Box Car 67 - Official Work Thread

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

I know it is a lot of work but if you could take 4 pieces of sheathing and make 3
Use what I call "Z" half lap where the end cuts are at a 45* angle.
Then there would be some of the original car left.

But you are there and I am here so the view is at different angles.

 Again Happy New Year

[Brendan Barry]

67's under frame.



In the lower right hand corner under the yellow arrow is an original vacuum brake cylinder off of a Bridgton and Saco River box car.



Trucks that 67 came with need a little work.

[Tom Casper]

Those are swing motion trucks.  NEAT!

Tom C.

[John McNamara]

Now that I've been around the WW&F for some years, I look at pictures like those and think, "Not a problem - get some good oak, cut a few pieces the right size, and we're good to go. Will the end of next week be OK?"

-John

[Keith Taylor]

It looks like it is about time to invest in some sand blasting equipment.

Keith

[John Kokas]

Has anyone put a wheel gauge on those wheel sets yet?  Tread looks like its OK although getting thin and end shot pictures show that the profiles are dished.  Will we be able to turn those axles and re-profile the wheels?  Also hows the bearings and axle surfaces?

[Terry W. Shirley]

Trucks need a LITTLE work??? Lol!!  I also didn't realize that the swing motion design went that far back;  I thought it was a relatively modern idea.  Ya learn something new everyday!!  And I, like so many others, appreciate the step by step photography that you guys supply to the forum.  It's almost like having a ringside seat!!!  Its awful nice to be able to see the everyday goings on way up there in Maine from WAY down here in Texas.

[Paul Uhland]

Metal definitely in need of serious de-rusting, all new wood.
Harbor Freight has sandblast equipment, decent prices.
For 2926 I bought a ~$20 handheld unit there with a small attached hopper, made an old spike maul head look nice and shiny.  

[Tom Casper]

Trucks need a LITTLE work??? Lol!!  I also didn't realize that the swing motion design went that far back;  I thought it was a relatively modern idea.

Could it be the trucks aren't original to the car?

Tom C.

[Mike Fox]

Sandblaster is pictured in the 2nd photo of Brendans. It was purchased for use in the tank for #9. But now that we have it, we can use it for everything. Just need the compressors running and the air dryer hooked up.

[John Kokas]

Tom has a good point, it was not unusual for shops to swap out trucks as needed on similar equipment.  Does anyone know if builders drawings still exist for #67?

[Philip Marshall]

Trucks need a LITTLE work??? Lol!!  I also didn't realize that the swing motion design went that far back;  I thought it was a relatively modern idea.

Could it be the trucks aren't original to the car?

Tom C.

According to John H. White's "The American Railroad Freight Car", swing-motion trucks were already in common use by the 1870s, and the earliest US patent for a lateral-motion truck was in 1841, so yes they do go back that far.

My question is, what kind of trucks was Laconia using when the car was built? Would they have been significantly different from Portland Co. practice, for example? (How many different kinds of freight car trucks were there on the Two-Footers?)

The trucks that came with the boxcar are almost certainly not the ones it originally rode on (it was detrucked at Edaville if I recall correctly), but they're what we've got to work with, so I'm just curious.

[James Patten]

Just need the compressors running and the air dryer hooked up.

Alas, the compressors are under cover in the car barn... behind stuff.

[James Patten]

Trucks were supplied by Maine Narrow Gauge when they gave us the car.

[John Kokas]

We may have lucked out.  I compared the side view photos of the trucks at the shop with the builders photo of car #64.  After enlarging the photo it looks like what we have is the same or very close to the trucks it was originally equipped with.