Andrews Trucks

Andrews trucks were made in the 1910-1930 timeframe.  The big "selling point" was they were able to reuse the journal boxes from archbar trucks.  They were banned from interchange service around 1954.

Rusty

The trucks on the right were made by Athearn and are Andrews trucks.  They are not Bettendorf.

Joe

Thanks for the info! So it's an Athearn truck. 

Rusty, are you sure that Andrews trucks were banned in 1954? There's an image that was made in 1975 in the "CB&Q  Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment", page 74. "Interchange Service"? So they could be still used on the home road?

Sarah

Sarah posted:

Thanks for the info! So it's an Athearn truck. 

Rusty, are you sure that Andrews trucks were banned in 1954? There's an image that was made in 1975 in the "CB&Q  Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment", page 74. "Interchange Service"? So they could be still used on the home road?

Sarah

1954 was the only date I could locate early this morning.  I just located another source that states 1958.  There also tended to be a grace period when the outdated appliances were banned from interchange, although 1975 would be stretching it.

But, as long as the car wasn't interchanged, (work cars, caboose, other captive service cars) Andrews trucks could still be used.  By 1975, stock movements by rail was pretty much minimal, so it's possible the Q cars didn't leave home rails at that point.

Rusty

rrjjf posted:

The trucks on the right were made by Athearn and are Andrews trucks.  They are not Bettendorf.

Joe

I think Joe is right:    I'm using a set of those on a free-lance caboose... 

Mark in Oregon

Sarah - The above pictured trucks are pretty clunky and from the Pleistocene Era of O Scale.  For a nice model like Ted's CB&Q stock car, you might consider using a higher quality offering like American Scale Models' version.  http://americanscalemodels.com/   Go to "O detail parts", then "trucks (32)"   for his Andrews freight truck.  Sorry, was unable to get a picture to transfer. Price is $44.95, but worth it !

With working journal box lids and full brake rigging.  Cool !!

Going to be pretty hard to use the Atlas truck on the left on the stock cars due to the bolster sticking up so high where it attaches.  Rich Yoder also makes a nice 50 ton Andrews truck...

http://www.richyodermodels.com/rym-o-scale-trucks.htm

"O S Trains"  -  Rich imports very nice trucks, but think his 50 ton Andrews is too straight across the top of the truck frame - - - doesn't quite look right to me. And his other Andrews is 70 ton capacity - too big for a stock car.  Just one guy's observation, certainly could be wrong !

This drawing of a CB&Q stock car looks pretty straight on the top of the trucks. I don't know how many different companies produced Andrews type trucks, the one produced by Bettendorf Company does have a slightly less straight look to it but other companies trucks were different. Are we are now down to worrying about who the manufacturer of the trucks were that were on a particular car?

mark s posted:

"O S Trains"  -  Rich imports very nice trucks, but think his 50 ton Andrews is too straight across the top of the truck frame - - - doesn't quite look right to me. And his other Andrews is 70 ton capacity - too big for a stock car.  Just one guy's observation, certainly could be wrong !

Are you maybe looking at the USRA version or the non caboose L section version further down the page. There are 2 different Andrews freight trucks and 1 Andrews caboose truck shown on his page.

Sarah here is a link to a PDF article from Model Railroader Magazine about freight car trucks this may answer many questions for you. Don't think the link survived but you may copy and paste into your browser or Google   "andrews trucks"   that is how I found it.                   j

Freight Car Trucks - Model Railroader Magazine

mrr.trains.com/~/media/import/files/pdf/4/c/c/mr_pi_5-06_freightcartrucks.pdf

O S and Sarah:   well, after doing a bit of research, both the American Scale Models' Andrews truck AND the Rich Yoder' Andrews are correct.  The ASM  for the CB&Q SM-16 stock cars and the RY for the CB&Q SM-18 cars. My sources:  Burlington Route Historical Society Bulletin No.25, "Stock Cars and Livestock Traffic" (unfortunately now out of print, but the definitive resource) and the excellent drawings by Bob Hundman of the SM-18 car, in the "Mainline Modeler" June 1991 issue (reproduced by OS, above).

The SM-16's were built initially  by American Car & Foundry in 1922 with a 60,000 lb capacity. A second batch was delivered in 1924, constructed by Streator Car works, of Streator, IL (a new one on me !)

The CB&Q Aurora (IL) Shops built 500 SM-18's in 1926, nearly identical to the SM-16's, except with the use of a heavier duty Andrews truck, the capacity was increased to 80,000 lbs. This truck is identical to the Rich Yoder' Andrews.

So, everybody dances !!

In studying Rich Yoder's website, and the "trucks" section, it appears he has the wrong truck pictured in the "50 ton USRA Andrews truck" offering. Believe the correct RY picture would be found in "Crown Class Steel Corporation PRR 2E-F2 70 ton trucks". That appears to be the Andrews 50 ton truck, correct for the SM-16 CB&Q stock car. His 70 ton USRA Andrews" would be correct for the SM-18 car.

So, it would appear that Rich Yoder would have both trucks correct for the Burlington stock cars.

Dear Friends, 

thank you very much! I do understand by now that there was not a single andrews truck brand. It was more the general term for that special design that reused journal boxes of the banned arch bar trucks. All "Andrews" have in common that flat metal plate on the bottom of the journals.

And I really thank you for the many options that you pointed out. I tried Protocraft some time ago but there was no reply. They have these super cool decals that I really want, too. I'll try telephone next week. 

Mark, thank you for your input on that Mainline Modeler issue – bought one on ebay. I keep looking for the number 25 Burlington Bulletin but it never shows up. 

Regarding the urethane kits I must say that these are the most difficult thing that I did so far. I would upgrade the assembly with square styrene or brass pieces but you can't do that with a car that you can look through. Also the stuff has a tendency to warp and form curves everywhere. But that's an other story.

Best wishes,
Sarah

Sarah, Norm was unavailable for a while there but he's back now.

If you email me I can give you a few more options.

Jay

Jay, thanks for your help! As you know I'll always follow your advice :-)

Sarah posted:

Dear Friends, 

thank you very much! I do understand by now that there was not a single andrews truck brand. It was more the general term for that special design that reused journal boxes of the banned arch bar trucks. All "Andrews" have in common that flat metal plate on the bottom of the journals.

And I really thank you for the many options that you pointed out. I tried Protocraft some time ago but there was no reply. They have these super cool decals that I really want, too. I'll try telephone next week. 

Mark, thank you for your input on that Mainline Modeler issue – bought one on ebay. I keep looking for the number 25 Burlington Bulletin but it never shows up. 

Regarding the urethane kits I must say that these are the most difficult thing that I did so far. I would upgrade the assembly with square styrene or brass pieces but you can't do that with a car that you can look through. Also the stuff has a tendency to warp and form curves everywhere. But that's an other story.

Best wishes,
Sarah

Regarding your CB&Q resin kit, yes, it was cast with pretty "soft" non rigid urethane. When I got mine, I had to lay out all the parts for almost a month on a flat surface before everything was flat and I was able to start working on it. Still better than the older resin castings that were fairly hard AND warped since they would never go back flat on their own requiring boiling water and lead weights and even that didn't work all that well. Anyway, once flat I cleaned the flash from the castings, washed the parts in soapy water, and assembled the floor, sides, and roof. Then sprayed zinc cromate primer color on the entire inside of the car and the back sides of the doors and ends. Waiting for it to dry now before attaching those parts.

That's interesting – I would like to open a new topic about it. There are quite some questions that I have.

Go for it.  Resin kits that are not pre built or cast one piece plus floor or roof are sometimes rather challenging to build up. 

oscaletrains posted:

Go for it.  Resin kits that are not pre built or cast one piece plus floor or roof are sometimes rather challenging to build up. 

They can test the fabric of your soul,

....that's why I purchased the built up CBQ stock car. this was after I contemplated the "flat" kit, which wasn't very flat!