Good News, Not So Good News.

The thing about the weathering the car trick is, in real life, the car could be very dirty, but, the numbers were kept readable. And graffiti? I have had the argument before, that prior to the 70s, you see very little graffiti on cars, at least as we know graffiti today. Chalk drawings by hobos and even railroad workers yes, full scale giant cars painted up, no. Railroads, at one time, took great pride (some more some less) in the fleet and their cars were rolling advertisements,(another reason I do believe that their heralds would not be put on in a haphazard way, but that horse has done been beat)

I asked a long time ago, about having cars with no numbers, and the decal added. It was around the time MTL tried that wit their passenger cars, and there was a lot of reasons why that would not work. Fortunately one of our Z friends shared a source for white decals, So I will try and have some made up for myself.

As far as finding pictures, I have some in a book somewhere, but one does need permission to use them. Same with the CB&Q data. These guys feel they worked long and hard, to collect the data, and they are willing to share. But they will only do it for $$$$. One of the contacts I have is a model consultant and has done work for quite a few companies. I wont say how much his estimate is, but if a run of cars were made, it would only add .50 to $1.00 to the price of the car, at the most.

The other problem I have run into is, would whatever company making the cars want to use an expert, when they feel they have the data already, and is convinced that theirs is more correct? It is the problem of, "hey you make nice stuff and could you please make XYZ, but, by the way, I think you are wrong in a couple of small but still noticeable details. I can prove it, but I would have to pay this other guy some money, to prove it".

Now some more good news. If I wish real hard, and make some sacrifices to the model train gods, I might just get, at least, the cars I want, even with just 2 numbers. My worry is, they will pop up at the same time as the GP7s, and the F3s along with the other junk I already have on order, and I will not have the money to get all of the above. I figured I would buy at least 300 dollars worth or more of the cars, if and when they do show up.

Kelley,
I have to agree with you on the graffiti. Travelling to Denver, in 2012 I watched for graffiti cars and it seems even today unit trains have very little graffiti. I also agree that prior to the bar codes, the roads generally kept the road numbers pretty clean. I'm no authority on coal operations, but I seem to recall images of coal cars with what looked like oil streaks down the sides.

As far as research I always like to go to the source. The CSRM only charges for duplication and imaging costs. As far as use, for my roads all that's really needed is the attribution: "XXX is a registered trademark of Pacific." The next time I'm there, I'll ask the librarian who has the CB&Q records for you.

Mark

Kelly,
Did a bit of checking around and we're back to the title of the post. The good news is that Newberry Library in Chicago probably has all the CB&Q drawing you'd want. Not so good news is that the archive is currently unavailable while they digitize it.

Mark

Thanks Mark. Yes I have heard about the library in Chicago. If you can find something that would help. I agree 100 percent, one should use source documents.

Coal hoppers could get pretty dirty and weathered. They used to mix oil with the coal to keep down the dust. Illinois coal has very high sulfur content. It plus moisture = sulfuric acid plus metal =rust. There are tutorials around on how to realistically weather coal hoppers (I do believe there is one here)and I think it is mentioned in the Kalmbach book about coal trains. Water would form below where bays are, and would freeze, so to unload in the winter, in some places, the cars were run over fires to thaw them out. This made a very distinctive pattern.