On30 Ore Car


Industrial Rails puts out an O27 ore car. While the trucks are huge, since it runs on O27 track, the car body is small. It really isn't a bad looking car, once you take the elephant feet off it. Measuring it shows it to be a perfect On30 sized car. It is 7' wide and 20' long. Seeing a challenge and a quick project I bought one and a pair of Bachmann freight trucks and a package of Kadee #5 HO couplers. The easiest part was getting rid of the trucks. That left a hole in the sloping end that would need to be plugged. A dowel was cut to about an inch long. That turned out to be a bit too big so I chucked it into my drill and turned it down till it fit the hole. Cutting it off to match the slope was quick and a groove cut to match the boards. I could have taken a little more time and made sure it matched, but I wasn't worried about it being perfect. My next chore was shaving the top of the bolster on the trucks making it level and lowering the car about 1/32nd of an inch. Strip styrene was cut and fitted to the end and the shim to lower the coupler enough to match the Bachmann cars I have. Now I'm getting ready to add some stirrup steps and a hand brake. The white plastic hasn't been painted yet, just incase some more shaving is needed or something else glued to the car.

The first picture shows the car with the Bachmann caboose.
The second picture shows the plug job on the inside.
The third picture shows the end view.
 
Greg,
Looks really good, O-27 is usually S-Scale running on three rail, which is also On30 size.
Thanks Harold
 
Ore Car out of production

John Weigel a dealer in On30 says the ore car is no longer in production. :mad:
Harold
 
Very Nice Greg, it reminded me of some old fairly close to abandoned wood double bay coal hoppers that were around this area when I moved here. They were around for a few years then reduced to scrap. Can't remember if I took any photos of them and if I did, I have no idea of where they would be. Funny the things that trigger one's memory.

Cheers Willis
 



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