I didn't get all the lettering off.  I also took off some of the paint exposing some raw plastic.  I left one of  CSX cars in factory lettering but removed the "CSX Transportation" logo from the other three.

My initial test car was an Erie Lackawanna car.  The first step for all of these cars was "fading" the factory paint jobs.  All of the cars were sprayed with Dullcoat followed by a wash of Titanium White Acrylic; about one part acrylic and 10 parts water but this ratio varied from car to car.  A soft flat brush was used.  Always finish up with vertical brush strokes The acrylic was allowed to dry and then over sprayed with Dullcoat.

Deemed a success, I went on to "fade" another 10 cars including a couple of Atlas cement cars I picked up cheap on ebay.  The car on the top has the fade coat applied, lower car has not.  After studying more pictures, I have since given this car 2 more fade coats.

Next up is the grime coat using the oils.  I made a mix of brown and black to come up with the color.  Thinned and applied in the same matter as the "fade" coat, the oils work better because they don't dry as fast and they are easier to manipulate.  You can add or remove paint to get the effect you want.  Since the ribs on 4750's tend to weather less than the rest of the car side, you will want to remove most of the paint from the ribs with a Q-tip moistened with Odorless Turpenoid or similar product.  You can also use a dampened Q-tip to remove some of the grime between the ribs and lighten some of the side panels.  As mentioned in the fading stage, always finish up with vertical brush strokes

Here is CSX #251317 with a single "grime" layer.  Note that the ribs are relatively clean compared to the rest of the car.  It has also been renumbered with decals provided by Accurail and the large "CSX Transportation" logo has been removed.  This is a ex Seaboard Coastline/Family Lines car so the paint would be relatively fresh in 1990.  I swapped the roof hatches around between different cars.  The roof hatches don't show up very well in this photo, but they are a slightly different color with one recent replacement painted white.  This car is currently in service on the layout.

The next car received a 2nd coat of grime. more black than brown, and another coat of Dullcoat.  It's the only car that I left with the "CSX Transportation" in place.  A factory fresh CSX car is sitting on the upper box for comparison.

Now, I know you are wondering what happened to the initial EL sacrificial lamb.  Well here it is.  I tried adding the rust with acrylics with mixed results.  I think the technique is sound but on the next car, I will try using oils. I painted the roof with a full strength rust colored acrylics, making sure to get the paint under the roof walk.  Then I dry brushed the rust color down the sides.  I used a sponge brush on the walk ways.  One of hatches was painted white and then the hatches were installed on the car.  The different hatches show up better in these two photographs.  Not sure if this car will ever make it onto the layout. I don't like the way the ends or the underframe turned out.  At this point, I think a airbrush is better suited for adding heavy grime and weathering to the bottom and ends.  Maybe I will try and over spray the ends and underframe with a light coat of grime to even things out.

And a couple of photos until next time when I will share more photos of my adventure in weathering Accurail covered hoppers.  Empty phosphate cars headed back to the Bone Valley in Florida. 

Finally, my second knee replacement is progressing.  I am off the pain killers and I am no longer using a walker or a cane around the house.  I should be able to get out to the train room in a week or two.  I have gathered up all the materials to scenic the area shown in the above photos and the river crossing.  I am looking forward to having a finished scene to photograph my models.

 

 

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