NP Heavyweight (1500 series) Baggage Car Help

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

I am in need of forum help yet again for for passenger train project. I have been looking at various pictures of the 1500 series baggage cars and can’t figure out which end the brake wheel should be on. I also am unable to figure out the proper kind of brake wheel for that as well. (I have seen plain six spoke wheels [which I haven’t been able to find an HO example of] and at least one other kind [which I have found an HO example of].)

Any assistance the forums can be provided would be most welcomed.

2

I do not have any reference material at hand for NP cars but a simple rule for brake wheels is that the handbrake gear goes on the “B” end of the car and that is the end that the brake piston “points” to.

In other words, the hand brake gear pulls in the direction of the brake piston.

There are variables, of course, but this is a basic rule-of-thumb.

Good Luck, Ed

3

NP 1500-1515 had brake wheels at BOTH ends.

I think Precision Scale’s HO-31117 (brass) or HO-31118 (plastic) would be the best choice.

Ed

4

EUREKA!!! That answers that question. Now it’s just a matter of finding somewhere where I can get those parts from. I am in a desert when it comes to an LHS. I have sent an email to my closest dealer for PSC items.

5

You can order direct from PSC. I think there’s a minimum, maybe $35. But when you look through the catalog, it’s pretty easy to “fill out an order”.

I found a lack of enthusiam when I tried ordering PSC parts through regular channels.

Ed

6

There’s always Walthers…although it appears a lot of brake wheels aren’t currently in stock.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Part&scale=H&manu=precision+scale&item=&keywords=brake+wheel&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search

7

I needed the six spoke brake wheel (with straight spokes) for an HO Wabash heavyweight combine I built a few years ago and could not find them, including PSC, IIRC. I purchased a number of flat brass etchings form this source: http://www.modeletch.com/products.html

as part No. ME47. Even though it is flat, it was the only game in town and it looked fine, IMO. (You can bend the spokes inward to give it more of a three-dimensional shape.) The parts were sent promptly in a small envelope from Australia.

I would post photos here, but the photo editor insert here won’t work for me now. It was there a few minutes ago! Incidentally, a conductor friend told me that the combine had the brake wheel on the baggage end and a rachet handle on the vestibule end of which both I modeled.

Victor A. Baird

Fort Wayne, Indiana

8

I have thought handbrakes on the vestibule ends of passenger cars are always inside the vestibule. Are you saying it was mounted externally on this car? If so, what’s the car number(s)?

Ed

9

The hand brake (a lever) was inside the vestibule, against the end wall. The car number was Wabash 596. In contrast, on the outside of the car on the baggage end, there was a standard brake wheel.

Victor A. Baird

Fort Wayne, Indiana