Boxcar roofwalks

[ChevelleSSguy]

Im a modern modeler and have several box cars that have the roof walks on them. Many of which would still fit in on todays railroads. I have tried to keep from buying cars that have a build date no earlier then the late 70s give or take a few years of leeway. If it looks like it would still be in service today, then thats cool with me.

So with that said. I have a few box cars that have late 70s build dates and some still have a roofwalk on them. I could have sworn I read somewhere that roofwalks were not legal anymore according to the USRA or something like that.

I guess what im asking. Should I look into just removing roofwalks from the boxcars in my modern fleet as these are no longer used? I have noticed for years now that modern built boxcars do not have roofwalks in the first place (because of safety concerns).

 

[BillD53A]

Roofwalks

In 1966 the Association of American Railroads decided there was no longer any reason for most employees to be on the roof of most rail cars. Therefore roofwalks were eliminated from all newly built cars, in interchange service, and the walks had to be removed from existing cars when they were rebuilt. When the roofwalk was removed the brake wheel was lowered and the ladders were shortened. The roofwalk began to disappear in 1966, and was totally gone by 1982, so by the late 70's there were very few cars around with roofwalks, and the ones that still had them would be fairly old and battered.
Some cars like tanks and covered hoppers still have walks to facillitate loading and unloading, and the rule only applied to cars in interchange. There was a 50' Georgia Road car that used to show up on CSX here in south Florida into the very late 80s, that still had its roofwalk and full-height ladders, because it was not in interchange service.
Railroad rolling stock depreciates at the rate of 1/16th of the car's value per year. At the end of 16 years, the car is either rebuilt and that cost is depreciated, or it is scrapped.
Things happen to railroad rolling stock in increments of 16 years.

 

[UP2CSX]

Except for the exceptions noted by Bill, I don't remember seeing a car with a roofwalk after about 1975. Even cars that hadn't had the ladders shortened and the brake wheels lowered would still have no roof walk, with warning placards of "No Roofwalk" on the high ladder end. There were a few of those, particularly PFE mechanical reefers, that lasted until the mid-80's. The UP had a fleet of stock cars that transported pigs from Nebraska to LA to the Farmer John sausage plant about twice a week. The "Farmer John" train, as I remember, always had stock cars with full roofwalks right up until the end of that service, which was about 1987. I think they got away with it because the cars weren't technically in interchange service. They never left UP rails.

 

[ChevelleSSguy]

Good then. Ill plan on removing the roofwalks on the box cars in my fleet over time then. Now comes the problem with dealing with the ugly holes on the top of the cars now.

Did these cars get thier brake wheel and brake parts re-located to a lower position too then?

 

[UP2CSX]

The holes are no problem. You just use the plastic pins from the bottom of the roofwalk, cut them off, and glue them back in the hole. When the glue is dry, just cut them flush with a #11 blade and fill any little voids with putty. Some light sanding and a little paint and the roof will look fine.

Most cars did not get the brake wheels and associated brake gear lowered until they went in for major shopping or repainting. The side and end ladders were also cut down at that time. Like I wrote, they just had warning signs about no roofwalk because the full length ladder and high brake wheel was still in place. Modifying something like an Athearn BB boxcar, with all the molded in detail, is a real chore. Takes lots of cutting, filing, and reshaping of the ends to get it to look right. I've done a bunch of them and they were not fun. I'd just remove the roofwalks, put on the warning signs, and then get newer cars as you have the money with the lowered brake wheels and ladders.

 

[ICG/SOU]

I try to avoid purchasing boxcars with roofwalks for this reason, since my era is 1980s. I've got several boxcars with running boards that will be removed, but I don't worry about the brake gear and ladders since many times the running boards were removed.

I did get a nice new old stock Bev-Bel PS1 50' boxcar that had the option of adding the running board, but I did not since it didn't use the pegs that Athearn and Accurail use for theirs. The support brackets are molded on the car roof, which is fine, since many times the running board and laterals were just removed.

I do know, though that most, if not all the Athearn cabooses have running boards, where many of them would likely not, depending on which road. Pictures I've seen of SOU cabooses have them removed, while ICG seems to have kept them on some.

 

[BillD53A]

Roofwalks

You can shorten the ladders if you wish, or you can leave them. Cars with full height ladders had a warning on the side which stated "Keep Off Roof No Roofwalk".
To remove the walks saw them off with a razor saw, leaving the pins in the holes. Fill them with putty and useing needle files, shape to match the roof. I use White-Out for filler.
Boxcar roofs are made of galvanized metal and they are not always painted when the car is painted. They are either silver or light gray, with some overspray from the car side. They get very dirty, and they do rust out in spite of the galvanization.

Bill

 

[ChevelleSSguy]

The holes are no problem. You just use the plastic pins from the bottom of the roofwalk, cut them off, and glue them back in the hole. When the glue is dry, just cut them flush with a #11 blade and fill any little voids with putty. Some light sanding and a little paint and the roof will look fine.

Most cars did not get the brake wheels and associated brake gear lowered until they went in for major shopping or repainting. The side and end ladders were also cut down at that time. Like I wrote, they just had warning signs about no roofwalk because the full length ladder and high brake wheel was still in place. Modifying something like an Athearn BB boxcar, with all the molded in detail, is a real chore. Takes lots of cutting, filing, and reshaping of the ends to get it to look right. I've done a bunch of them and they were not fun. I'd just remove the roofwalks, put on the warning signs, and then get newer cars as you have the money with the lowered brake wheels and ladders.

The problem will be more then just filling in the holes. There are a sort of pedistal if you will where each peg from the underside of the roofwalk connects to the top of the car. It will probably take some work to smooth down the pedistals and try to reshape the area to conceal it. I probably should get a picture soon.

 

[Trouble]

I have seen a couple of very, very old boxcars that still had roofwalks. They might have been headed to a museum or the scrappers or something though. I've also seen some ancient cars with roofwalks used as bumper cars at ends of the bowls in hump yards. Other than that, they are pretty much all gone. With that being said, I've seen a number of older box cars with the supports for the roofwalk still in place. rather than cut them off the shops probably just removed the walks. Seen a couple cabooses like that too. Many covered hoppers, and even open hoppers still have high mounted handbrakes, though they are dangerous and a real pain in the butt to work with. Seen a Herzog ballast dumper train with all high handbrakes too. I've never seen any modern box cars that still had high brakes and ladders, though you can sometimes see where they used to be attached to the car sides. Often they are painted a different shade than the car, or a different colour alltogether! While "modernising" my fleet, i have just sliced the molded on ladders off with a chisel and stuck cut down spare tall ladders. I can usually get two ladders from one old one, and since they get beat up a different style ladder just looks like a replacement.