Day 7 of 180 Days of A/P Cars - #1 Flat Car - Plans and Prototype

Edward Cass' book called Hidden Treasures, The Story of the Ohio River and Western Railway has now become one of the most treasured in my collection.  I love this railroad and I love even more that much of its rolling stock was used as the pattern for Bachman's On30 line of products.  One of the reason I wanted to build some of these is to see what the difference is between the production models and the prototype, and also to see how they look built in real wood.

We are going to start with the OR&W flat car.  Originally I was going to produce a log car, but I'm changing my mind and will put another kind of load on it.  Maybe some fresh cut lumber to contrast the aged car.

The car will be built in O scale, to 30" gauge wheelsets.  There are six long beams on the car, four being wood and we'll replace two center beams with steel.  Yup, real steel.  This will give the car necessary weight and strength.  All the decking will be hand applied in wood, board by board. 

To build up points I'll do the following:

• Make my own turnbuckles (6) in brass
• Make my own stake pockets in brass
• Make my own nbt castings - resin from a master
• Make the wood frame, deck and bolsters.
• Make my own link and pin couplers and pockets
• Make my own brake wheel from brass
• Make my own sideframes (from brass master, cast in resin)
• I might turn my own wheels but I'll need a lot of rum for that.
• I'll freelance it for the Hebard Cypress Company and make my own decals.
• I won't make the air hose, but will make most of the brake system parts.
• Not sure about the load.  I'll come up with something.  I like lumber loads.

That's it!  I'll get started this weekend.  Not sure if I have all the lumber or not, but we'll see.  High time I bought a mini table saw.