Your asking yourself…Whats a Kress carrier ? A huge machine used to carry molten steel ,is the basic answer. My first kress model ended in the scrap heap ,so went back to the drawing board.
I started this project off with a HO scale norscot scraper and two 1/64 front end loader frontends. So far…it looks to be a kress carrier ,but not like a real one as of yet. Seeing my son is 13 now ,theres no toys laying around to use ,so had to buy toys off the shelf.
I started by cutting off the scraper power unit ,where the four way yoke is located. After cutting away the power unit ,I needed to find a way to join the power unit and the ladle carriering part. I got out the trusty Dremel and ground down the pan arm ,then I slipped on two peices of bic pens to act as recievrer arms for ladle carrier. The ladle carrier is the hardest part,having to be mostly kit-bash from scratch.
Glued all the pieces together and waited for them to dry. The only thing left to do is the upper super structure ,used to lift the scaled 125 ton load. I’ll post pictures of working model when completed. Kress carriers are painted orange from the factory …so I guess mine will be painted the same.
Although I still have lots of work left to do ,on this model. If my wife will let me work in peace tonight , i’ll most likely finnish it and paint tomorrow. This machine has even larger sister’s running amuck ,including a steel slab carrier and slag pot carrier.
Depending on if this carrier works out the way I think it will ,I’ll build the other two and add them to the fleet.
Last year , a fellow from the UK {Andy Park} caught my
attention ,with his 1/87 scale kress carrier.
So not to be left out ,I thought I’d give it a try. My kress carrier
is more imagineered than Andys ,but never the less still a hot metal
carrier.Sunday ,I should be putting the finnishing touches on it and
ready for paint.This project ,wasn’t as hard as I once
thought…very easy indeed.
In my last post , I started off with a HO scale Norscot scraper and
two 1/64 john deere loader front-ends.As I progressed ,it all seem
to come together.
Now ,tomorrow if I can figure out how to attach the lifting arms
to the carrier body…I’ll be in the clear.
Will posted finnished photos when completed…or as soon as
possible.
Very nicely done model. The steel plant where I worked also uses Kress carriers for slag pots. Theirs are painted orange. They later bought more, 135 tonners, I believe, for carrying slabs. These were painted, believe it or not, white. While they are impressive machines, their arrival spelled the near demise of an extensive in-plant rail system, reputed to be, at one time, Canada’s third largest rail system. I’m not sure if this was in total trackage, or in number of locomotives. Another interesting loss was the cars that had been used to carry slabs prior to the Kress carriers’ arrival. These were built from the tenders of steam locomotives, including some from the NKP Berkshires. The bodies were completely removed, along with all of the brake gear. The six-wheel trucks were retained, and any with friction bearings eventually got roller bearings. The cast frames got new ends and fishbelly side plates of 1"steel, similat to an older style flatcar. These were bolted on, along with new steps and grabirons. The deck was fitted with vertical risers, about 18" - 24" high, space at 2 foot intervals cross-wise from both ends of the car, with the middle 10’ or 12’ left empty. These were made from 2" steel plate. Finally, 6" to 8" of crushed stone was spread over the entire top of the car. With all that additional weight, the cars were rated to carry 160 tons of slabs.
Now, I’ll need to spend more time at the Kress booth in Cleveland on Tuesday & Wednesday at the Steel Convention (AISTech)
There are also competing companies from Europe, Russia, China, and Japan and/or Korea.
As for the steel mill, that sounds a lot like DOFASCO… Although there are a couple of other big integrated mills in the vicinity of Toronto - Hamilton - Missisauga
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