Bob;
I liked your post on WP&Y Car Construction details. Very informative and lots of detail.
I work for the BNSF at Los Angeles, in the Communications Dept. but get around to all the different departments, everyone needs a phone or radio at some point. I am an active member of OERM and belong to the Friends of C&TS. Anyway I frequently talk with the Car Department personnel regarding questions on Museum cars. I also benefit from several folks at OERM with extensive experience in dealing with cars and locomotives at OERM and other museums. I do not consider myself an expert in car repair or design, but I do try gather as much information as possible, you never know when it may be useful.
I would like to offer a couple of suggestions.
BRAKES:
The Carmen I've talked to, clench their teeth when they hear 'ABDX Triple valve'. I know that among some trainmen it's commonly used term, but there is no such thing. I'm sure that you know the difference between a triple valve and the AB valve & variants, but for the benefit of the list readers , a triple valve (plain, H,K, L and other variants) is a different valve, and is not interchangeable with AB, or the valves that evolved from the AB. While cars with either type valve can be in the same train, it is not desirable to do so. An engine triple(almost always a steam engine, or very old electric or diesel) should not be confused with a car triple.
From several experts, cast iron brake shoes are more effective than composition shoes at low speeds, so I would expect that cast iron shoes would be used on the WP&Y. In the 1960's, an industrial shortline, Los Angeles Junction RR , tried comp shoes on their locomotives, and after a year or so went back to cast iron shoes. Because of the slow speed, many curves and general grit and dirt, the change to comp shoes wasn't justified. I don't know what they use now, but comp shoes are lower in price than cast iron, yet cast iron is still in use, mostly on shortlines and industrial/switching roads. BNSF still has a small stock of cast iron shoes. At the time that LAJ tried the comp shoes, WABCO offered a kit to convert cars or locomotives to comp shoes. They also had adapter brakeheads for the freight cars. The car shop folks at BNSF tell me that there are still a variety of thickness of shoes for different weights of cars and different types of service.
Converting a car brake design from a body mounted brake cylinder to truck mounted cylinders would be quite a task. I think I'd let the experts in the Air Brake field deal with that. When passenger cars started to get really heavy (in the 90ton range), levers and rods became impossible to deal with. Also the extreme stresses developed, that body mounted cylinders were just not practical. Body mounted cylinders are fine for light cars, unless the car is a wood frame type.
COUPLERS:
I'm glad some others have already mentioned the 3/4 size couplers the WP&Y uses. After talking with both the WP&Y and ABC-NACO about getting a new pair of 3/4 size couplers for OERM 3foot gauge cars, I arranged to get a pair from WP&Y. We've not received them yet, but the drawings I got from NACO sure indicate a 3/4 size. Also the type of steel was mentioned, the WP&Y couplers are made from the highest strength of steel for any couplers. This make sense, since they are for passenger cars. You don't want a break-in-two on a passenger train these days!
I do think the less wood/more steel the better both from a safety standpoint and maintenance. However that has to be balanced with initial cost and looks, you sure don't want a Amfleet car on Cumbres. I've heard some comments (in yr 2000) from several of the folks at the Friends work session on the present C&TS passenger cars. The last two cars built, had many cracked windows. The windows were difficult to repair. Because of the way the interior wall sheets were fastened, you had to remove the seats to get the wall sheets off, to get the windows out and repair frames or replace glass. Think Hamilton's smart enough not to make the same mistake.
The roof sounds like a real 'sheet metal artist' is at work. I'd be interested in seeing that. Another outfit in the Seattle area, building a replica wood trolley car, is using steel plate, a wood carlin with a channel cut to fit the steel, surrounds it. In this case the roof carlins are exposed, so you want a wood appearance. The steel is not very thick, still it does make for heavy roof. Tube sounds much better, if you have the machines to bend it properly.
Liked all your comments on the seats, potties, heaters etc. , those are the things that railfans take for granted, really don't see or hear much of it.
Regards, Bill Barbour
