A baggage car for the C&RG

[Riograndad]

After bashing the Baccy 4 door baggage car I had into a RPO,a new baggage car was needed,so kept an eye out for a relacement,low and behold a LGB WP&Y caught my eye,I prefere the 2 door item anyway and short car would go better with Sierra bashes(still to be completed) :`( :`(.After doing some research on the interiors of these cars I decided that something could be done albeit using a flexible ruler and some immagination! One of the D&RGW cars sported a safe and a gun rack,seemed a place to start but the LGB car is much shorter than the prototype and the Bachmann car(rubber ruler time)question was what did i want to include? I decided on the following,fish racks only one end,safe,gunrack,shelving and a form of desk,although the 1:1 car did`nt have one,so after checking how all the bits would fit I came up with this,,,,,the basic changes are simple,20thou plasticard interior lining,so the shelving etc can be poly glued in,(LGB plastic issues)fishrack made from styrene strip glued to te floor,simple stove,safe,gunrack including rifle and a padlock,plasticard shelves and ive started on some "baggage "to fill it,first coat paint on inside and out,a lot of tidying up of edges and details needed,nothing fixed in place as yet as 2nd coat paint to be done,waterslide transfers waiting to go on when finished and couplings required.Not sure about lighting at the moment,the 1:1 car had oil lamps when built,will decide later if to fit any

 

[viaEstrecha]

Lovely detailing - was the gun rack for the use of passengers or staff?

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks,,,,It appears that when the car was built(1:1)in the 1880s quite a few people "packed heat"and so firearms were checked in to the baggage car,through the research I did before starting nobody knows how the rack actually looked :'some field notes taken at some time by the D&RG confirms that the rack and safe were close to each other,(so a little rack as appears in western movies seemed to work it also appears that sidearms ended up in the safe,but as im still making bits and bobs for the interior,some more done today,fruit boxes,crates etc,so some of the baggage in the pics above wont be in the finished car, I may take it on myself to make a lockable box for sidearms?not sure yet,depends on how much room is left

 

[cbeckett]

Going off thread...one of the funniest/weirdest signs I ever saw, at Jo'burg Airport, in 2008 - was "please pass your guns to the pilot before take-off"

 

[mike]

wow.. a fantastic build.. a credit to you

 

[JRinTawa]

Wonderful build

 

[beavercreek]

Nice one Grandad. Really good detail. I like the luggage..it looks dead on prototypical for the era with nice rounded ends etc.

There were guns in the RPO cars up until the 1940/50s as that was where the US mail was carried.

 

[Handsomerob]

This is very well done, the attention to detail is great! I hope that someday I can do something remotely close to this type of work.

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks all for the positive feedback Lots done over the weekend,waterslide lettering done,then a matt varnish to seal,then a dry brush of the base colour to fade it back,then satin coat to finish off,whitewalls added(company policy) and modified smoke jack,leaving the other "stock"as a vent,external roof rattlecan matt to hide brushmarks on the black,that about covers the exterior,now the interior,,,,lots more bits n bobs made up including medium  and small crates,sack barrow, labels on cases,fruit crate labels(one apples,one pears,one oranges) for the boxes,two stacks of newspapers,pens,clipboards and some vintage pin ups for the desk area,a strong box with a strong padlock,the sack is a dolls house item,it was pure white so I stained it with black coffee took the glare away,I will have to get some masking tape and tidy up the window frames and also some of the luggage stapping needs looking at,to be done when I sort the internal roof to finish it off maybe light weathering,not decided on that yet but the overall effect I want is of an old car so weather may be the way to go? The car no126 is from the 1:1 car the idea sprang from.

 

[railwayman198]

Superb! So much detail to admire.

 

[playmofire]

Amazing detail! Great work!

 

[Railfan]

WOW! It looks better than the real prototype!

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks for all the kind comments,couple of jobs to do to finish,just the internal roof to do and decided on some lighting,may just put a LGB single lamp assembly in over the desk area,simply as the car will normally run behind the loco and will just plug in(I normally use lgb locos for evening running,firebox glows etc)and possibly adding a small post rack,the 1:1 car had one but if a RPO in the consist it wasn`t used,as the railroad has a RPO it would be an easy build,just enough room above the safe Just a footnote,,,,,This car has gold lettering,all my other wine coloured cars have white,reason is as we are an almost fallen flag railroad(at least flyin at half mast)there are no funds for paintin baggage cars so the original livery remains well almost,,,,,,,,,had some waterslides to use up

 

[Riograndad]

Just to round this off,a quick post with the lighting now fitted,simple 2LEDs over the desk as I did`nt want brightness only glow effect as only need light to read the labels ,same battery/switch set up as with the four Sierra cars,still debating on any weathering,if I do will sort them as a 5car "bash",thanks for all your kind comments on the build     Rio.

 

[The Devonian]

A great creative piece of modeling for sure.

There seems to be just one small item missing and that is Charles Woodcock!

 

[Riograndad]

He had the day off,besides he works for the Union Pacific,not the 2 cents C&RG

 

[garrymartin]

Bravo! A superb model. 8) 8) 8)

 

[beavercreek]

Way to go Rio..........!!

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks all for your comments Just a tag on the end,,,,,,,,decided to upgrade RPO to have some lights,battery powered as some lamp strip left over from the other bashes together with a custom mail bag pick up attachment(research needed) across the small door and some more internal details(stuck it in here as was a baggage car to start with)when finished off will complete the passenger consist