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 Post subject: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:42 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
Last year, we attempted to give three freight cars a quick facelift to make them presentable for public display at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. One of the cars I worked on was MDT 12549 (Despatch Shops, 1953). This car arrived on the property in 1997, and has been in storage since then. Last year, we scraped the east side and applied a coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Unfortunately, we didn't get farther than that and had to move on to other projects. But it was better than nothing.

http://rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/mdt12549/

This year I decided we needed to finish the job, especially since visitors could see the still rusty west side as the train ride passed by. We moved four of our freight car displays off Track 6 (Which has a steep drop-off on the west side) to an adjacent track so we could work on both sides of the cars easily. Some work had started on the PRR hopper car, so we decided we would finish the job on that car, too.

http://rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/prr747803

Just a note that these are not restorations. This is stabilization and clean up. We may apply some lettering to these cars, but the goal is to get a fresh coat of paint on first. Any existing lettering was photographed for reference before the cars were covered over.

We had the freight cars moved to Track 9 on April 16.

Attachment:
File comment: MDT 12549 - April 16, 2016
MDT12549-Apr16.jpg
MDT12549-Apr16.jpg [ 125.16 KiB | Viewed 14036 times ]


Attachment:
File comment: PRR 747803 - April 16, 2016
PRR747803-Apr16.jpg
PRR747803-Apr16.jpg [ 172.24 KiB | Viewed 14036 times ]


-otto-

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—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:43 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
We scraped off loose material the following week, and had a coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer applied by April 23. It took less than two gallons per car, per side.

Attachment:
File comment: MDT 12549 - April 23, 2016
MDT12549-Apr23.jpg
MDT12549-Apr23.jpg [ 84.6 KiB | Viewed 14035 times ]


Attachment:
File comment: PRR 747803 - April 23, 2016
PRR747803-Apr23.jpg
PRR747803-Apr23.jpg [ 95.83 KiB | Viewed 14035 times ]


-otto-

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—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:46 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
By April 30 we had applied the first coat of paint to the west side of both cars. A note on the reddish-orange color on the reefer, I thought I was being smart by mixing two gallons of yellow with one gallon of red to make orange (sort of).

Attachment:
File comment: MDT 12549 - April 30, 2016
MDT12549-Apr30.jpg
MDT12549-Apr30.jpg [ 93.24 KiB | Viewed 14033 times ]


Attachment:
File comment: PRR 747803 - April 30, 2016
PRR747803-Apr30.jpg
PRR747803-Apr30.jpg [ 92.98 KiB | Viewed 14033 times ]


Turns out the Rustoleum red pigments are stronger than I had estimated. I'm thinking my new formula for the next coat will be two gallons yellow to one quart red.

Work continues to paint and prime the ends of the hopper and all its fiddly bits. But I expect we will have completed the paint job on both sides of the car within the next couple of weeks, and they can be returned to our display track by the end of the month.

This project was great because it went quickly, lots of volunteers were able to help, but most importantly, you see the results of your work right way. Applying a coat of paint like this will help stabilize the car until a project budget can be put together to attempt further restoration efforts. At least applying some paint shows to your visitors (and potential donors) that you do care about the appearance of your collection, and hopefully encourages more donations and participation.

-otto vondrak
www.rgvrrm.org

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—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 11:16 am 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
Otto -

Nice work! We have two MDT ice bunker steel refrigerator cars at Hoosier Valley and fortunately, have been able to just clean them to make them presentable. The first photo shows yours truly working on MDT #13385 about 10 years ago, and the second shot shows the cars appearance just last year. Some day we may have to do a complete repaint, but up to this time, that hasn't been necessary.

It's nice to find other cars that Merchants Despatch Transportation has donated. Their past generosity is heartwarming. Perhaps one day we could get a list of the cars that MDT has donated through the years. Our two cars were actually located in the old Pennsylvania Railroad yard on the south side of Chicago and were being used for old paperwork storage. When these old papers were no longer deemed necessary, the refers became available and HVRM moved them to the museum in North Judson.


Les


Attachments:
100_2149_0426.jpg
100_2149_0426.jpg [ 307.21 KiB | Viewed 13798 times ]
Wonderful, cool windy day at HVRM 6-27-15 003.JPG
Wonderful, cool windy day at HVRM 6-27-15 003.JPG [ 346.57 KiB | Viewed 13798 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 11:42 am 

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:06 pm
Posts: 2530
Location: Thomaston & White Plains
Excellent, both Rochester and North Judson. Freight cars need love, too. It's not always all about the steam chooch.

RMNE has one of those reefers as well, it's an NRC car (an MDT step-sibling).

Howard P.
Thomaston Car Shop

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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 1:33 pm 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
Howard P. wrote:
Excellent, both Rochester and North Judson. Freight cars need love, too. It's not always all about the steam chooch.

RMNE has one of those reefers as well, it's an NRC car (an MDT step-sibling).

Howard P.
Thomaston Car Shop


Howard -

Thanks for the information on your car. Our OTHER refer (MDT #14070) was originally NRC #20063. Did you receive your NRC car direct from Merchants Despatch or from another source?


Les


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 9:50 pm 

Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:25 pm
Posts: 485
Otto, very nice job painting that reefer car. Congrats.

If I remember correctly that car was at the old refrigerator car terminal near Bailey Ave in Buffalo NY where all the refers arrived from the West Coast with fresh veggies and meat for all the stores around the Buffalo area. I think another dedicated volunteer at the museum arranged the donation of that car to the museum.

If I remember correctly, My father and I did an "on site" inspection of that car prior to it's donation to the museum. And then due to the congenial relationship developed by said dedicated volunteer at the museum the car arrived at the museum "free of charge" on it's own wheels and delivered by a Class I Railroad (Conrail) no less.

Very nice to see that it is getting some attention, keep up the good work.

Oh, nice work on the hopper car as well.

Cheers, Kevin.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2016 1:48 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
Thanks, everyone. I am especially jealous of the North Judson car because it is MDT with an NYC logo! We have two MDT cars in our collection at R&GVRRM.

MDT 12549 was built by East Rochester DSI in 1953. This is the one we are slopping paint onto right now. It was used by MDT as a support car at Niagara Food Terminal in Buffalo, N.Y., donated in 1996 by MDT.

MDT 14053 is in much better shape, and houses a display about DSI. IT was built by PCF in Renton, Wash., in 1958 for NRC, and was later transferred to MDT in 1962. It was used as a support car in Enola, Pa., as Kevin explained above. Moved by rail in the days when you could still do that without anyone blinking an eye.

Attachment:
File comment: MDT 14053
MDT14053_Roster_Large.jpg
MDT14053_Roster_Large.jpg [ 194.41 KiB | Viewed 13266 times ]


-otto-
rgvrrm

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—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:23 pm 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
Otto -

Thanks for posting the photo of MDT #14053. Our number 14070 is similar in appearance and also, sadly, without a railroad herald.

I should mention another MDT donation; as per this photo:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=832570

The folks at the Fulton County Historical Society located just to the north of Rochester, Indiana, asked if we could help them find an old boxcar that they wanted to use for storage. We knew about some additional MDT cars located outside of Indianapolis and eventually Merchants Despatch donated the ice bunker refrigerator car seen in this photo. I wish I had a better shot, but for some reason I never took one, and this 2007 photo is the only one I could find on the internet.

The photo states that the MDT car number is 13755 and I have to take the photographers word for it as I can't read it in the photo. FCHS eventually cleaned the car, primed it and repainted it with a rather bright orange I believe. There is much more to the story of securing this car, but I won't get into that here. Suffice to say, this is another example of MDT's generosity.

Les


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:38 pm 

Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:57 pm
Posts: 35
Otto - if MDT 13385 above is the right color, you might be better off using yellow with a little bit of chocolate brown in it. In any case, to match the color, this is what I would do (since I was a color matcher in the printing industry for a while).

1. Buy a glass measuring cup with a handle.
2. Open a can of your yellow paint, and paint a little on the car so you have a starting point.
3. Pour that gallon of yellow into a bigger pail. Then get a quarter of a cup of chocolate brown, pour it into the yellow and mix it up. Then paint a little on the car next to your yellow patch and see what it looks like. (Starting with a very small amount of the darker color is recommended, because if you overshoot, you can't take it out again).
3. If the yellow is still too bright, slowly add more brown and record how much you add. Paint another small patch on the car each time.
4. If the color looks like it needs red, add it in small amounts, record how much you add, and paint a small patch each time.

This will not only give you your desired color, but also a formula which you can use to mix it again. However, I would mix enough at one time to do the whole car, because minor variations in mixing several batches could yield slightly different colors.

Geoff Quadland


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2016 6:18 pm 

Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2013 6:07 pm
Posts: 203
Is that PRR H21 the one that was at Karthaus?

Tom


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Sun May 08, 2016 12:25 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
geoff1944 wrote:
Otto - if MDT 13385 above is the right color, you might be better off using yellow with a little bit of chocolate brown in it. In any case, to match the color, this is what I would do (since I was a color matcher in the printing industry for a while).


Nah, four years of art school to be a graphic designer, I gotta do something with the degree. I just mixed a new batch using two gallons yellow, one qt. red, one qt. yellow and got a color much closer to what I wanted. Behold:

Attachment:
File comment: Revised orange from May 7, 2016
MDT12549-BetterOrange.jpg
MDT12549-BetterOrange.jpg [ 80.2 KiB | Viewed 12699 times ]


I had just enough paint to do both sides. The ends are in pretty good shape, so we won't touch them for now.

-otto-
rgvrrm

_________________
----------------------------------------------
—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


Last edited by Otto Vondrak on Sun May 08, 2016 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Sun May 08, 2016 12:27 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
Tom Davidson wrote:
Is that PRR H21 the one that was at Karthaus?


PRR 747803 was used for glass storage at the Owens-Illinois plant in Brockport, N.Y., for many years.

http://rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/prr747803

-otto-

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—Otto M. Vondrak
President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:26 pm 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
Les Beckman wrote:
Otto -

Thanks for posting the photo of MDT #14053. Our number 14070 is similar in appearance and also, sadly, without a railroad herald.



Les


Before we get off of this subject completely, I thought I'd include a photo of our MDT 14070. This car was "cleaned" quite a few years ago and the MDT paint has held up very well. One thing we did not do however, was a good job of matching the paint on the very badly pitted door. From the hints given in this thread, I'm going to try again!

Les


Attachments:
Drizzly day at HVRM 6-4-16 008.JPG
Drizzly day at HVRM 6-4-16 008.JPG [ 330.4 KiB | Viewed 12355 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Painting steel freight cars at R&GVRRM
PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:07 pm 

Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:57 pm
Posts: 35
I'm late in replying to your May 8 post Otto, but that looks good!


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