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This train features the following items from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. Almost all of them are from one track at the museum, with the two cabeese being the exceptions. They are (from L to R, back to front): Wabash streamlined caboose Burlington Northern wide-vision caboose Monsanto nitric acid tanker Union Refrigerator Transit Lines / Milwaukee Road reefer car American Car and Foundry 70 ton two compartment covered hopper Union Tank Line triple dome railroad tank car Van Dyke frameless railroad tanker Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-8-2 steam loco 551 Now let's see them a little closer up, and with their real world counterparts! Wabash streamlined caboose This streamlined Wabash caboose model is based off one at the Museum of Transportation in Saint Louis, Missouri. I don't have many details about the real world 1952-built caboose's service history... All I know it was that, after being retired by the railroad, caboose 2847 was eventually bought by a suburban homeowner and stored on his property for almost 20 years. It was donated to the Museum in 2013, where it still resides today. Rear of the caboose. (I don't have a picture of this one with the real deal... yet) Burlington Northern wide-vision caboose Built in 1969, this Burlington Northern caboose (originally built for Northern Pacific) was the home away from home for the train crew and also served as the office for the conductor, who is in charge of the freight train. The cupola atop the car is the 'watch tower' of the train. When it is operation, the conductor or brakeman sits in the cupola watching to see that the train is running satisfactorily. This specific sub-type of Caboose is called a wide-vision caboose, which was a type that became prominent after World War II, when taller than usual freight cars became common. The new extra wide cupola allowed the crew to see around these obstacles. This caboose was last used in 1983 after a very short service life of just 14 years. It was replaced on modern trains by the FRED (Flashing Rear End Device) with the conductor's office being relocated to the locomotive cab. You can find the real-world version of this caboose at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. the rear of the caboose. This one was still in the process of being repainted. Note the missing BN logo and reporting marks. Monsanto nitric acid tanker The real version of the freight car that inspired this MOC was built in 1940 by American Car and Foundry for Monsanto. The 8,000 gallon double-hull tank car was designed for hauling concentrated nitric acid, which is extremely corrosive. The inner tank is constructed of an aluminum alloy which is protected by an a cushion of air and steel outer shell. The car was donated in 1961 by Monsanto Chemicals Company to the Museum of Transportation (in St. Louis, Missouri) and you can actually walk through the car via the access hatches at either end. Union Refrigerator Transit Lines / Milwaukee Road reefer car Built by General American Transportation Corporation for Union Refrigerator Transit Lines in 1948, this car is a steel bodied reefer with ice bunkers at each end. These ice bunkers 10,400 pounds of chunk ice or 11,500 lbs. of crushed ice. In the winter, charcoal heaters could be placed in the bunkers to keep the cargo from freezing. Fans are located in the floor at each end to circulate air and keep the temperature even throughout the car. Typical cargo would be fresh fruit, vegetables, or eggs. The car was owned by Union Refrigerator Transit Lines but leased to the Milwaukee Road, which is why that railroad's herald is on the sides of the car. This specific car's real-world counterpart was donated to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis by General American Transportation Corporation in 1975. The LEGO version of the reefer car is my own design, and the doors actually open on this one! American Car and Foundry 70 ton two compartment covered hopper Built in 1960 by American Car and Foundry, this two compartment 70-ton capacity steel covered hopper was used to carry bulk items which needed protection from the elements. Cement, grain, dry chemicals, and plastic pellets are examples of typical cargo. This car's real-world counterpart was donated to the Museum of Transportation (in St. Louis, MO) in 1993 by ACF Industries. The Lego MOC version was shortened and modified from instructions for a very similar version inspired by one built by Pullman Standard rather than ACF. I found those instructions on this very cool site here. Union Tank Line triple dome railroad tank car Built by Union Tank Line in 1936, this triple dome tank car (UTLX 3882) was typical of most built until the late 1960's. Each dome is the entry and fill point for a separate compartment which is emptied at the bottom. All three compartments were equipped with steam heating pipes to enable the car to haul thick liquids needing to be heated to flow easily, such as tar. Donated in 1983 to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri by the Union Tank Car Company. Van Dyke frameless railroad tanker This Van Dyke patent frameless tanker (UTLX 14387) was built by the Union Tank Car Company in 1910. The 6,500 gallon petroleum car is an early attempt to build a tank car without a full-length underframe. Short frames at either end attached the tank to the wheels and couplers. The tank itself was constructed of heavy steel plate in order to absorb the movement of the train. The stress caused by this movement cause the tank to flex, loosening the rivets and causing the contents to leak. This problematic design was eliminated by welded seams on modern tank cars. The real car this MOC is based on was donated in 1952 to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri by the Union Tank Car Company. Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-8-2 steam loco 551 Here we see my LEGO model of a real-world steam locomotive, Chicago and Illinois Midland 551. Here is the info on that real engine: This 2-8-2 USRA light Mikado-type locomotive (number 551) was built in 1928 for the Chicago and Illinois Midland (C&IM) to haul freight. This most likely was coal most of the time, as the railroad was owned by Commonwealth Edison power company to get coal from it's southern Illinois mines to it's power plants nearer to Chicago. This loco is the last surviving steamer of that railroad, and it has resided at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri since 1955. The rear of the loco. Inside the cab. Sorry this one is such a crappy pic, there was a crowd of children coming and I was trying to keep them out of the shot. This train constitutes my last Museum trains for a bit.... I've almost run out of things I want to build from there and am trying to pace myself. Thoughts? -
I remember when the original BNSF Lego set 10133 was delivered back in 2004 to my dad's house. (for him - not me, sadly!) That set, along with the complete Super Chief he already owned from two years prior, got me even more psyched for LEGO trains. Granted, I couldn't afford the set at the time, but now I'm 20 years older and have money - yet still can't afford it! Thus, I decided one day late in March to redesign the 9v Train set 10133 - Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) GP-38 Locomotive into the modern black / yellow / orange color scheme. It turned out nice in LDD, but then I decided to make something else from it's basic shape. I looked around, and saw an high-hood ex-CB&Q SD24 repainted into the Burlington Northern cascade green / black paint and fell in love. This MOC is the result of that love. Burlington Northern SD24 No. 6240 pulling a BN wide-vision caboose. The front end of the diesel loco, with the high short hood. The real BN loco number 6240 was scrapped long ago, but it lives on in my MOC. The rear end of the locomotive. I'm missing the trio of 'torpedo tubes' (air reservoir tanks) up on the roof, and I'm not sure if this bulge on the left side was on the actual SD24 locomotives.... but beyond that, it looks pretty accurate in my eyes. The cab roof comes off to place an engineer fig at the controls. The three-axle truck with the floating middle section is mostly my own design. I based it a bit off a much longer version seen in the Alco MRS-1 sold by Anthony Sava. Built in 1969, this Burlington Northern caboose was the home away from home for the train's conductor and brakemen. This specific sub-type of Caboose is called a wide-vision caboose, which was a type that became prominent after World War II when taller than usual freight cars became common. The new extra-wide cupola allowed the crew to see around these obstacles, but the life of the car was rather short, having last been last used in the 1980s when it was donated to my local train museum. You can find the real-world version of this specific caboose at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. (You'll be seeing a LOT more freight cars from this museum some time soon, so stay tuned to Train Tech for when I post that thread!) The rear of the caboose. Thoughts?
