I'm in the process of building 5 Central Vermont vans,(yes vans. CV is/was part of the CNR system and they're called vans up here in Canuckistan).
The client supplied a good number of photos for me to work from to help with details and weathering patterns. One of the vans is this short USRA style van.
You will note that this end of the van has no brake wheel. Abnormal for most vans/cabooses. We checked and there's a builders photo of this van and it clearly shows no brake wheel on this end.
This will slightly simplify the brake rigging by eliminating the 3rd brake lever common on caboose/van brake rigging.
This F&C kit provided another challenge early on. The kit was originally designed to represent the USRA cabooses used by the Ulster & Delaware and the NYC. Those cars had cast iron stirrups rather than the steps as shown on the CV car.
As this photo shows, using the bolster location would restrict the truck swing thus generating a static model.
Not the point of the exercise.
So I relocated the truck screw holes after filling in the space between the centre sills with some styrene.
From there I could finish the brake rigging and get ready for the really challenging aspect of this job. The end railings and ladders. That blog will come later.
This is what the finished underframe looks like.
Compare the preceding image to this next one and you can see the difference that having only one hand brake makes to the brake rigging.
And this is what 5 vans under construction looks like. Tomorrow the steps and railings get started on the 4 long vans.
And no, I won't forget the cupolas.
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