ACL Stock Car

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I was looking through the Gregg "Train Shed Cyclopedia, No. 17" today and saw a picture of an ACL stock car manufactured by ACF (page 156). Searching some of the on-line catalogs of various manufacturers showed the Athearn 40' Stock Car to be a close match.(??) The Accurail 4700 series was also close, but not as close. It had the vertical brake staff and fishbelly underframe.

Questions: Will the Athearn car work for the ACL? What is the best thing to do with the "bear claws" on the Athearn door? Is there a decal set out there somewhere or is this a CPA (cut, paste & assemble) job?

Thanks

Craig Strickland

-- Craig Strickloand (cstrick@coastalnet.com), September 09, 2001

Answers

I don't have any reference materials in front of me but I believe the referenced photo is for one of the ACL's early cars which was built in the teens and had a length of approximately 36 feet. Building the car from scratch would probably result in a more accurate model and be easier than an attempting a kitbash from any of the models mentioned in your question.

If you are attempting to model the larger (@40 ft long) ACL stock car that was built in the early 40's, then your best bet would be to start with the Walther's (ex-Train Miniture) stock car with dreadnaught ends. The model is pretty close to the prototype ACL car and only minimal modifications and upgrades should be required to capture the feel of the prototype. Good luck.

-- Buddy Hill (palmettoLTD@hotmail.com), September 10, 2001.


No comparison between the two models, Craig. Choose the Accurail kit and rebuild the underframe and delete the K brake staff and replace with an Ajax AB along with the underbody stuff (I'm sure this is all available through Detail Assoc. or somebody in HO.) Anyway, on the Accurail kit; what you are seeing is probably the "as built" USRA type stuff and I KNOW you the kind of modeler who is up to the challenge of kitbashing ! :)

-- Buck Dean (bdean@jngray.com), September 10, 2001.

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