STEP 10A: The Ends for the 76500 – 76999 Series
I was on a roll. Now it was onto the ends for the 76500-
76999 cars. I had cut the blank for the 76500-76599 cars
at the same time. However, there are differences beyond
the peaked roof. Taking a close look at the ribs, you can
see that they are tapered in towards the center as well as
down from the edge.
There is also a bracket for grab irons between the coupler
pocket and poling pockets, as well as a rivet strip between
the ribs. Also, the rivet strip is not centered in the car,
but appears to be about one-third of the way up. Finally I
would need to make brackets for the uncoupling lever and
the lower grab irons. These weren’t going to be as simple
as the others. Oh well, it was time to dive in.
These ends have a taper to match the roof line, with the
peak of the roof being 5” higher than the ends. The lay-
out and cutting the tapered roof was the only difference
between these blanks and those of the other ends.
46a
46a: I made some more
stock for the ribs, shaping
them as before. Once
I was satisfied with the
shape of the rib material,
it was off to the chopper
to cut the ribs to length.
So far so good; now to
the challenge: cutting the
tapers to the center.
