EMD GP9 “HOOD” DIESELS The majority of the EMD GP9 locomotives were painted in dark shades to make cleanliness an option in their workaday world. Bachmann offers a range of prototype paint schemes in DCC-equipped GP9s. The Pennsylvania Railroad GP9 is no longer available as number 7046 but a nearly identical GP9 model with number 7085 (item number 62808) DCC-equipped is currently available. Today it might seem like the steam locomo- tives were replaced by diesels over a very short period of time. However, the railroads were never quick to accept new technology and they had nearly a century of experience with the steam locomotive. Yes, the steam locomotive was extremely high maintenance, but the loco- motive shop crews had learned to completely rebuild a steam locomotive in a matter of weeks. Diesels were an unknown quantity. World War II gave the steam locomotive a second lease on life because the manufacturers of the fledgling diesels were devoting most of their production to tanks and airplanes. The Electro- motive Division of General Motors managed to produce a little more than 3000 locomotives from 1939 through 1944 and nearly two-thirds 20 of those were yard switchers. Steam locomotive production was still going strong during this same period, in part because the steam locomo- The majority of GP9 diesels were fitted with dynamic brakes that required a bulging fan housing on long hood like this Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive. Bachmann will offer a Burlington GP9 without the dynamic brake bulge on the long hood. tive manufacturers were allowed to continue their production while the diesel builders had to divide their efforts between locomotives and war machinery. Virtually all of the diesels produced prior to 1949 were either “cab” diesels like the FT-A and FT-B, F9A and F9B or small yard switchers like the SW1 and NW2. The GP7 was strictly a post-War machine, with production just beginning in late 1949 and continuing through 1959. The GP9 was the 1954 development of the GP7 with the horse- power increased from 1500 to 1750. Visually, the grilles were the only major differences between the GP7 and GP9. Mechanically, there was little differenced (other than gearing) between a GP7 “hood” diesel and the F7 “cab” diesel, both had the same General Motors 1500 horsepower diesel engines. The GP9 and the F9 also shared the same 1750 horsepower diesel engines. The Geeps were part of the fleet that replaced the steam locomotive---by the end of GP9 produc- tion, no steam locomotives were operating on any Class One railroad in North America. Bachmann offers HO scale DCC-equipped replicas of the GP9 in several road names. Wil- liams by Bachmann also has O Gauge replicas of the GP9. In N scale, Bachmann offers several as DCC-equipped versions of the GP7. Williams by Bachmann offers the GP9 in over a dozen different paint schemes and powered and dummy units, including this replica of a Canadian National prototype. The Canadian National GP9 is no longer available as number 4563 but a nearly identical GP9 model with number 4566 (item number 21527) is currently available. 21 4-8-4 NORTHERN STEAM LOCOMOTIVES The Bachmann N scale Northern is currently available with Rock Island markings. The massive “Northerns” were among the last of the multi-purpose steam locomotives. The railroads preferred steam locomotives that could be used for either freight or passenger service. It was rare to find a locomotive that com- bined the controllable power of a freight locomotive with the higher speed and smoother ride needed in a passenger locomotive. The railroads favored the 4-4-0 locomotives in the mid-1800s, the 4-6-0 “Ten-Wheelers” in the late 1800s and, in the late 1920s, the Northerns. The last Northern was built in 1948 and many of them have been preserved either as static exhibits or as operating locomotives like the Union Pacific’s famed “8444”, the Norfolk and Western’s J-Class number 611 streamlined 4-8-4 (available from Bachmann in Spectrum® N scale and William by Bachmann in O Gauge) and the Southern Pacific’s number 4446 GS-4 (available in HO scale from Bachmann) . The first Southern Pacific 4-8-4 class GS-4 Northerns were delivered in 1937 and were primarily assigned to hauling passenger trains up and down California’s coast. Most of the GS-4 locomotives had a partial streamlined shroud- ing and were painted to match the red, orange and silver of the Southern Pacific’s “Daylight” streamlined passenger cars. Several nearly iden- tical locomotives were built for the Western Pa- 22 cific. The locomotives that plied the California coastal mountains became known by one of the more popular trains they pulled; the “Daylights”. They were used primarily for passenger service until the late forties when diesels took over. The shrouding was removed from the remaining GS-4 locomotives and some were relegated to freight service. Bachmann offers the HO scale GS-4 in the original Southern Pacific “Daylight” colors and in Western Pacific black. The models are DCC-equipped with operating headlights. The Santa Fe Railroad grouped their 4-8-4 Northerns into the Class 3765. The Santa Fe Northerns had relatively large 80-inch driv- ers but the locomotives were powerful enough to pull long freight trains. The 55-foot long 16-wheel tender was one of the hallmarks of the Class 3765 series locomotives. The Santa Fe had a lot of these locomotives, nearly 3,000 were produced during the World War II years. The Santa Fe used these monsters primarily to haul freight but they were also common sights at the head of a train of “heavy- weight” steel baggage cars and coaches. Currently, the Bachmann N scale Santa Fe-style 4-8-4 Northern is avail- able with Rock Island markings. A replica of the streamlined Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 is also available in Spec- trum© N scale. Williams by Bachmann has an O Gauge replica of the Southern Pacific GS-4 Northern and a series of replicas of streamlined and shrouded 4-8-4 loco- motives similar to the Norfolk and Western J-Class. The Southern Pacific’s class GS-4 “Daylight” 4-8-4 Northern is available in the red, orange and silver passenger train scheme with locomotive numbers 4446 and 4449. 23 THREE-DOME TANK CARS The Bachmann HO scale three-dome tank car is available in about a dozen paint schemes. The three-dome tank car is one of most common cars on American model railroads. It is an appealing design and the tanks are avail- able decorated in a wide variety of colorful paint schemes. The majority of the three-compartment tank cars were owned by leasing companies like Gen- eral American, Shippers Car Line, Union Tank Line, General American, North American and others. Judging by surviving photographs, the majority were leased to petrochemical compa- nies although there is evidence of a few leased to firms making veritable oils. There was no prescribed operating standard for these three-compartment tank cars. Some of these cars were loaded with three different com- modities. An oil dealer, for example, might order a tank with 30-weight oil in one compartment, 40-weight in the other and gearbox oil in the 24 third. In some cases, the three-dome car might be assigned three different customers, stopping to unload one (or two) of the compartments at, say, the oil depot in Millville, then being moved on to the Centertown oil dealer to unload the second compartment and, perhaps, on to the Johnsburg dealer to unload the final compart- ment. It is also possible that a local industry would order the full three-compartment load and empty its contents into three separate storage tanks or have the three different customers pickup their fluids directly from the tank car. These three-dome tank cars can be a focus of freight car operations on your model railroad. One of the more interesting methods of operat- ing a freight train is to designate it as a “local” or “Peddler” freight (described on page 6 of this is- sue) that picks up and drops off cars at individual industries (or freight houses) along the railroad. Add a stub-ended siding or two and you’ll have a place to “spot” those tank cars using the operat- ing techniques on pages 6-8 of this issue. With these three-dome tank cars you also have an excuse to move that tank car from one siding to the next to recreate the railroad’s use of one car to serve several customers, each customer unloading a portion of the car. The proportions of the Bachmann N scale three-dome tank cars and the O Gauge Williams by Bachmann tank car are a close match to the most common three-dome tank cars with their small diameter 6,000-gallon capacity tanks. The Bachmann HO scale three-dome tank cars are similar to the full-size tank cars that would carry about 12,500 gallons. The Williams by Bachmann O Gauge three-dome tank car represents the most common 6,000-gallon three-dome tank cars. The newest Bachmann N Scale three-dome tank cars are replicas of prototype three-dome cars with the small-diameter 6,000 gallon tank. TANK CARS FOR PROFIT Every real railroad freight car is designed and purchased to carry a specific range of commodities for particular customers. Those loads and their delivery keep the railroads in business. You, of course, have no need worry about profit, but recreating the real railroad’s actions is one of the joys of the hobby. Designate a particular siding to serve a particular industry. The “industry” can be just a hand-lettered sign or, to replicate an oil dealer, you could remove the trucks from an older tank car and sit it on the ground as the receiving and storage tank for the local oil dealer. You can designate a single siding as both a shipping and receiving industry or use two sidings. Industry: Commodity Shipped: Commodity Received: Oil Refinery oil, fuel, petrochemicals empty tank cars Oil Dealer none oil & fuel (cans, in box cars) Plastics Mfg. plastic pellets (in covered hoppers) petrochemicals Candy Mfg. candy on pallets (in box cars) corn syrup Sugar Refinery corn syrup (in tank cars) sugar beets, corn (in hoppers) Bakery baked goods (in box cars) vegetable oils Winery wine empty cartons (in box cars) Creamery none milk 25 AMFLEET PASSENGER CARS The Bachmann HO scale E60CP item number 65506 pulling a commuter train set of Amfleet coach and cafe cars. Amtrak operates several different styles of passenger cars, from the hi-level cars on the cross-country trains to the tilting cars of the Acela® Express that runs through the Northeast Corridor from Newport News, VA to Boston. These Bachmann round-side corrugated passenger cars are replicas of cars that Amtrak uses for commuter service. With the exception of the curved sides, the cars are similar to the corrugated straight-side streamliners that first appeared on the real railroads in the late thirties. Budd, who manufactured the current Amfleet cars, also made most of those thirties-era cars. These Amfleet cars were delivered in two batches, the first during 1975-78 and the second during 1981-83. There was a total of 431 coaches, 86 café cars and 27 lounges in those The Bachmann HO scale Amfleet cars are available in several paint schemes. Williams by Bachmann offers O gauge Amfleet cars in the Northeast Phase IV paint scheme. 26 initial orders. The Amfleet cars are unusual in that they are designed and built more like an airplane fuselage than a conventional passenger car, which is apparent in their rounded sides and roof. There are some minor variations in the window locations on the coaches. The cafe´ cars have an area near the center of the car sides that is “missing” two windows on each side. There were lounge cars with food service but, usually, the café cars were the main source of meals, so the café cars were positioned near the center of the train so the passengers did not have to walk through more than two cars to reach the café car. The cars have been operating at 100-miles- an-hour and more for decades. Bachmann offers the Amfleet cars in HO The The Conductor the only railroad employee we meet conductor is usually and, then only if we ride on a long-distance passenger train. The train conductor is the person in charge of a passenger train but freight trains scale and Williams by Bachmann has them in O gauge. The first Amfleet cars had slightly smaller windows than those in the second production run. There have also been at least six different Amfleet paint schemes and most are available on the Amfleet cars from Bachmann. In the seventies and eighties the Amfleet cars were used in most of the commuter corridors from California to Illinois to the Northeast Cor- ridor. More recently, bi-level and other special cars like the Bachmann HO scale Double Deck Push/Pull Commuter Cars have replaced the Amfleet equipment in the West and Midwest. also have conductors who are responsible for the crew. On a passenger train, the dining car crew, the porters and the baggage men also report to the conductor. On a freight train, the engineer, fireman and brake- man report to the conductor. Today the train crew may only consist of the engineer and the conductor (or on some subways and other auto- mated railways the conductor may be the only responsible human on the train). Some railroads define the yardmaster as a “yard conductor”, but those duties concern the operation of an entire freight yard, not just a single train. In 2011 there were over 40,000 conductors employed by America’s railroads. Simply, the engineer manages the locomotive(s) and the conductor manages the train. The two have joint responsibility for the train’s safety and for enforcing the railroad’s rules and regulations. The conductor decides when it is safe to start the train and signals the engineer when to start and stop the train. The conductor also keeps a log of each trip. The conductor receives train orders by telephone, fax, or computer from the dispatcher at the railroad’s central office before the train starts its journey. The orders include listings of the cargoes and their routes, with the scheduled stops. The conductor is responsible for inspecting each car of the train, to make sure the brake systems are working properly and there are no overheated bearings on the trucks (the engineer will be performing a similar inspection of the locomo- tive). If necessary, the conductor instructs the engineer to remove the defective car. Conductors are also responsible for cars that are added or removed from the train at the proper points for picking up or unload- ing. When the freight train reaches its destination, the conductor reports the condition of all of the cars in the train. At the end of a passenger train trip, the conductor reports the number of passengers carried and the time their trains departed and arrived to the company officials. 27 Cabooses In the late 1800s, cabooses were designed with a cupola on the roof with windows so the brakeman and conductor could look over the roofs of the cars. In the 1960s, however, many freight cars were built to the maximum allowable height so it was no longer possible to look over the roofs of the cars in many trains. On most cabooses, the cupola sides were flush with the sides of the car; however, some designs added some kind of bay window on the sides of the caboose so the conductor and brakeman could see down the sides of the train without lean- ing out the window. The bay window caboose was a relatively rare design compared with more common cupola-style caboose. In the sixties some freight car manufacturers developed cupolas that were wider than the sides of car so, when behind a train of maximum- height cars, the brakeman could peer down the sides of the train or, when running with lower- height cars, he could see over the tops of the cars. The International Car Company “Extra Wide Vision” caboose was one design that was purchased by dozens of railroads. Other freight car manufacturers produced similar designs. The standard International Car Company design included matched pairs of windows on both sides This Bachmann HO scale caboose is a replica of the International Car Company “Extra Wide Vision” caboose. 21 This Bachmann N scale caboose is also a replica of the International Car Company “Extra Wide Vision” caboose. of the car with a smaller third window on one side above a padded shelf. Like most cabooses, the interior had storage cabinets with racks and latches to keep tools, lanterns and flares from being thrown around the car through curves or during sudden stops or starts. There was an on- board water tank, a sink and toilet. The caboose could usually seat a half-dozen crew members so “dead-header” employees could ride as non- paying passengers in the car. The cabooses were heated, first by potbellied coal or wood stoves and, later, by fuel-powered heaters. Later ca- booses had refrigerators whereas earlier ones had insulated iceboxes. An electrical generator was driven by a belt from one of the caboose’s wheels to provide electrical power on the later cars; ear- lier, kerosene lanterns provided the illumination. The Pennsylvania Railroad built many of its own cars to its own designs. The majority of the Penny’s cabooses were unique to that railroad (and to its subsidiary lines) and some, like this Williams O gauge replica of the Class N5c, had round windows. Williams by Bachmann offers the car in several road names, including Baltimore and Ohio. 22 The Norfolk and Western caboose was one of the predecessors of the modern International Car Company “Extra Wide Vision”-style cabooses. The N & W built their own cars in the thirties and forties using the then- common riveted-steel construction. In the seventies and eighties, most cabooses were welded together. The two small rectangular windows were positioned like those in the common Reading Railroad cabooses but the N & W’s cars had a third small window in the side and the N&W cars’ cupolas had straight sides. In the photo, that’s the brakeman leaning out the window of the cupola ready to signal the engineer that the train can get rolling. The conductor is on the rear platform signaling that he is ready, his paperwork is complete and the train can be given clearance to leave the yard. ---AAR Photo Work’n On The Railroad In the era of steam locomotives and early diesels, there was at least one piece of paper to identify every car in the train, plus a listing of all the cars in the train and their destinations. A fourth crew member (in addition to the engi- neer, fireman and brakeman), the conductor, was assigned to each freight train to handle that paperwork. And the conductor’s office was the caboose. He was assigned a desk with storage drawers, adequate lighting and, of course, an ashtray (and, earlier, a spittoon for those that partook of their tobacco by chewing). If the train was a way freight or peddler freight, the conductor would tell the engineer just which cars were to be spotted or dropped-off at which industries. If the crew members were thorough, they would even be sure that the car was spotted at the exact loading door or ramp specified by the customer. The conductor would also have paperwork requesting which newly loaded or empty cars be picked up. “Pocket” GE 44-Ton Diesel The Bachmann HO scale replicas of the General Electric 44-Ton diesels are fitted with low gear ratios and as much weight as possible to provide the slow speed performance of a typical switching locomotive. These compact General Electric 44-Ton locomotives are examples of the earliest diesels, with the first units shipped in 1940. Produc- tion continued until 1956 and General Elec- tric made over 348 of them. Although the 44 Ton was not an official designation, their 89,000-pound weight was the result of the railroads wanting a small locomotive that could circumvent the 1937 AAR and union rule that locomotives weighing more than 90,00 pounds needed both a engineer and a fireman---the 44- Ton diesel could be operated by just an engineer. General Electric sold the majority of them to Class One railroads and, in most cases, it was the smallest diesel on the railroad’s roster. In the late forties and fifties, the railroads retired their 44-Ton diesels and most were bought by short lines or industrial railroads. The 44-Ton diesels survived well into the fifties switching cars at massive grain elevators, working quarries or similar “industrial” duties. Bachmann offers the General Electric 44-Ton diesels in HO scale and N scale DCC- equipped models. Williams by Bachmann has an O gauge General Electric 44-Ton model. The Bachmann N scale GE 44-Ton diesel is one of the smallest locomotives available in N scale. It offers smooth performance and is DCC-equipped for speed, direction and lighting control. The Williams by Bachmann O gauge models of the GE 44-Ton diesels, like their prototypes, can pull branchline trains or serve as yard switch- ers. 23 The Mogul Steam Locomotive The Bachmann Mogul is offered in HO scale DCC sound-equipped models in a range of roadnames that feature a Sound Value SoundTraxx® sound package. The Moguls are also available with different road numbers in DCC-ready models that do not include a DCC decoder or sound but come with wiring ready to accept the DCC decoder of your choice. The railroads traditionally used words to describe many of the machines of their industry. The steam locomotives’ wheel arrangements were named about as soon as the builders devised a selection of wheel ar- rangements. The first standard practice of classifying locomotives was the Whyte System which applied numbers with dashes between them to differentiate the smaller pilot and trailing wheels from the driving wheels that provid- ed the power. Thus, a locomotive with two small pilot wheels, six driving wheels and two small trailing wheels would be called a 2-6-2. If there were no trailing wheels, the locomotive would be a 2-6-0. If there were no trailing or pilot wheels the locomotive 24 would be an 0-6-0. The common names for these three engines were Prairie (2-6-2), Mogul (2-6-0) and Six-Wheel Switcher (0-6-0). Bachmann makes HO scale steam locomotives with all three of these wheel arrangements. Some of the largest railroads, like the Pennsylvania, built some of their locomo- tives in their own shops. Most railroad companies bought their locomotives from American Locomotive Works (which later became Alco), Baldwin Locomotive Works, Schenectady Locomotive Works, Richmond Locomotive Works and others. The proto- type for the Bachmann HO scale Mogul was built by Alco for the New York Central in 1900. The Moguls survived, however, well into the fifties. The Mogul was, in effect, a compromise between the heavy freight Consolidation (the 2-8-0) and the high-speed passenger Ten-Wheelers (4-6-0). In the 1860s, the 4-4-0 (called an American) was the most common wheel arrangement. The 2-6-0 was a tentative experiment in providing more pulling power (the railroads call it tractive effort) by replacing two of the non-powered pilot wheels with another pair of large driv- ing wheels. A similar design philosophy of replacing pilot wheels with driving wheels resulted in the 2-8-0 Consolidation. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, the Consolida- tion was enlarged again and again, eventual- ly expanding the firebox to be supported by trailing wheels to create the 2-8-2 Mikado and, later, the 2-8-4 Berkshire locomotives. The 2-6-0 remained a relatively small locomotive. Their light weight made them particularly useful on branch lines where the rails and roadbed were not sturdy enough for a hefty Consolidation. From the late 1800s until the early 1950s the Moguls served as both passenger and freight locomotives, with most of them ending their lives on shortline railroads or the branch lines of Class One roads. 25 The “Cab” Diesels That Replaced Steam Locomotives The Bachmann HO scale FTA is one of most popular HO scale diesel models of the last decade, with tens of thousands of them sold in train sets and as individual FTA and FTB models. These Bachmann “hood”-style FT, F3, F7 and F9 diesels are replicas of the locomotives that effectively replaced the steam locomotive on America’s railroads. Prior to the late thir- ties all of America’s railroads favored steam for nearly every use. A few were experimenting with diesel locomotives as switchers in large freight yards, but steam locomotives pulled most pas- senger and freight trains. In the late thirties General Motors’ Electro- motive Division (EMD) produced the FT-series, the first diesels that were designed to be used as “multiple-unit” locomotives where two locomo- tives were coupled together to be operated as a single unit from one control cab. There was resistance from labor unions, of course, because steam locomotives required at least a two-man crew for every locomotive. But the diesels did not need that many workmen, even the fireman was extra labor who served more as a back-up for the engineer in case of either human or me- chanical trouble. The first FT diesels were permanently coupled with an FTA or “cab” unit for the crew and a second FTB “booster” unit with identical 22 power and fuel capacity but no controls. The controls were linked to the “cab” diesel. Soon those controls were standardized so another “booster” or B-unit could be added to produce what became known as an A-B-B three-unit diesel. More commonly, the railroads would couple a pair of the FTA/FTB two-unit diesels booster-to-booster end to create an A-B-B-A four-unit diesel. It was that capability of adding power unit by unit that the steam locomotives could not match. The diesels could be combined to provide as much or as little power as that particular train needed on that particular day. What finally drove the steam locomotives to the scrap pile was the diesel’s reliability and long life. Steam locomotives had very rapid wear, with the bearings, driver tires and even the entire interior of the boiler needing replacement as often as a once a year, while the diesels went on and on. If there was a problem with the diesel engine the railroad simply lifted it out through the roof and dropped in another freshly rebuilt spare. Similarly, problems with wheels or the electric motors in the trucks were solved just as quickly by rolling a new truck under the diesel. Williams by Bachmann offers F3 diesels in both F3A and F3B units. Like the prototype, the Williams by Bachmann F3 diesels are nearly identical to the F9 diesels except for minor grill and vent fan details. The standardization of all the major components cut the maintenance costs and reduced the time that a locomotive was sitting in the shop rather than out on THE road earning income. The EMD FT-series locomotives were pro- duced between November 1939 and November 1945 when they were superseded by the F3 se- ries, which, in turn was replaced by the F7 series in February 1949. Finally, the F9-series appeared in January 1954. The early F-series had square hatch covers on the roof like the Bachmann HO models, but only minor details and fan louvers and fan locations distinguish the later FT from the F3, F7 or F9 locomotives. In the mid-sixties, the railroads had determined that the “hood”- style diesel (like the Bachmann GP7 or GP9) had the advantage of easier access to the engine and other mechanical elements and they ordered fewer and fewer of the F-style “cab” diesels. The last of the original round roof-style “cab” diesels, the F9-series, was produced in April 1957, but a few of the longer passenger “cab” diesels were produced until 1963. The more angular-style SP45 and F45 “cab” diesels were produced from 1967 into the early part of this century. Currently, Bachmann is producing the FTA and FTB diesels in HO scale and N scale F7A and F7B models in the Spectrum® series. Wil- liams by Bachmann offers O gauge F3 models. The N scale F9 is also a popular model that is included in train sets and is available separately in several road names, with both A and B units like these New York Central replicas. 23 The All-Purpose Steam Locomotive The Bachmann replica of the Baldwin 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler was one of the first Bachmann Large Scale locomotives and it continues to be the Large Scale steam locomotive that many model railroaders prefer. The real railroads swapped-out all of their steam locomotives for diesels by 1960. Part of the appeal of diesels was that they were so versatile; one locomotive could pull either passenger or freight trains and even be used for switching in the yards. In the forties and fifties, the GP7, GP9, RS-3 and similar loco- motives were that versatile and, today, you can see GP40s and GP50s doing similar work on railroads. In the steam era the Ten-Wheeler, with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, was one of those all-purpose locomotives. The basic configura- tion of four pilot wheels and six larger driving wheels was modified to produce locomotives that were tough enough to pull coal trains and capable of pulling a passenger train at 100 miles an hour. The accepted design practice for steam locomotives on the full-size railroads was that locomotives intended for high-speed work should have four small pilot wheels to “guide” 24 the locomotives around curves and through turnouts. For the slower and heavier work of hauling freight, two wheels were deemed sufficient, freeing space for another pair of driving wheels. Another accepted practice was that the driving wheels should be relatively small for low speed locomotives and relatively large diameter for higher speeds. Hence, it was common for freight locomotives that seldom exceeded 20 miles an hour to have driv- ers that were about 4 feet in diameter while passenger locomotives that pulled trains in excess of 60 miles an hour commonly had drivers of at least 6-feet diameter. In a successful attempt to produce a more versatile steam locomotive, manufacturers like Baldwin Locomotive Works, Alco and others offered Ten-Wheelers with drivers about five feet in diameter. Apparently, a five-foot diameter driver was large enough for 40 miles an hour or so but small enough The N scale Baldwin 4-6-0 is a recreation of the same prototype locomotive as the HO scale, O Gauge and Large Scale models. to produce some real tractive effort (the term the railroads prefer to describe pulling power). Bachmann offers Ten-Wheeler steam loco- motives in N scale in the Spectrum® series and in Large Scale (the locomotive has been available in HO scale but it is not currently in production). The 4-6-0 is now available in the Williams by Bachmann O Gauge series. Williams by Bachmann has a new series of Baldwin 4-6-0 locomotives for O gauge model railroads. 25 Doodlebug Passenger Service Bachmann’s HO scale recreation of the General Motors Electromotive Corporation 72-foot long gas-electric and the P70 70-foot long coach provide an efficient train to serve the passengers on your railroad. The railroads operated these self-powered passenger trains in the period before automo- biles became the main means of transport from small towns to cities. For nearly a century, prior to about 1955, it was the railroad that provided both short and long-haul transportation for America and Canada. The Class One mainline railroads crossed America at several latitudes with similar north-south runs. Laced between that mesh of mainline routes, there were thou- sands of branch line and shortline railroads that served, essentially, “every little town”. The railroads had laid the track to gather revenue from freight shipments of cattle, grains, coal, ore and more as well as supplies for the towns. Every little town had its own stockyards, grain elevator, oil depot and coal dealer where a carload or so a week was usually delivered by railroad to serve the town’s needs. A railroad freight house handled other shipments and the smaller packages were usually delivered by the railroads through their contract with the Railway Express Agency and similar package handlers. United Parcel, Fed Ex and the rest were not even on the horizon. If you ordered something from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, it would be delivered by rail via Railway Express if it was a small package or, if it was a major por- tion of a carload, by the railroad itself. 26 In some areas, passenger travel from the small towns was by bus or electric trolley, but in the majority of America, you hopped on a passenger train of some kind to make your trip to the nearest city. From there, you might board one of the mainline trains to travel to one of the coasts. The railroads could not afford to assign a steam locomotive and its crew to a “train” that might just have a single passenger car. The railroads solved that problem in several ways; sometimes a passenger car would be added to the rear of a local freight train to carry both passengers and small parcels. In other cases, the railroad would tack a passenger car onto the end of a milk train in the pre-dawn hours or add a passenger car to a mail train that stopped at ev- ery town to gather packages---neither of the last two were really popular means of travel because a horse and buggy could just about make the trip as quickly as those ever-stopping pre-dawn trains. Some railroads solved the short-haul pas- senger travel problem with buses; others built or bought trolley lines which used rails to guide the “bus” with electrical power delivered by a single wire suspended over the tracks. There were sev- eral hundred of those “electric” railroads serving the smaller towns, but the electric railroads were most common reaching the suburbs around the major cities. Several firms offered self-powered railroad passenger cars, often powered by gasoline en- gines that drove generators to provide power to the electric motors that drove the wheels. Some designs really were buses on steel wheels with a gasoline engine driving the wheels through a gearbox and either a chain and sprockets or a conventional driveshaft and gear-driven rear axle. The automobile made all of these small passenger-carrying machines obsolete. While trolleys, buses and various self-powered passen- ger rail cars thrived in the teens and twenties, by the thirties the automobile became common and, by the sixties, virtually all of these railroad cars had disappeared. The self-powered railroad passenger cars that looked most like unpowered passenger cars were the gas-electric cars like the Bachmann EMC Gas Electric Doodlebug Locomotive and Trailer Coach HO scale and N scale models. The prototypes for these Bachmann gas- electric cars were essentially passenger cars with stronger frames and a space near one end closed- off to contain a gasoline engine about the size that might be used in a small Caterpillar-style earthmover tractor. The engine drove a genera- tor that supplied electricity to the motors that, in turn, drove the wheels---essentially the same system that was in use in diesel locomotives but, in the gas-electric, with a much smaller engine. The sound of the gas-electric’s exhaust was, apparently, what give someone the notion to call these self-propelled cars ‘Doodlebugs” as they putt-putted their way from town to town. These self-powered passenger cars usually had a separate compartment for small freight pack- ages and about half of the car was leftover for passenger seating. Most of the gas-electrics had enough power to pull a small coach, especially on the railroads that did not have many hills to surmount between the towns and the city. Bachmann has recreated one of the more popular gas-electric cars that were produced by the General Motors Electromotive Corporation in the late twenties. The prototype for the model was 72-feet long and had nearly 60 feet of space, divided about one-third/two-thirds to baggage/ passenger use. The EMC design was typical of the gas-electrics in having large radiators on the roof with the stacks for the gasoline engine exhaust behind them. The fuel tanks were hung beneath the body. The Bachmann models include a replica of a Pennsylvania Railroad standard P70 70-foot coach. Model railroads are rarely large enough to fit a 15-car passenger train, so the trim two-car Doodlebug is an excel- lent way to provide service for the passengers in the towns on your railroad. Bachmann also offers the EMC gas-electric and the P70 coach in N scale. 27 America’s Standard Box Car Bachmann HO scale replica of the 1937 AAR 40-foot box car. The box car could well be the “poster child” of rolling stock to portray how the railroads haul freight. For nearly a century the box car was the most common freight car on America’s railroads. The box car was, however, one of the least ef- ficient ways to carry most commodities. The box car design dates from an era when labor was far less expensive than packaging so a lot of loose materials were carried by box cars including grain, sugar, lumber, coal, sugar beets and other vegetables. For the first half of the twentieth century these materials were loaded one board or one shovelful at a time. Later, the loose stuff was bagged and/or tied-down on pallets so it could be loaded with a pallet dolly or forklift. The box car is really a rolling storage shed with a side door at least large enough to accom- modate a workman pushing a lift dolly hauling a barrel of flour. Later box cars had wider doors to allow a fork lift with a pallet to drive inside. Box cars with 14-foot and wider door open- ings covered by two doors were built to allow automobiles to be driven inside. Most of the cars designed to carry automobiles had built-in lift racks so that two layers of automobiles could be carried. Many of the box cars built prior to about 1960 also had small doors in the end so lumber could be loaded one board at a time. Other box cars had ends that opened completely, floor-to- ceiling, so automobiles could be driven in from the end of the car. During the 1950-1970 period,as most box 28 cars were fitted with special rails and racks inside to help stabilize and shore-up the loads so they could not shift. There were a number of patented load-shoring devices and many of these specialized cars were decorated with large “DF” letters indicating that they would provide “damage free” shipping. Most of these DF-fitted cars were 50 feet long inside but some of the 40-footers were built with DF devices; and most also had seven- or eight-foot wide doors in place of the earlier six-foot wide doors. Today, most box cars have been replaced by cars designed to haul specific commodities. Bulk products that were once hand-shoveled into box cars, like grain or sugar, are now hauled in covered hopper cars that are unloaded with air pressure. Lumber is usually stacked on special flat cars with center dividers the height of the car. Smaller goods that were once packed in cardboard boxes or wood crates are now packed tightly into containers or highway trailers to be transported on intermodal flat cars. The Bachmann 40-foot box car that is available in both HO and N scales is a replica of one of the most common cars ever built for American railroads. In 1937 the Association of American Railroads published a series of “AAR Standard” designs for freight cars, including The Williams by Bachmann O Gauge 40-foot box car is based on the 1937 AAR design but with slightly lower proportions to match the other O gauge freight cars. specifications for the ubiquitous 40-foot box car. Perhaps sensing that World War II was on the horizon, America’s railroads agreed to buy or build most of their freight cars to these stan- dards, including the 1937 AAR 40-foot box car. The basic design called for a 6-foot wide door and specified the 40-foot 6-inch length, 10-foot 6-inch interior height and 9-foot 2-inch interior width. Since the majority of 40-foot box cars built prior to 1937 were lower than the AAR standard design, these newer cars became known as the 10-foot 6-inch box cars to distinguish them from their smaller predecessors. The railroads were free to use whatever ends, roofs or doors they wished. During the forties, the designs used for the ends, roofs and doors changed several times as the manufacturers developed more efficient methods of stamping stronger steel parts, so there are dozens of detail variations on the “standard” AAR 40-foot box car. The Bachmann HO scale and Williams by Bachmann O Gauge models are replicas of cars from the early forties that had rectangular panel roofs, dreadnaught-style ends with 10 ribs (in two sets of five so they are usually called 5/5 ends) and 6-foot wide corrugated doors. The Bachmann N scale model is a replica of the similar-size PS-1 box car built by Pullman-Stan- dard using their own unique style ends, roofs and doors. Some of these 40-foot cars were still in ac- tive use in the late seventies on the majority of America’s railroads. These 40-foot box cars are, then, appropriate for use behind steam locomo- tives as well as behind early diesels. BOX CARS FOR PROFIT Model railroaders usually purchase box cars and other rolling stock because the particular model has some visual or historical appeal. The real railroads only bought or built rolling stock so it could be used to make a profit. Most cars were acquired to transport specific products produced by customers along the railroad. We might think of a box car by its appearance; the railroads bought it according to its carrying capacity in cubic feet and in weight. A Midwestern railroad, for instance, might purchase box cars as dual-purpose cars to haul the usual assorted boxes and barrels, but those box cars were often converted into grain-haul- ing cars during the season by fitting barriers made of wood planks across the doors, leaving just an open foot at the top to load the grain. The wood door was removed at the destination and the grain removed by an auger (or, in the early 1900s, one shovelful at a time). Those removable wooden door fillers were referred to as “grain doors”. Several companies offered ready-to-mount wood grain doors sealed with thick paper backings. When you envision a box car by what it carries, the box car takes on a whole new aspect of realism. When you put that car into “service”, by switching it into the siding where your railroad’s customer can load or unload it, you’ll be on your way to running a railroad for at least an imaginary profit. Industry: Commodity Shipped: Commodity Received: Sawmill wood none Lumberyard none wood Grain elevator grain grain Auto parts Co. packed crates empty crates Flour mill barrels or bags of flour empty bags & barrels Auto Mfg. automobiles steel parts Bakery none flour, sugar & oils Oil Depot none barrels & boxes Freight House boxes & barrels boxes & barrels Furniture Mfg. wood furniture The Bachmann N scale replica of the Pullman-Standard PS-1 40-foot box car. 29