Weathering PFE Reefers
PFE rostered 10,700 57' (56'9" or 56'10") reefers classes R-70-13 through R-70-25. All of the cars were built by Pacific Car & Foundry between 1963 and 1971. The load capacity for all of them was 130,000 pounds. Ownership of the cars was split between the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. The UP owned cars had Keystone under-frames and the SP cars had Hydra-Cushion under-frames. Minor changes were made over time to include the removal or elimination of roof walks. And, while the cars were always painted "reefer" orange, over the years changes were made to the lettering schemes. Starting in 1971 the reporting marks were changed to SPFE or UPFE to reflect ownership. Most of the reporting marks were changed by 1973. In March of 1978, PFE ceased to operate as a jointly owned enterprise.
As can be seen in following photograph taken by Ron Hawkins in 1976, the appearance of the cars varied.
PFE #454503
I used to weather most of my freight cars using an airbrush and Floquil paints. More recently I have been using craft paint acrylics. PFE #454503 is a 1966 built R-70-16 57' reefer from Con-Cor. The model appears to be a close representation of the prototype. The car came equipped with Kadee couplers and metal wheel sets but I did need to add some weight. Mag wheel weights were glued to the existing weight.
The car-body given a coat of Tamyia TS-80 Flat to provide some "tooth" for the "fade" that was applied with thinned Apple Barrel acrylic white craft paint using a 3/4" flat brush. The white was followed by another coat of Tamyia flat and set aside to cure. The under-frame was then painted with a "wet" blending of Apple Barrel Pavement and Folk-Art Coffee using a 1/4" flat brush. The under-frame and truck side frames were also given a coat of Tamyia flat.
Prior to the introduction of modern mechanical reefers, Pacific Fruit Express ice bunker reefers required a lot of maintenance. The damage caused by melting ice and salt lead to major repairs and refurbishment every five or six years. Since the cars were repainted at the same time, the PFE fleet tended to look pretty good. With the introduction of mechanical reefers, the maintenance cycles got stretched out. The longer maintenance cycles, along with the weather and numerous tunnels and snow sheds on Donner pass had a significant impact on the appearance of the cars.
The next step involved the application of Folk-Art Classic French Gray. The equivalent of about 3 side panels or 2" of paint were applied at a time. Then, before the paint could dry, most of it was removed with a slightly dampened Q-Tip. (I used about 40 Q-Tips for the whole car). The ribs were cleaned off with a pencil eraser.
There are a couple of problems with the model. First, the brake wheel and ladder arrangements are wrong for a R-70-17 class 57' reefer. In addition the roof, based upon my research should be painted white. Apple Barrel white blended with a little Folk-Art Classic French Gray gave the roof a weathered white appearance. The car was finished of with some brown powdered pigments on the doors, ladders, trucks, under-frame, and ends followed by another coat of Tamyia flat. Start to Finish... About 3 hours. Not bad for a $8 car.
A prototype example (Ron Hawkins photo)
The model in its "as delivered" paint.
PFE #458135
Here is the second car in the series; this time a Athearn version of a R-70-21 built in 1970. The model does have a couple of problems; the major one being the shape of the roof. On the prototype, the roof slopes down and the profile changes from a arched design to a sloped design. While this discrepancy may bother some modelers, I am willing to live with it. I did, on the other hand, file and sand off the remains of a casting sprue that was located right in the center of the roof.
Like the PFE #454503, the under-body was painted with a "wet" blend of Apple Barrel Pavement and Folk-Art Coffee followed by a coat of Tamyia flat.
A "fade" wasn't applied to this car. Thinned Folk-Art "Barn Wood" was used for SPFE #458145 instead of Folk-Art French Gray used on #454503. This time, most of the paint was removed with the Q-Tips followed by a light application of brown powdered pigments around the door hardware, ladders and ends.
PFE #456507 & UPFE #457404
PFE #456507 is another Con-Cor R-70-16. The same techniques were used to weather were used on this car with slightly different colors starting with Folk-Art Terra Cotta.
UPFE #457404
UPFE #457404 is a Athearn R-70-20. Again, the same techniques were used to weather this car starting with Folk-Art Classic French Gray. Brown powdered pigments were used around the doors/hardware.
Southern Pacific #3451 Return Home
I was pleasantly surprised to find #3451 in the mail on Christmas Eve. I had returned it to Walthers on December 11th with what I thought was a faulty sound decoder. It turns out the motor was bad. Regardless, thumbs up to Walthers, for the great customer service.
Western Pacific Caboose #700
WP #700 was a Christmas gift from my good friend Phil Newbold. Phil and I have been friends for about 30 years. Phil is a retired BNSF conductor and N-Scale collector. I originally saw this Overland caboose at a swap meet earlier this year. I made several lingering passes before I decided to go back and buy it. When I returned it was gone. I was a bit relieved but mostly disappointed. I guess Phil had been watching.
The #700 was one of 45 box cars converted to cabooses in 1943, 1944 and 1945. Some of these cabooses lasted into the late 1960's and early 1970's on both the Western Pacific and the Sacramento Northern.
Model Railroaders, especially this one, can be easily distracted! Within a week or so these beautiful Athearn Genesis F-units factory equipped with DCC and Tsunami2 sound arrived. I photographed the WP extensively for around 13 years between 1972 and 1986. I have a Atlas U-30B, in Perlman Green, ordered to fill out a three unit consist. While quite a few F-units and switchers were painted solid orange, GP-35 #3003 was the only hood unit painted in this scheme.
And speaking of the WP, here is the first car I ever painted, decaled and weathered. Its an old Athearn undecorated "Blue Box" 40' box car purchased in 1973 or 1974 from Hobbies Unlimited in San Lorenzo, CA. It was painted and weathered with Floquil paints applied with a Binks Wren airbrush. The decals were from Champ. Its a little dusty after about 50 years but other than that it looks OK.
As always, your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome
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