Friday, September 11, 2015

W. S. Bailey

The paint scheme was improvised. I figured that buff was a good color for a car originating in Nevada.
While I was in the mood to build cars, I decided to try another John Canfield/Bob McGlone kit that I have. It was for a 30-foot Tiffany refrigerator car. Tiffany made an early appearance in the refrigerator car field and was used by many railroads. Their main feature was that the ice was carried in bunkers located immediately beneath the roof, hence the roof hatches on top of the car rather than the ends. For some time, I had a copy of such a car which was used on the Southern Pacific. It was lettered for a private owner, a W. S. Bailey in Reno, Nevada. I did a little reading of Reno papers and found that Mr. Bailey was a long-time resident and rancher in Nevada with his ranch located around Churchill. He also had a slaughterhouse on the east side of Reno and used a fleet of refrigerator cars to carry meat to Sacramento, San Francisco and other places. No other information could be found.
 
The drawing showed the basic outline. Although this car is for a 28-foot model, the kit I had was for a 30-foot variety which I figured was close enough.
  Although the drawing I had did not include lettering styles, it did have the rough lettering diagram. I improvised and designed a plausible lettering set based on similar cars. It was an easily construction and used a pair of Eric Cox's 3D printed Allen trucks which are typical of those used on the SP at the time. Some liberties were taken with the design but I think the car is suitable for one where there are no photos or good information on it.

3 comments:

  1. Very nice Job Don.
    How did you choose the colors for the lettering? I find it interesting that Mr.Bailey did what I Imagined my Mr. Collver doing. Do you know how many cars he ran?

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  2. I love your work, Bob, and your tenacity in getting that work done "on the railroad'. I model an earlier era and do not have the same rolling stock options available to me. In 1876, this Tiffany car was not yet patented. I am resigned to insulated boxcars or iced cars with end door loading. Have you seen any cars like the earlier type that by photo or drawing show the position of the end doors? I'd be interested in how your load these cars. Hopefully with a platform from the top but with end doors, how would that be accomplished?

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  3. Unfortunately, I have not seen any of the end door cars you describe. I know that the Central/Southern Pacific RRs used ventilators until around 1890 when they switched to iced refrigerator cars. Good luck in your research.

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