O Scale Models: Chooch #674 Pullman Flat Car – Ultra Scale line of resin cars.
Wiseman Model Services appears to be producing a similar kit.
The History:
The American Association of Railroads (AAR) Committee on Car Construction established a standard for 53’ 6” flat cars based upon a 1941 Pullman-Standard Company design. The earliest users of this design were the Chicago Great Western, Monon, Soo and UP. The design established a new standard for deck height of 42” which was lower than previous car designs. This feature would permit taller loads without exceeding established clearance limits. It also had a much wider deck extending beyond the fishbelly sides. Twenty railroads built 2532 cars to this basic design.
The car spanned a long period of operation ranging from 1941 to the 1980’s. Some roads converted these cars into piggyback carriers or fitted them with bulkheads for building materials. Many of the cars ended up in maintenance of way service after a long revenue life.
Pullman Standard introduced its PS-1 boxcar in the late 1947. There are a number of articles about the PS-1’s in the Hobby press. I’m not going to restate everything that has been written about this design of cars.
Ed Hawkins and Ted Culotta compiled a list of all the PS-1’s built. The complete list of Pullman PS-1 boxcars can be found on the Steam Era Freight Car Website.
Below is a modified version of their information sorted by the build-date of the cars built before my modeling period, the Summer of 1952.
Pullman Standard built a total of 77,570 cars, but by 7/52 only 46,847 had been built. These are the only cars that existed and could have been seen by my modeling period, so this is a list of the only cars that can be on the layout. Now I don’t plan to build every one of these, but the four or five I do plan to build are on this list.
This will also give me other other information then just what details are on the car and which road. By knowing if the car is less than one year old it means it should look close to brand new. Or if it’s one of the LV car built in 1947 it should look like it has been in service for five years.
Lionel and Weaver both make version of this car in O scale. The Lionel car is available with a 6ft, 7ft and 8ft door. The Weaver is only available with an 8ft door. Protocraft makes a number of decals for these cars, I’ve linked the reporting mark (first column) to the decal pages with photos of the cars.
Bert Pennypacker speaks about the Reading Mallets 2-8-8-2 in his Mainline Modeler article on the K1’s. They were built by Baldwin beginning with six locomotives received in 1917. Two additional orders brought the fleet up to 31 locomotives by 1919 and were classes N1-sa/b/c. They were numbered 1800-1830, with 55.5 inch drivers and 98,400 lbs of tractive force.
The mallets were distributed in different parts of the system, 11 were running between Hagerstown-Rutherford-Allentown, two were assigned to Reading as Temple Hill pushers, and the rest were were distributed through the coal regions, West Cressona, St.Clair, Tamaqua, Gordon and Shamokin. The locomotives assigned to pusher duties were given small capacity tenders, 8,000 gallons and12.8 tons of coal. While the road mallets were given larger tenders with 11,000 gallon and 18 ton capacity. Wages were cheap and pusher runs were short, no need for big tenders.
It was said of the Mallets that they could pull anything slowly. The Reading most not have been totally happy with the speed of the N1’s in road service. Beginning in 1927, locomotives #1800-1810 (11) were rebuilt into the K1 2-10-2 locomotives. They were only ten years old at the start of the project. Their boilers were reused and most of their parts in the rebuilding project.
Reading N1 drawing from Locomotive Cyclopedia
Then in 1930 the railroad began converting the mallets from compound to single expansion cylinders. They were re-classed as N1-sd. The big delivery pipes on the side of the smoke box are an indication of the converted locomotives. All the N1’s were converted by 1945. They also had their trailing trucks removed between 1940-1944.
Reading N1-sd moving a train in coal country.
In the late 1940’s ten N1-sd’s received new smoke boxes and cross-compound air pumps relocated onto the smoke box front. The locomotive that had the forward mounted air pumps were numbered; 1811, 1812, 1817, 1820, 1822, 1823, 1826, 1828, 1829 and 1830.
Reading N1-sd sporting air pumps on the smoke box
Reading 1814 N1-sd on the move.
Nice to have both sides of Reading1814 here at Tamaqua, PA.
References: Mainline Modeler, May/June 1981 – “Reading 2-10-2 It should have been a Texas” by Bert Pennypacker Reading Steam Pictorial
Photograph’s from George Losse Collection scanned from prints and/or original negatives.
I had to meet up with a couple of the members of the Cherry Valley Model Railroad Club in Merchantville, NJ. So it was a good chance to take a look at the club layout. They continue making improvements as always.
John Dunn sitting at the main control panel.
A Nice Junction scene on the lower level
Close up view of the Junction scene
You know I like to look at hopper cars. Here is a nice old cast car done very nicely.
View from the end of the passenger station (that wasn’t there)
Tom Mapes recently replaced the bench work on the loop. Looks like they are planning to cover this. I sure hope so.
