Boston Elevated, 8 Window, Closed Car continued

Details Products used:

Fender moustache

Background

The cars were built in 1900 by the St. Louis Car Co. They have longitudinal seats (“bowling alley seats”) and would seat 34 passengers. For trucks and controls, these cars sported Peckham #14B4, motors were G.E. #86 (2 each, or one per truck). The controls are K-38G and had hand brakes only (goose neck hand brake). The cars were 34' 11" in length, 7' 11'' in width, and 11' 4'' high. (Info taken from the web site of the Seashore Trolley Museum).

One car still surves at the Seashore Trolley Museum. The one example 8 window car they have is #396. This car survived in Boston as a work car prior to it’s move to Maine. It was also featured in a 1960’s film, “The Cardinal”. The museum also has several examples of single truck Boston cars as well.

Procedure

In this section of working on your Boston Eleveated Railway, 8 window car, the K-28 controller will be added to the front platforms, couplers are added, a small life guard is added to the area under the platform, trucks are installed.

Controller: Note, this car had a different version of the K-controller, but the K-28 is also the correct size box. The controller should be placed on the platform (looking forward) to the left of the “goose neck” hand brake assembly that came with the Bachmann car.

Couplers: A small diameter brass wire was fashioned as a long u shape, and also has a small radious added to it. This acts as the tow bar brakcet. A small scrap of wood was added under the platform at each end to hold the anchor plate for the tow bar to be attached. LRP #002 was added. Originally, these cars just had a straight tow bar with a pin hole at the end. For towing purposes, they added a small box shaped devise that would keep the tow bars in a straight line, so the cars and couplings did not buckle when stopping or pushing on the towed car. On this model, it was decided to just use LRP #002.

Life Guard: A small life guard has been added. Some surplus parts from kit LRP #003 were used. This kit comes with two sizes of fender moustaches, where one is only needed per kit and so this is a surplus part. (LRP is willing to sell the moustache part upon request). This fender or life guard originally was made to slide back and forth on a small angle iron on each side of the fender. On the model, they have been made stationary, and are affixed to the under floor (platform) area with brass rod and glue.

Trucks: This car originally had a Packham #14B4 truck under it. LRP #012 is a Brill version of a truck that would have been used in this same time period. Note on this model, the trucks under the car are for 2 1/2'' gauge, not the usual 1 3/4'' that most modelers use for the LGB type track gauge. Also, these cars originally had a 30'' wheel, and the trucks placed under the car are 33'' and so the car may appear a little higher on the trucks than it should. (30'' wheels are availabe from LRP upon special request).

To Install these, two small wooden bolsters were made from strip wood (3/4'' x 1/16'') and run the width of the car. Carefully measure your trucks to be sure they will still swing out past the platform knees. Once this is completed, glue them both to the underside of the floor, and later add the carbody bolster plate to the center of the width of the wooden bolster. Drill a small hole for the screw to hold the trucks onto the car. Add the trucks. Be sure they are well secured to the car, so they do not fall off when the car is lifted from the tracks.

Remaining items in next installment

Interior details, bumper on front and step details

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