And now, the REST of the story...
This is the story of how I turned a random sighting of a unique freight car into a model. I first came upon RBHX 3 as it was sitting on our RIP tracks. I see many hoppers cars each day, but not many numbered that low. We were working in the yard one sunny day and I looked out onto our RIP tracks and saw this red hopper with the low number waiting for some work to be done.
After taking a couple of pictures, I went home and did some research. I even found a few more pictures on the Interweb. Thanks go to RR Picture Archive for doing a great job of documenting freight cars.
I learned it belonged to the Robert B. Hill salt company of Minneapolis.I had seen another car in our yards for a year or two lettered for Hill Salt of Minneapolis. This was a dark colored car, which after some more research, I learned was the WREX car. It has since been scrapped and replaced by RBHX 2 and 3.
I then found that the Hill Salt company had moved to a new location in the town next to me. This is St. Louis Park, MN. They built an office, workspace at the end of a spur known to local rail fans as ‘Skunk Hollow’. I can’t find out why they call it this, but as usual, nicknames from generations ago seem to stick, especially with railroad related places. Skunk Hollow is a unique place in that it is served by two different railroads, and now there is only one industry located there.
I decided to build this car after a talk with one of my crew. He has a shelf type layout and was looking for an industry that did not take a lot of cars, but was still modern. I showed him the Morten salt complex near our yards and we studied the unloader for hoppers. After doing research on the R.B. Hill site and seeing that they only can take one car at a time, it became a great modern industry to model.
I then started to look for a suitable Intermountain Cylindrical hopper. I know they make RTR ones with see thru walkways and all the details added, but finding an undecorated one and also paying for that quality made me look in other directions. I started with the idea of the local flea markets, and then remembered my own stash of ‘for sale’ items and looked in there. Voila’, I had an unbuilt kit from my days of modeling the grain elevators of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was in a private road name and I knew I could remove the lettering once I built it that far.
I started with getting my tools out. To build one of these kits, you need a few specific tools. An X-acto blade just won’t work for removing the fine parts Intermountain has provided, from the sprues. Get a good sprue cutter. I also highly recommend a Touch-n-flow pen for glue. This makes getting the clear glue for plastics into all the right spots, and not leaving any residue over the details. I also recommend an Opti-visor, so you can see the small parts. My wife made me a parts bib. It helps modeling klutz like me keep track of those tiny widgets that go flying at the wrong time. Thank you Intermountain for providing extra parts, especially the small ones.
The car needs weight, so I added small metal shot I had on hand from weighting all my ore cars. I leveled it our over the four bays and used my scale from Micro-mark to get it to NMRA recommended practice. I poured white glue over the top of the pellets and allowed it dry overnight.
The next work session, I added the base to the body ad glued them together. I then went to work on the air brake assembly. I remember after building dozens of these cars that this is the part you need patience with. I added the all the parts per instructions, and repaired any broken air lines with glue.
Next came the roof walk. This is many tiny pieces, and very repetitive. It is good to be listening to a model railroading podcast or good music as you do this. I cut out the braces, and then the roof walk. I removed the flash from any mold lines and inserted the braces in the body. I then lined up the roof walk and applied glue with the flow applicator. I used my Fast Tracks filing jigs as weight to hold it down while drying.
Next came the ladder assembly on each end. These go in specific spots so check the drawings. I then added the grab irons, and made sure I put in the roof walk braces on each end.
I used my Harbor Tools Air eraser to remove the lettering. My usual methods of various liquids were not taking the stuff off. I guess Intermountain used quality paint. I washed the model up with warm, soapy water and rinsed it off, allowing it to air dry. I used medical gloves from now on to handle the model prior to painting.
I used a light grey primer, so I didn’t have to cover the dark blue with a dark red. I was wondering about the red color, and looked at the prototype pictures for reference.
The car has faded over the years, and I finally stumbled across the R.B. Hill salt company Facebook page.
On the FB page it shows a SOO Line GP-38-2 delivering the car when it was new. It closely matched the SOO red, and since I was going to fade the paint anyways, it made a great starting point. I picked up some Soo Line red and applied a few coats until I had a nice even finish. After drying, I added a coat of gloss to get ready to apply the decals.
No commercial decals are available, so I was off to create some using my computer word software and Bare Metal Foils white, laser copier decal film. I found a font that matched, and made the black squares to size. I made extras knowing how things go on my workbench. I also made decals for RBHX 2, in case I want to do another one. I took my file to the local Kinkos, I guess they are FedEx office now. I used their commercial quality laser printer and ran my decal paper thru with it set on glossy paper in the bypass tray. I brought my new decals home and taped the sheet flat on a scrap piece of cardboard. I then applied three coats of Micro Scale Liquid decal film. This coats the decal and makes it so the printing won’t come off. It did lighten up the decals a bit, so I am still looking for the perfect way to create white lettering decals.
I also added data from other sets I had on hand. I think the weigh markings came from a Rail Graphics set of car data. The lube stencils from Microscale and the safety stripes are from a BNSF diesel set that I cut to length. I applied the decals and used micro Scales Solva-sol and Set to hold them down. After I was satisfied with the way the lettering looked, all the air bubbles were gone, I applied a flat finish and got the car ready for adding the trucks and weathering.
Prototype and Mystery marking.
The trucks proved to be a lesson in futility. I tried to use the trucks that came with the kit, but it had extra pieces that the plans never showed where they go. If anyone at Intermountain knows what the little triangle pieces are for, let me know, will ya. I put them together and painted and weathered them, but they fell apart, so I used a set I had on hand from previous kit bashes.
Barber S-2 looked fine. I painted them a brown and used black, acrylic washes. I painted the wheels a brown color and inserted them in the trucks before attaching the trucks to the frame. I also added kadee number 5 couplers at this point, and painted and attached the airline details. I painted the glad hand and angle cock silver.
The hatches. I was waiting to apply the hatches until I could see what type they were. All off the pictures I took and could find were only from the sides and ends. No shot from a bridge or rooftop. So I used my resources, and looked on the computer at work, and did a car trace. It showed the cars in a cycle from St. Louis Park to Lyndale, UT for loading. I noted the time when it would arrive back in the Twin Cities and followed it on its journey. It was interchanged to the Canadian Pacific at Valley Park yard, and brought to the huge CP yard in St. Paul. It was then classified and sent out on a local to service the former MN&S highline, including Skunk Hollow. I drove by the RBH salt office and noted the red car there a few days after interchange. I looked on their Facebook page and it listed their hours of operation. I noted they were closed on Saturdays. I was heading to a flea market with my friend, and after picking up coffee and a bagel, I asked him to stop by the RBH salt office. I am a professional, don’t do this at home kids. I climbed up the car and took enough pictures to confirm that it had smooth hatches, and they were white.
I then used that type from my Intermountain kit, which they supply three different types. Thank you Intermountain. I removed the hatches and the hook hinge pieces with my sprue cutter. I then painted the hatches white, and the hinges Soo Line red. I pushed the hinges into the roof and then applied the hatches. I once again used my Fast Track filing jigs to keep the hatches closed as I glued them down with ACC.
Weathering. Let’s start with the fade. I like to use White Gouache diluted with distilled water to the consistency of milk, and sprayed thru an airbrush.
I then applied a dull coat to protect the fade. I used my Winston-Newton water based oil colors to make streaks and drips. I used the brown colors from Burnt Sienna to Raw Umber.
I used a square to try and keep the drips in line. Good thing I learned from Trainmaster TV. Next came the wheel splash and underbody dirt. I applied more dull coat to protect the oils. I worked from photos, which is always best for me when it comes to weathering.
A few more details to finish up. The coupler release lever was a nice touch. I added some lift ring, cut down to size, to hold it in place. I painted it the Soo Line red, and the handle white.
Another detail is the AEI car reader tags. These are great little details for a modern car. I trimmed the detail off the sprue, drilled a small hole in the car where it goes according to photos, and applied a small amount of CA to hold it in place.
Another item I needed to scratch build is the tag boards. I noticed the car had two per side. A large one centered on the car, and a smaller one near the reporting marks. I made these from .020 pieces of scrap styrene cut to approximate sizes. I roughed them up with sandpaper to give a grain finish like wood. After painting, I then glued them in place.
The couplers and air hose detail. I use Kadee #5's and adjust the coupler bar for correct height.I use magnets for operation and enjoy the hands off characteristics. I filed the flash off the couplers and got out some centering springs. I cut the air hose detail from the sprue, and painted them a black color and then made the angle cock and glad hand silver.
The Hill salt building is a neat industry just waiting to be modeled. the salt is dumped out into a bin with a auger, then pushed up a tower to storage bins. It is shipped out in various trucks based on commercial or private use for the rock salt.
Next was to wait for a sunny day here in the North Country to go outside for some pictures. The final product is ready to go to work, bringing more salt from Utah to the water softeners of Minnesota. I fianlly got my wish, and although I do not have a nice Soo Line GP-38-2, My Splitrock Mining RS-27 makes a good stand in.
Thanks for looking.
Thomas Gasior