Getting Real Column - 10
no longer available except by private sale, but I was lucky
enough to pick up two of them for my fleet. For one of these
completed models, see (27).
Class R-30/40-24.
This is a particularly interesting rebuild
class, not only for its size (more than 2500 cars) but for its ap-
pearance. It was the only PFE rebuild class to receive Improved
Dreadnaught ends, with narrow intermediate ribs between the
large ribs, and initially the cars received plywood side sheath-
ing when being rebuilt.
28: PFE 67412 is being picked up from the ice deck by
Consolidation 2829, with the Shumala yard office behind
the engine. My stand-in model of a plywood-sheathed
Class R-40-24 car is modified from an Athearn kit, by the
simple expedient of slicing off the side rivets and door
hinges, replacing the latter with Grandt Line part 5168
hinges, adding a Precision Scale brass washout plug as
a fan shaft, and replacing grab irons, ice hatch hardware,
and running board (with etched metal grid). The original’s
tabbed side sill was also removed, and Detail Associates
stirrup steps were applied. This is the 1949 paint scheme,
with most side hardware orange, but still with color UP
medallions. For those preferring a more accurate car body,
a Sunshine resin kit has been produced for this class.
28
Over time, the plywood choice proved a poor one, as water got
inside the sheathing and caused it to delaminate, warp, and
curl. Within a few years, shops were directed to re-sheath any
-24 car with such symptoms with tried-and-true tongue-and-
groove (T&G) sheathing, and photos show that many cars were
in fact so reworked. But the plywood did survive on some cars
into the middle and even late 1950s. So 1950s modelers can
choose to have both plywood and T&G versions of this class if
they wish.
I have modeled the -24 cars both ways. The plywood version
can be modeled, at least as a stand-in car, by simply sanding
off the rivets on an Athearn steel reefer or other car with Im-
proved Dreadnaught ends, and replacing the door hinges with
the long-strap type used on wood car sheathing.
The model I show (28) is of that kind, and is otherwise pretty
much the Athearn body with appropriate re-detailing. The At-
hearn underframe, however, has essentially no relation to an
actual R-40-24 underbody. A much more accurate version is
quite possible, because there has also been a Sunshine resin kit
for the plywood cars.
The T&G version is also easily created, at least as a stand-in,
with the Athearn wood-side reefer. It has the correct door hing-
es, and needs only to have the sheathing retainer strip along
“The Athearn wood-side reefer ... has the cor-
rect door hinges, and needs only to have the
sheathing retainer strip along the bottom of
the car side removed ...”
MRH-Oct 2013
