# Designing the Tammy Marie



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Seeing all of the great work on the site lately, I felt the need to scratch build something myself. I started thinking of a Special Multi-Purpose Car for my up and coming logging empire, the Leona Timber Company. Hence the birth of the Tammy Marie, named after my wife. So, beings I'm an engineer, and don't even wipe my rear without a blueprint, I started designing the car on my 3D cadd system. Thought it may be fun to share the design process with everyone. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

*History:* 
The Leona Timber Company was in need of a multi-purpose car to perform the task of many different cars in one combined package. So the shop went to work on a car that would travel up the line in the morning and back in the evening. The result is a long caboose, which will have provisions for freight delivery, mail and a small passenger compartment. I plan on my railroad running at least one passenger train daily, so the passengers in this car will mostly be loggers living off-site.

*Stay Tuned, I will post images Soon* 

I will post the link for now, am not having good luck with the picture editor tonight
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4541479859/http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...on/te/aff/8/aft/115409/postid/115409/<a href=


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

OK, got the pictures to work. Here is an overall view of what I am building. 










The front of the car contains the large "freight" area, behind that is a small postal area with partitions on both ends. Then comes the area for the conductor's desk and the coupola, followed up by a small passenger compartement. Most of the body components you see form the "core" of the car. They will be lasered from 1/8" plywood (probably) and will be veneered with scribed siding both inside and out. 

The car will feature a complete inteior, with a removable roof. 

Stay Tuned for regular updates. Once the design is complete, I will create a build log.


----------



## mhutson (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Chris, 
Looks like a good project. I am a recovering engineer myself and did a similar caboose project a couple of years ago, using AutoCAD drawings to have a waterjet company cut the parts from styrene. 

Good luck! 

Cheers, 
Mat Hutson 
near Gunnison, CO


----------



## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmmm...intriguing! I, too, will be following this thread closely!


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Well I have the frame of the car well underway. Here are a couple of quick pics. 



The blue lines on the underside of the car represent board scribe lines. After I made these images, I realized they were running the wrong way and have changed the direction on them. 

The car will run on a set of Bachmann passenger car trucks, with improvements made on the brake beam area. The Tammy Marie is nearly 40' in length, so trucks with a larger wheelbase were deemed neccessary. I am in the process of modeling these trucks up, and once they are complete and set in place, the frame will have it's final adjustments. 

Next update coming early next week. 

Chris


----------



## dana (Jan 7, 2008)

Ie A reversed drover caboose/sandy lake & ranges combine ?


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Yeah, basically what I'm thinking of.


----------



## R Snyder (May 12, 2009)

Looks good. I will look forward to seeing it in action.


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Quite a bit has been completed since my last update. Here are some quick pics for you guys. 

I have the trucks drawn up and installed into the underframe, then it was set to the required height. Also, Kadee 820 coupler boxes were made and added. Queenpost and truss rods are also installed. Still need to add the turnbuckles. There have also been some NBW castings added. 










Side and end panels were added to the exterior. Also, the interior panels were fitted to the baggage and postal compartments. Not sure if I will leave the inner siding horizontal or not. The baggage doors have been constructed and set into place. 










Here is a quick elevation view also. 










Next up is to finish up the inner and outer siding. 

Enjoy, 
Chris


----------



## degill2 (Jun 7, 2009)

dont Know if this idea is to late for the tammy marie but saw at the Cranberra (australia ) railway museum where there was a branchline combine/guardsvan and it had a door for cofins to enter and unload right be side the guards door . this would make the tammy marie stand out and make your guests think till you tell them what the purpose is for it


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

I accomplished a little today. The stance of the car has been bothering me for a while, and really started to work on me after I posted the images yesterday. So I started modifying the bolster and frame and lowered the car to a much better looking stance. 

The origional: 



The revised 



Much better looking in my opinion.


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Well it's been a while, so I need to update this as there have been a couple of major changes. Since I want a removable roof, I decided to attach the cupola to the roof and removed it from the body. I also decided that I didn't need a seperate postal compartment, so I removed the dividing wall and enlarged the freight and conductor's areas. I have added the tie-back boards to the walls of the freight compartement. The bare wall will contain a bench and sorting bins for the mail area. And yes, I know all about how rail postal service worked. But I figured for my logging railroad, the mailing address will be the main office, and the car will sort mail based on which camp an individual is in.


----------



## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

Greetings, 
Just a quick comment, I like the way the car is looking but the supports for the running boards / roof walks go on top of the roof. On a a real car they were install over the roofing system and set in tar so there would be no leaks. 

Andre


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Andre, 

Thanks for the comment. I made them this way because it is easier on construction. The roof sheeting will be notched to go around the roof walk mounts, and it will "appear" as though they are built on top of the roof. 

Chris


----------



## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

Chris,

That was not something I had thought about, with a laser cutter that would make sense. Trying to cut those by hand would have been impossible to get them accurate enough so you would not have any gaps.


I think though I would still have put them on top of the roof because when you cover the roof with what ever you are going to use to represent the canvas that was used on most of the real cars cut that material to fit around the supports still would be a pain in the (well you know where).

Andre


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Well I have the cupola area well along. The doors under the benches for closets and toilets are purely cosmetic as I had no real reason for them to work. 










I have also started the roof parts. I plan on using Jack Thompson's tar paper method for my roof. I will have to do some filing and sanding first of course. The cupola will come off with the roof section.


----------



## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice design. Since you are going into such level of detail on you drawing, now would be the time to check the clearnce of the wheels as the trucks swivel to go around the actual curves on your layout. Typically I've had to remove parts of trussrods, beams and even coupler boxes to get my models to go around the typically sharper curves we put on our garden railroads. 

In most caboose models I have seen at contests, the roof comes off in one piece with all of the roof structure. This would have an advantage when viewing or working on the interior. Often the end ladders need to be designed also for the removal process. Just something you might want to think about in the design process. 

I look forward to to watching your building and design. 

Terl


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Terl, 

I have checked my truck clearance and can make quite a bit more swivel than what I will need, wanted to make sure I didn't do all of that work and end up with a shelf model. I plan on my entire roof structure coming off to fully access the interior, don't know if it will be contest grade or not though. 

Chris


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Well it has been a few days since I have posted anything. The interior is pretty much in the same condition that is shown above, I still need to finish the passenger area. I'm thinking this may simply consist of a couple of long benches, although I may go with full blown coach seats, haven't made that decision yet. 

So, I have all of the windows and exterior doors installed. The windows are non-functioning. I am considering changing them up to appear as a few have been opened. Also, quite a bit of the window trim is done. 



















I have also established the main sections of the roofwalk. 










I am getting ready to start collecting the wood for the car, should be getting all of that about the time I am done with the main wood parts. 

One think I may change is the trucks. I was going to start modifying the Bachmann trucks, but the ones I have here are twisted really bad in the sideframes. I can take the twist out of them, but has made me re-think it. 

Later, 
Chris


----------



## R Snyder (May 12, 2009)

It's looking good, Chris.


----------

