This weekends find -Easter edition

[Hauk]

If the Covid lockdown was not enough,  the easter holiday is an lockdown in itself here in Norway. Traditionally, easter means that all shops, restaurants  and cafes shuts down for almost an entire week.
There are several slow days that are well suited for almost nothing else than field trips if the weather allows, or long stints in the workshops if it does not.

This year the weather forecast predicted that easter sunday was  to be the only day to fall into the first category.
So me and my partner in crime (It must be admitted that some light trespassing occured) Henning loaded up the station wagon with cameras and calories and set out for a day on our favourite railroad, The Thamshavn Railroad.

We did not really expect to make some new finds, as we have walked along almost the entire line.
But at an siding I discovered a freight car that should have ringed some bells a long time ago.

Not a very exciting car in itself, but the trucks looked familiar.  The TB had some rather special ore wagons that had trucks instead of the much more common two axle variants. (early freight cars in Europe were almost exclusively of two axle designs). And checking the images of the wagons, it confirmed that the trucks are indeed the original ore car trucks. But what about the frame? Could the fishbelly beam be from the original car? I had just presumed that only the trucks had been preserved, but a quick exchange of messages on the right FB-group revealed that the whole underframe was from the ore cars.  So  now I have at least as much information on these fascinating cars as I had on the wooden ore wagons (described in another rather long thread here on the forum.).  But will I ever get around to build models of the car? Only time will show!

[Lawton Maner]

Arch Bar trucks with spoked wheels, very interesting!  do you have a picture of the rusty car in the background to share? 

[Hauk]

Arch Bar trucks with spoked wheels, very interesting!  do you have a picture of the rusty car in the background to share? 

Yep, I have a few!
The two-axle ore cars were the standard on the TB. They were delivered in 1917 and kept in service until the closure of the railroad in 1974.
Unfortunately, they have been stored outdoors since then, and the have detoriated into a state that is probably beyond restoration.

As sad this is, they still have a certain beauty in their state of disintergration. A tent were recently erected over most of the wagon in an attempt to halt the decay, but i feel this is too little too late. 
But as a photo backdrop it works quite well. It looks almost like a forensic scene, bodies rotting away due to some horrible crime...

[finescalerr]

If you modeled exactly what we see in that photo you could sell it as art. -- Russ

[Hauk]

If you modeled exactly what we see in that photo you could sell it as art. -- Russ

If I ever get around to make a kit for the wagon, it would be nice to try and build an abandoned version. Would make an excellent diorama!

[Lawton Maner]

Very much like the hoppers which still sit all over the East Broad Top today.  The remains of the coal which was carried in them had the sulfur leached out over the years by rain and snow.  It turned into acid and now many of the cars are little but the castings which were part of them.  Coupled with the theft on the journal bearings from most of them over the years there is little the new owners can do with them.

[Hauk]

Very much like the hoppers which still sit all over the East Broad Top today.  The remains of the coal which was carried in them had the sulfur leached out over the years by rain and snow.  It turned into acid and now many of the cars are little but the castings which were part of them.  Coupled with the theft on the journal bearings from most of them over the years there is little the new owners can do with them.

Those poor wagons on the TB carried pure sulphur ore, so that probably played a part in the rusting. Most of the wagons are way beyond restoration. Even on the  wagon that was restored around 20 years ago rust has started to lift the new paint.

Documenting all the material in pictures, drawings and models is therefore in reality much more than a hobby .

[Ray Dunakin]

Great stuff!