CONX 14

Posted by Keith Hayes on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/CONX-14-tp18668.html

In the never-ending quest for more tank cars, CONX 14 has long caught my eye. It is an odd duck, one of three tank cars (12, 13 and 14) constructed for Conoco by the D&RGW in 1919 using existing tanks. The cars are distinguished by the fabricated steel handrails angling up from the side sills the length of the tank on both sides. The three tanks are all different sizes, with 12 being the shortest, 13 being the longest and 14 being just right. There are one or two photos of CONX 14 in service on the South Park with white lettering on a black tank. I personally wonder if the car survived in service on the isolated Climax line into WWII.

Bob Stears kindly translated the folio into a nice drawing which was published in the Gazette in 2020. I used these to make some parts in Sketch Up. The frame has given me fits for some time, and finally today, I was able to successfully post the model to Shapeways.

The part is bilaterally symmertrical, so I only needed to model one quarter of the frame and mirror it to obtain the entire car. If this doesn't work, candidly it will be faster to make the thing out of styrene. It would be shame, though, as I used Bob's drawings to provide dimples for the various parts and NBWs.

I also have modeled the tank:

This part rendered more easily in spite of the complex shape. A grove is provided along the bottom for some added weight. Curiously, this car has a double vent, unlike just about any other car I have seen. The photo lacks detail of this part, as does the drawing, so I visited some examples at CRRM and started drawing:


I also modeled the ends, which have a small index pin to align them properly in the tank.

Stay tuned: the parts should arrive in a couple weeks and I will share an update on how they turned out. If all goes well, this will be my final car for the NMRA AP Cars certificate and I might post the parts on Shapeways for others to download.