More large flatcars
Began working on a pair of General Electric 16 axle depressed flat cars, GEX 800000, and 800002. The two cars are very simular, with the depressed bodies are different.
The body was designed in two pieces with holes for two 1/4" threaded rod section for support when glued.
Well cars
Working on four, four axle well cars, Department of Defense, Deleware and Hudson Penn Central and Southern Pacific.
Well car loads
The White Train was used to transport nuclear weapons for the
Department of Energy. The trains originated at the Pantex plant in
Texas, and was made up of two types of cars: guard cars, and safe
secure cars. The safe secure cars were basically covered hoppers.
There were two different series of the safe secure cars: ATMX 500
and ATMX 600. The original guard cars were rebuilt WWII kitchen
cars. Video
of an early white train. I first got interested in these cars when
I saw the article “ATMX Covered Hoopers” in the August 2001
Mainline modeler by Thorton Waite. Models were made for both of
these cars, and have been printed. The ATMX 500 series car is 60'
long and fits on a Roundhouse 60' flatcar.
That third photo shows what happens when the models are left way
too long in the IPA wash.
Generator loads
Created four different generator loads, with the first two being smaller ones. These are shipping on modified Athearn heavy duty flat cars, with the bodies lowered.
Two lareger generatator loads have also been created, one with square ends, and the other with angled ends. These will be shipped on the 16 and 20 axle General Electric depreseed flat cars.
Steam reheater header load
Saved two images from EBay years ago of an interesting well car load. Newspaper clipping says this is a steam reheater header for a nuclear power plant. The original design was created in TinkerCAC. As show, the design is simple with shapes added along with "hole" added that removes 3/4 of the donut. But can not get a smooth curved shape with the built in devices.
GEX 711 rebuild and load
Went to redo the Concept Engineering resin model of the GEX 711 expandable flat car with a 3D printed cradle. Both the car and the load sat too high. But when trying to remove the cradle from the resin car, I broke the car. So decide to model and print the reset of the car. While doing the modeling took into account the inserts that need to be painted black. These were a pain to paint on the original resin model. Modeled, printed and paint them separately. Those inserts were sides so that they would slip in. Should have made them a little smaller, paint adds more space that what I accounted for.
Other DoD and DOE nuclear loads
Liked the Department of Energy IDOX flat cars with cask loads. This is a NuPac 125-B cask. Believe that these cars and casks were first used to transport some of the damaged fuel assemblies from Three Mile Island nuclear plant. The flat car is made from a cut down Athean Heavy Weight flat car, with end platforms added. Custom decals complete the loads.
Remembered an article in the September 1996 Mainline Modeler, titled DODX Flat Car, by Thorton Waite was the inspiration for this load. This article showed a DODX 8 axle flat car with a 125-B spent nuclear fuel cask car. The flat car is made from a cut down Athean Heavy Weight flat car.
Finished the first of three DODX vertical cask well cars. This model was created by Barry Clements, and it is available on his Shapeways shop. It is a very well designed model, with space to add weights in both the body or the cask. Custom decals were created - there are 28 of them on each model!
