# Shortening an Accucraft J&S Coach – EBT Baggage/Express #29



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

You may recall the Full Baggage car that I completed a few months ago. 












_The thread is _*Did someone ask for a Full Baggage/Express Car ?*

That was a trial run for an accurate model of the East Broad Top’s #29, a Baggage/Express Car.













The EBT RR bought and ran it in green coach paint for a while, but as the mail and express traffic declined, plus they bought a few combines, it was put in MOW service and painted as a freight car.















_[After being spruced up for sale to the Northwoods RR, which fell through, it ended up abandoned in CO, from where the Friends of the East Broad Top bought it and trucked it home. It is now in storage back at EBT waiting its turn in the restoration queue. Details and more photos here: *Bring Us Home - EBT #18 and #29 ]*_
Alan at G.A.L. (*Great American Locomotion*) set up the kit so it has scribed siding on one side of the side pieces and blank on the other, plus he cut battens for the sides, so you can use either side to produce either type of coach. 










The ends had different doors and battens, so I had to cover the siding and add the battens after cutting the windows. (This photo includes the pics I was working from - the lower one is the car stored at the EBT.)











The other difference is the 2-panel door. Using only 2 panels of the 4-panel door makes the sides the correct length of 36’ 2”. That would mean cutting the roof and frame, so I resolved to try it – nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?












It turned out to be ridiculously easy to trim the frame. After disassembly, I discovered the truss rod beams are just glued on and will snap off without much effort. The interior frame ‘beams’ are actually U-channel shaped, so after cutting, you can glue it back together with a reinforcing strip of plastic inside the U. (GAL’s 2mm styrene is a perfect width.) I staggered the joints in order to make the result a little stronger. I also threw away the heavy metal floor (as I usually do) and made a new one of aluminum with holes for the truck pivots in the right place. [Incidentally, that’s the main function of the floor – holding the truck pivot screws – but you can easily do without it and just bolt them through the frame, as I did on my first conversion.]

I also staggered the roof cuts using my small table saw, and glued it back together. (1/2” dowel is useful for filling the stove chimney holes.)



















(That's a thin plywood floor with planks drawn with a pencil inside the car. I didn't want someone looking through the window to see the track as my aluminum floor wasn't full-size. Next time I'll make the floor the full size.) 

Here's the shortened car next to combine #16 with the lines showing the difference. In fact, Combine 16 should be 37' long, but the Accucraft car is almost 39', so #16 is stretched a bit. The difference is hardly noticeable, so I really wonder why I bothered to shorten #29!











Of course, you then have to re-cover the roof to hide the joints and all the vents you removed. Either masking tape (Jack's method) or aluminum duct tape (Mr K's) work fine.
Another interesting feature of this car is the leaning clerestory coverings, so as GAL cut me new strips with larger windows, I chiseled out the top of the old window and added a thin strip of styrene to the bottom:










The clerestory strips were sprayed and the screening in the windows (if that’s what it is) was simulated with ladies black sock material (per Mr K.) A strip of black cardboard had the sock stretched and glued (hence the pins) then trimmed to size.











The other roof modification was to make it removable after I glued the sides to the frame. I cut the top off the ends, glued a thick piece of styrene behind and drilled it for screws. During assembly I glued the top of the ends into the roof and reinforced it with more scrap. You can lift the coach by the roof.










(This shows the new end door after the first coat of primer. The mess is from drilling for the grab rails.)



Another little detail was the truss rod beams, which on #29 are quite shallow – it hasn’t sagged enough to need queen posts – yet. They have rounded ends and truss rod pads (I used Ozark Miniatures version.) 











The doors on #29 have big 1/4 round frames, so I cut some Plastruct half-round down the center on my saw, and built them up after mounting the doors 3mm behind the sides. The grabs and steps are brass wire and strip. The end steps have 3 treads, so I had to cut the old ones apart and make up new steps. Gold freight decals came from Kevin, Mr East Broad Top (thanks!) On this next pic you can see the lean on the clerestory, which came out exactly as planned. 











And that’s it. It is going to get a bit darker/dirtier weathering and some rusty-brown sludge on the trucks before it makes its debut this weekend at the Scranton Meet.


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## David Buckingham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Pete 

Superb piece of work 

Inspiration and tips for the rest of us 

Dave


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## Big65Dude (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree - great work, Pete.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Excellent workmanship.....as usual!


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

I love it. 
It's just great to see this kind of work and what an inspiration for all of us to get moving on our pet projects sitting on the shelf.
I think we sometimes think we are just building a model of our favorite piece of rolling stock, but really we are truly preserving history, albeit in miniature.
Great work, thanks for posting.
Cheers.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Another fine piece of modeling Pete. It's really nice to have someone available to create custom laser-cut parts.

I'll look forward to seeing it at the ECLSTS.

Doc


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Peter, 

Thats excellent - thank you for putting it together, with the much appreciated photos which make it even better!


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

That sure looks nice, Pete. 

Get it painted and detailed and it will be even more outstanding..


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## R Snyder (May 12, 2009)

Thanks for posting, Pete. Really nice work.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Get it painted and detailed and it will be even more outstanding 
Stan,









I'm not sure if that is dry (english) humor or what.. 

Anyway, the sun is still shining so I took it all back outside and shot another couple of pics.










It's a little dirtier, but not much. Maybe I should add some more black . .


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Looks great! You've inspired me to get back to work on my passenger cars! I'm starting with #13 (of which no photos exist), but is assumed to be similar to #12, a 14-window board-and-batten coach that came from the same railroad. In this case, it will be a 12-window board and batten coach because I don't feel like cutting a 13th window next to the stove or lengthening it. Then I'll finally finish the interiors on nos. 3 and 20. 

You got a photo of the wood form you used to straighten the ends of the roof? 

Later, 

K


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Pete--you have really been busy in the shop. At this rate, you should have a pretty complete EBT passenger roster pretty soon. It is great that GAL is so interested in working with you to bring out these kits and detail parts. 

I will not be able to make the Scranton Steamup this weekend, but hope to run at the Ridge Live Steamers winter meet next weekend, on our way down to the Keys. Plan to stop at the Tradewinds & Atlantic track on our way back. Please give my regards to the crew at Scranton. 

Larry PS--a friend of mine, Walt Stolt, plans to be at Scranton on Saturday. He will be running some of his fleet of scratch-built, sterno-fueled, logging engines. You can't miss them.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

fleet of scratch-built, sterno-fueled, logging engines. You can't miss them. 
Larry, if I was there on Saturday I'm sure I wouldn't miss them, but I'm driving up on Saturday, playing trains on Sunday, and returning Monday. There's only so much Pococno snow that the wife will tolerate! 

Email me and let me know when you'll be at TARR. I'm a member now. . .


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

You got a photo of the wood form you used to straighten the ends of the roof? 
I knew someone would ask, so I took a photo last year. It's a bit of 1x2 soft pine with a curve. The cut-out top left is to clear the chimney base, I think, or something similar. I since added a piece to support the clerestory as one of them sagged a little! 











Here it is in use on the kitchen counter. Note it is a little deeper than the roof which doesn't quite sit on the counter. 











_For anyone who was wondering what this is all about - the Accucraft roof has a pronounced curve downwards at the end corners (see above.) I've been straightening them - flattening the ends as you can see on the cars in this thread - by warming the end in a toaster oven and then pressing it flat using the wooden form. Their plastic gets soft at fairly low temeratures. My pal Geoff reckons it is easier to carve off the trim under the roof - I'm sure he's right, but then you have to make a new trim and put it back!_


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## CapeCodSteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks great Peter


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## alecescolme (Dec 20, 2010)

Great work there Pete! Looks nothing like with what you started with. 

Alec.


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