CONX 10-11

[Keith Hayes]

I have been searching for another tank car and Jim spied a model of CONX 10-11 at Jim Wing's shop at the Denver NNGC, and I negotiated the purchase. I also picked up a model of coach 74-75-76.

With the long weekend ahead, I am cleaning both models in anticipation to a trip to the paint shop. They first get a bath in lacquer thinner,

then a soak in the ultrasonic cleaner.

In between, I work on more Phase I coals.

[Jim Courtney]

I've never seen a photo of CONX 10, but there are two photos of CONX 11 that I know of, both in the Dorman collection:

https://ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com/image?&_bqG=11&_bqH=eJwrc8_1MfGrKDWycC_NNkjLzHNJDUz0dPEpcvO1MrK0MjK1MjQAAivPeJdgZ1tnf78INTAz3tHPxbYEyA4Ndg2K93SxDQUpczZzzXJJqQjPzkxWi3d0DrEtTk0sSs4AAAVmHns-&GI_ID=




https://ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com/image?&_bqG=7&_bqH=eJwrc8_1MfGrKDWycC_NNkjLzHNJDUz0dPEpcvO1MrK0MjK1MjQAAivPeJdgZ1tnf78INTAz3tHPxbYEyA4Ndg2K93SxDQUpczZzzXJJqQjPzkxWi3d0DrEtTk0sSs4AAAVmHns-&GI_ID=




The addition of the dome platforms and ladders seems a late event, perhaps 1939-1940.

I don't believe that these cars ever recieved the large "CONOCO" lettering.

Anyone have a photo of CONX 10??

[Jim Courtney]

Back in the early 1980's, Precision Scale Co. imported brass models for CONOCO tank cars CONX 8 and CONX 10-11 in all three narrow gauge scales: HOn3, Sn3 and On3. These models can occasionaly be found on eBay or BrassTrains.com.

When I first began building Sn3 models of C&S equipment in the mid 1980's, my interest was in the 1930's time era. I reworked one of the Precision CONX 10-11 cars and came up with this:





Since I only knew of photos (above) of CONX 11, I painted and lettered the finished car as such with Thinfilm decals.

I didn't like the rolling properties of the original brass trucks, so I drilled out the bolster holes with a 1/8" drill in a drill press and epoxied short lengths of Evergreen styrene tube into the holes.  I cut threads into the lumen of the tube with PBL truck mounting screws and applied PBL's 4'-8" D&RGW short refrigerator trucks to the model, later adding code 88 wheel sets:





The coupler mounting gave me fits, as the standard Kadee # 5 mounting box (with the little ears) pulled the back of the coupler head against the brass draft gear face plate, so the coupler wouldn't move freely. So, I drilled and tapped 2 centered holes for the newer Kadee draft gear box and mounted the couplers for free movement:





The underside brake rigging on the stock brass model was rather crude, so I removed it all and re-detailed the underframe with PBL styrene brake cylinder, piping, clevises and 0.012 wire for the brake rods and chain for the brake staff. Holes were drilled and 0.008 wire was used for the brake reservoir bleed rods.

Quite a while after I finished the model (never did seem to apply a clear flat overcoat), reading articles by Dr Sloan made me realized that I should have lettered it for CONX 10, as there are records of that car traveling the C&S, while CONX 11 seem to spend its life on the D&RGW / RGS. And I probably should have removed the dome platforms and side ladders before painting the model, as these were likely not applied until after the South Park division was abandoned, probably in 1939-1940.

Now that my C&S interest has moved back in time to the 1901-1920 era, I need to rethink this model. The early Continental Oil Co. cars (CONX 5-19) were converted to narrow gauge in the mid to late 'teens, and carried COLX reporting marks until the early to mid twenties.

I'd be interested in knowing which CONOCO cars were assigned to the C&S.  There is some written and photographic evidence that CONX 1, 5, 8, 10, 14, 15, 19, 22, 30 and 35 traveled the C&S at some point in there lifetime.

Anyone know of a definitive list??  Any CONOCO experts out there?

[Keith Hayes]

MY! What GIANT rivets you have CONX 11!

Thank you for the photos, Jim. Sloan lists the cars that are documented on the C&S, and I guess it was 10, not 11 that was on the South Park. Glad you posted the pics, as it will save me considerable time placing the banner lettering around the center ladder. I also debated about your tip to use the PBL refer trucks, and may elect to do this yet. It would certainly run better.

As you potentially opened this up to a broader discussion, I would really like a model of CONX 8. This was imported by PSC (I think), but I have not seen a model for sale. Barring this, 8 looks an awfully lot like a UTLX frame tank car. According to Sloan the tank dimensions are pretty close. I am thinking of building a PBL UTLX kit to study the potential to modify the frame and make an 8: I would have to revise the channel above the trucks, and carefully shave off the bolt/ rivet heads and drill out the holes for an accurate model. What do you all think?

[Keith Hayes]

Waiting for the paint to dry...

[Keith Hayes]

Ready for the lettering crew.

[Keith Hayes]

Lettering done.

Have a great T-Day!

[Jeff Young]

Well done on getting that lettering behind the grab-iron!

[Jim Courtney]

Looks great, Keith.

Now my CONX 11 has a sister in Leadville!

[Keith Hayes]

I am calling this finished, save for a light coat of dust on the underside.

Also, check out the great series on brass painting tips by Boyd Reyes at https://www.brasstrains.com/video/tags/Boyd-Reyes. Particularly nice is the overview of decal setting.