WABASH 39343
The Wabash rostered 400 war emergency hoppers, numbered 39000 to 39399. In the January 1958 ORER all of the railroad’s composite hopper cars were listed as having wood sides. In the January 1959 ORER, the remaining 398 cars on the roster were noted as having all steel components.
When Walthers released its war emergency hopper decorated for Wabash, I was happy to see that it had the correct hopper door locking mechanisms and Miner brake wheel.
However, I replaced the factory solid-bearing trucks with Accurail Andrews solid-bearing trucks. When the Wabash assembled the full-size hoppers at its shop in Decatur, Ill., it equipped the cars with Andrews U-section trucks that it had on hand.
I weathered my model to look like it would have in 1958, just before it was taken out of service for rebuilding with steel panels.
With the brackets in place, I added Hi-Tech Details rubber air hoses. After removing the parts from the sprue, I cut the shank to a long, pointed taper. Then I placed the shank into the brass casting and used tweezers to gently stretch it through. The shank returned to its normal shape, filling the hole without the need for adhesive. All of this can be seen in ❶, opposite page.
I used Tangent Scale Models uncoupling levers on the hoppers. First, I drilled no. 78 holes in the small panel below the ladder and secured the eyebolt from behind with CA.
Second, I fashioned a receiver block on the draft-gear box lid from .060" square styrene cut to a length of no more than .080". I attached the styrene to the cover directly behind the coupler with plastic solvent cement. Once the cement dried, I used a no. 75 bit to drill a hole in the front face of the block.
Finally, I threaded the pre-formed wire part through the eyebolt and pressed the end into the receiver block. Friction holds the part in place, so no adhesive is required. This gluefree assembly is handy should you ever need to work on the couplers ❷.
The addition of the fine detail parts drew unwanted attention to the oversized molded stirrup steps. I carefully removed the parts and smoothed the areas with a no. 11 hobby knife and 240 grit sandpaper.
I replaced the molded parts with Tichy Train Group double offset bottom mount stirrups ❸. I used a no. 75 bit to drill the holes for the mounting pins. I added a drop of CA to each pin before attaching the parts to the plastic body. The stirrups are molded in black engineering plastic, making them sturdy yet flexible once installed.