East Broad Top "Dolly Varden" car

Garden Railroading
1

In addition to my hopper car project

( http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/974659/ShowPost.aspx ) I’ve managed to get one more languishing project off my workbench. It’s a model of one of the East Broad Top RR’s “Dolly Varden” cars. These cars were used to haul hemlock bark to the local tanneries. They were also routinely pressed into excursion service. Their resemblance to “modern” open excursion cars cannot be missed.

Add a bench down either side of the car, and voila! Instant passenger
excursion car. (The EBT revived this idea when starting its tourist
operations, but with a bench down the middle looking out, instead of
two down the sides looking in.

For more on the Dolly Varden’s construction:
http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=43205
(again, finished photos on page 2)

Later,

K

2

Kevin;
Again I have to say NICE JOB!
I’ve been looking for something along this line of thought for the “tourist train” to the top of Rosebud Falls. The bridgework is mostly cut and ready to start construction in earnest come mid January. Think I’ll take your Dolly Varden and shorten it up to 2/3 the length for my excursion service. Thanks much for the idea. BTW, “da BOSS” (aka wife) just approved of the plan, so I guess I’m forced to make them ASAP. She just told me I had to name one of the cars in your name!

3

great job! I need to paint a boxcar that color; what type of paint and color is it?

4

Kevin,

I’m currently part the way through building one of these type of cars in HO gauge and I’ve got a few questions for you:

  1. What is the colour your cars are painted in? And did they get painted in any other colours?

  2. How did you mount the trucks onto the base?

and 3) What class of locos pulled these cars?

Thanks,

Ian

This is where I’m up to:

5

Ian, (And Dave–sorry I forgot to answer)

  1. The color is ruddy brown primer from “American Traditions,” which is made by Valspar. Don’t know what the equivalent brand would be across the pond, but any generic brown primer would be close. On the EBT, the wood freight cars were all painted this color. I’m sure colors varied on other railroads, but typically they tended to be in the brown, red, or green hues.

  2. The trucks are mounted using 3/4" flat-head wood screws. I use these because the conical shape of the underside of the head makes the trucks self-center onto the screw.

  3. While the prototype for this car was built c. 1900, cars of this style date from the mid 1870s and lasted into the 1930s. As such, they’d likely be pulled by almost any class of loco. On the EBT, the usual suspects would have been the 2-8-0s, 4-6-0s, or after 1912, the 2-8-2s.

Hope that helps.

Later,

K

6

Thanks for the info, a great help it will be.

Ian

7

I’ve finally finished my representation of the Dolly Varden car in HO gauge, and being my first scratch built car I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s turned out.

The roof is removable to allow loads to be added at a later date.

(I’m now planning more cars of the same contsruction method, now I know how easy they are to assemble).

Ian

8

Looks good! A string of those will look great!

Later,

K