Christmas Vacation Kaolin Boxcar

Several different railroads rostered at least a few boxcars for hauling kaolin to paper mills and whatnot. I saw a model in an old thread on the Model Railroad Hobbyist forums and decided that the KY&N ought to have a few of these. I started with an Athearn 40' Steel Refrigerator car. I shaved off the door detail and left side grab irons and modified a pair of 6' Youngstown steel doors to fit the shorter height of the car body. New door tracks were scratchbuild from strip styrene and glued to the body of the car. The left side grabs were replaced with left over A-Line grabs.

For the roof, I removed the old roof walk, hatches and cast on hatch hinges and details and installed a modified Plano etched roof walk. I also added strip styrene to the roof to serve the dual purpose of added ribs to the roof and to hide holes from the trimmed off reefer hinges. I still need to add another row of ribs to the opposite side of the new hatches to hide the other holes from trimmed off hatch hardware.

The weight was removed from the underframe and will be attached to the inside of the car, a slight trim was made to the underframe that allowed the body to ride lower on the trucks.

These cars were rebuilt in-house in 1964 and 1965, so the roof walks remained on the cars until they were scrapped in 1979. Most of these cars were painted in the KY&N Hunter Green and Yellow scheme that debuted in 1964, so this car will get a coat of green whenever the cold weather lets up.

40' TOFC from parts

Here is a parts box creation. Inspired by the Southern Rwy 50' TOFC cars rebuilt from boxcars, I decided to build a 40' version for the KY&N. I started with an old MDC 40' Boxcar diecast underframe laying around for several years. Using 3/16" styrene strips from Evergreen, I fashioned a welded sill around the perimeter of the car. The fifth wheel stand is a Details West Part and the brake wheel and rigging were extras I found in my drawer. I added A-Line grab irons to the side and ends of the car and some standard 50-ton freight trucks. The car was painted KY&N Boxcar Brown and lettered as #25290.

Rebuilt 50' Boxcar

The Kanawha, Youngstown & Northern Boxcar #31582 was a class W22 50' Double Door car built by AC&F and was part of a 200 car order in the 23700-23899 series delivered in 1946. This general purpose boxcar was rebuilt and reclassified as a W31b and renumbered #31582 in October of 1972. This car is normally in pool service between a stamping plant at Charleston, WV and the Chevrolet Assembly Plant near Youngstown, OH. This is a Branchline Blueprint model with running boards removed and carbody installed on top a pair of National B-1 trucks. Boxcar was painted in the normal KY&N green dip with the small herald.

U30C 432 on the Pennsylvania Southern

U30C #432 made her maiden run on October 12 on Bob Weinheimer's beautiful Pennsylvania Southern layout during a regular monthly operating session. 432 was featured on Train 262, a Pittsburgh - Washington turn. 432 also acted as the yard switcher at Washington and ended the evening as the rear end helper on a Northbound coal train between Washington and Bridgeville.

KY&N U30C #432 prepared to depart Pittsburgh on Bob Weinheimer's Pennsylvania Southern.

KY&N #432 crosses the bridge between Bridgeville and Cannonsburg on the way south to Washington.

KY&N #432 after arriving back at Pittsburgh on Train 262 from Washington.

U30C #432

I ran across an Atlas Master U30C at a swap meet back in February. The previous owner had removed the original dual-mode decoder and put this unit on the back burner with the intentions of making it an C&O unit in the future. He decided to part with for a fair price and I made a home for it. Like the few other six-axle locomotives on the KY&N roster, the U30C was issued a 400-series number and a basic Digitrax decoder. Being a former BN unit, the strobe was removed and the air horn relocated to the engineer's side of the cab. I also added a side-mount bell to the long hood and a standard firecracker antenna. The locomotive was given an even coat of KY&N Hunter Green and the yellow striping and letters were applied. I expect to pair this with an Atlas SD35 and use it regularly in the coal fields on the Terminal Subdivision between Wheeling, WV and Charleston, WV.

October Update

Lots of changes since my last update in July, I started a new job on 7/31. It currently requires more travel than the previous job, so layout building has come to a crawl. However, I have been able to work on rolling stock while on the road.

First up are 2 Bay Offset Side hoppers from Atlas. KY&N #4152 is an H13b hopper that was part of an order of 700 built during the Summer of 1941. KY&N #14297 is an H13c hopper that was part of an order of 300 built during the Spring of 1945.

Inspired by the Southern Rilway's program of rebuilding 50' boxcars into TOFC flatcars, I built a 40' version for the KY&N out of extra parts in a parts bin. This is based on a Roundhouse diecast boxcar underframe, with Branchline brake components, A-Line grab irons, Details West TOFC hitch stand and Evergreen styrene strips. With sideswipe damage, this car is has obviously had a rough life. This will be KY&N 25290 when complete.

When I reconfigured the layout in June, I kept three sections from the original layout I started nearly 2 years ago. One of the weaknesses of the design was the inadequate length of the yard lead. I was left with two options; 1) extend the current yard lead but waste a significant amount of scenic space, or 2) install a new turnout and new yard lead. I chose the latter option and installed a #6 hand built turnout to allow the new lead to parallel the main tracks at the east side of Charleston. The yard crew should be able to grab a cut of 25 cars and clear the first yard switch, if neccesary, with this adjustment. 

Two more units

I spent much of my free time last weekend working on more locomotives. Starting with the GP9, I used a Proto 2000 model. This unit is a Ph III locomotive that came undecorated as a kit. After assembling the shell, I added a N&W-style nose bell and "firecracker" antenna from Details West. All of the KY&N's GP9's were delivered as "short hood forward", most other details were stock parts, such as the "oversized" winterization hatch for the 48" fans common on the later GP9's.

Once again, the unit was then painted Hunter Green and 1/8" yellow stripes were applied to the nose and long hood and bonded with Solvaset.

GP9 #553 was the 9th of 16 units built by EMD in March of 1958. Originally numbered 953, it was renumbered in 1960 after the last of the steam locomotives were retired.

The other unit I worked on is KY&N GP35 #622. Being an older Athearn "Blue Box" locomotive, this actually started as a practice shell I had modifications to in years past. I removed the nose headlight and filled in with squadron putty and sanded smooth. I also trimmed off all of the handrail "pockets" on the side sills and both pilots. After stripping the shell in 91% alcohol and cleaning, I added MU Hoses, Radio Antenna and 5-chime air horn from Details West. I also added cut levers from Details Associates.  

The standard Hunter Green paint was applied, as well as the 1/8" yellow striping. I thought it turned out pretty well for an old Athearn shell with well-documented scale problems.

GP35 #622 was the 3rd of 10 units built by EMD for the KY&N in April of 1964.

GP7 #321

The first unit to be painted into the standard KY&N scheme is GP7 #321. Using a Proto 2000 model. I stripped the Santa Fe "Zebra" paint off the shell using 91% alcohol. After thoroughly washing and drying, I added a N&W-style nose bell and winterization hatch both from Details West. Because all of the KY&N's GP7's were delivered as "long hood forward", I relocated the Leslie 3-chime air horn to a centered position just behind the dynamic brake fan. This was also a typical location for the B&O's GP9's.

The unit was then painted using Valspar's Flat Hunter Green (yes, from a rattle can!). Microscale's 1/8" yellow stripes were applied to the nose and long hood and bonded using Walthers' Solvaset. The numbers came from an old set of Virnex yellow numbers.

Eventually, I'll have a custom run of shields and lettering for the long hood, I plan to get 8 or 10 units to the same point as #321 before I finish lettering and reapply handrails and whatnot.

GP7 #321 was the 7th of 10 units built by EMD in August of 1952. Originally numbered 721, it was renumbered in 1960 after the last of the steam locomotives were retired.

50' Railbox Boxcar

The KY&N 31000-series boxcars were delivered in the late summer of 1974 and were used in a variety of services nation wide.

I picked up a pair of these Athearn Railbox Boxcars at a flea market in Fayetteville, WV for $10. This boxcar design made their debut right around the same timeframe I model, so of course I made use of them.

Both cars are painted Hunter Green with Sunrise Yellow on the doors. I don't have the road name or the shield printed yet, so these cars will set for a couple months after the data is completed on both sides of each.

A historical view

The Wheeling and Youngstown Railroad Company (W&Y) was founded in 1893 by the M.A. Hanna Company to haul iron ore and other products from the port at Euclid, Ohio on the Great Lakes to the Great Lakes Steel Company plants in Youngstown, OH and Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1905, the W&Y purchased the Monongahela & Ohio River Connecting Rwy. (M&OR), providing a critical supply of metallurgical coal from Northern WV and Southwestern Pennsylvania to coking plants and steel mills along the W&Y. The railroad was renamed the Monongahela, Youngstown & Erie (MY&E) at this time. In 1927, the railroad merged with the Kanawha & Wheeling Terminal (K&WT), providing an additional vital route for coal traffic in West Virginia for points north on the MY&E. In 1929, the parent companies of the railroad consolidated to form the National Standard Steel Corporation. This consolidation resulted in the reorganization of the railroad properties held by NSSC in 1930. At this time, the railroad was finally named the Kanawha, Youngstown & Northern (KY&N). 

During World War II, under the direction of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), the KY&N entered into a trackage rights agreement with both the New York Central (NYC) and the Pennsylvania (PRR) railroads. NYC trains operated with KY&N crews between Charleston, WV and Youngstown, OH, while the PRR trains ran with KY&N crews only as far north as Weirton, WV to the PRR Panhandle Division. These agreements continued through the Penn Central and early Conrail eras. 

In 1974, the KY&N owned 1,502.6 miles of primary routes and a total of 3,756.5 miles of track.

Testing

Testing Page for use only for testing.

Do not Hump. Do not exceed 25 M.P.H., must be placed at rear of train.

Credit: Dean Heacock, Chessie Photo Archives