JT Batchelder
CV Coach-Smoker
Modeling small railroads can often be a challenge. What source materials are available, are there pieces of surviving equipment? Are there former employees to contact? The Central Vermont Railway Historical Society (CVRHS) is a fantastic resource. Started by Marty McGuirk, who has had multiple HO and N scale models of the CV, the CVRHS publishes quarterly magazines that cover operations, equipment and have excellent photographs to draw from. They also available on their website a book of principle diagrams and dimensions for locomotives from the turn of the century up to the GP9s that saw steam off the line. Rolling stock on the other hand is tricky.
Being a small road primarily existing as a bridge line, the CV operated most of its passenger trains jointly, and thus did not invest heavily in its own passenger fleet. By 1950, they only had five coaches when compared with dozens of head end cars and miscellaneous equipment. I have selected eight cars to model, seven of which have been published four of those being identical coaches. But where to find information? CV 41 was relatively easy. The car was purchased from the Pennsy and knowing the class it was under PRR ownership was easy enough to find the original schematics and modify the externals, doors, color, roof, etc.
The plain coaches were another problem. Originally, I took some poetic license - I used a schematic from a similar truss rod MEC coach and the interior shots of a "Canadian Flyer" coach to extrapolate what I thought the interior looked like. A few months ago while researching Canadian passenger equipment, I had an idea. I knew that CV 387, a coach-smoker, was steel plated and sold to the CN in 1940. I knew the number the CN gave it, so I simply searched that number in an online database and sure enough found several drawings of the car, one right after purchase from the CV and the rest from later in life when the car entered work service. I then had a basis to draw from for what the coaches looked like internally.
The smoking compartment was not a simple patrician down the middle as I had thought, but a separate cabin on one side of the car. Other details, like the men's wash basin being located outside the lavatory and between it and the smoking section. The location of the door between the cabins was something else I hadn't anticipate, as well as the placement of the seats. Obviously there is some selective compression here. Fewer windows and lights than the real coaches had, fewer seats as well, but I think it's a reasonable approximation. Lights were a new addition, and boy was that way more difficult than I thought it would be. Generally when I change a design, I go back and update the digital design. This time I opted not to because of the difficulty in adding these lights. I also changed the interior doors. Originally I used Lego train doors since I have a good amount of them and no use for them, but I decided to adopt the BMR doors to have commonality across my rolling stock. Not sure if those were Glenn or Cale, but they're awesome either way.
All told, I think I'm ready to take proper photos of these cars and add them back to my album of complete rolling stock. Generally, I never consider anything complete - there's always something to go back and tinker with, but I now really enjoy these cars and the journey I took to get them to the state they are in.
CV Coach-Smoker
Modeling small railroads can often be a challenge. What source materials are available, are there pieces of surviving equipment? Are there former employees to contact? The Central Vermont Railway Historical Society (CVRHS) is a fantastic resource. Started by Marty McGuirk, who has had multiple HO and N scale models of the CV, the CVRHS publishes quarterly magazines that cover operations, equipment and have excellent photographs to draw from. They also available on their website a book of principle diagrams and dimensions for locomotives from the turn of the century up to the GP9s that saw steam off the line. Rolling stock on the other hand is tricky.
Being a small road primarily existing as a bridge line, the CV operated most of its passenger trains jointly, and thus did not invest heavily in its own passenger fleet. By 1950, they only had five coaches when compared with dozens of head end cars and miscellaneous equipment. I have selected eight cars to model, seven of which have been published four of those being identical coaches. But where to find information? CV 41 was relatively easy. The car was purchased from the Pennsy and knowing the class it was under PRR ownership was easy enough to find the original schematics and modify the externals, doors, color, roof, etc.
The plain coaches were another problem. Originally, I took some poetic license - I used a schematic from a similar truss rod MEC coach and the interior shots of a "Canadian Flyer" coach to extrapolate what I thought the interior looked like. A few months ago while researching Canadian passenger equipment, I had an idea. I knew that CV 387, a coach-smoker, was steel plated and sold to the CN in 1940. I knew the number the CN gave it, so I simply searched that number in an online database and sure enough found several drawings of the car, one right after purchase from the CV and the rest from later in life when the car entered work service. I then had a basis to draw from for what the coaches looked like internally.
The smoking compartment was not a simple patrician down the middle as I had thought, but a separate cabin on one side of the car. Other details, like the men's wash basin being located outside the lavatory and between it and the smoking section. The location of the door between the cabins was something else I hadn't anticipate, as well as the placement of the seats. Obviously there is some selective compression here. Fewer windows and lights than the real coaches had, fewer seats as well, but I think it's a reasonable approximation. Lights were a new addition, and boy was that way more difficult than I thought it would be. Generally when I change a design, I go back and update the digital design. This time I opted not to because of the difficulty in adding these lights. I also changed the interior doors. Originally I used Lego train doors since I have a good amount of them and no use for them, but I decided to adopt the BMR doors to have commonality across my rolling stock. Not sure if those were Glenn or Cale, but they're awesome either way.
All told, I think I'm ready to take proper photos of these cars and add them back to my album of complete rolling stock. Generally, I never consider anything complete - there's always something to go back and tinker with, but I now really enjoy these cars and the journey I took to get them to the state they are in.