Great Northern 70104 Three Bay Hopper

After many years of work, we are now at the point where we consider this restoration complete.  Here is a photo essay of the stunning results.

Victor Humphreys Photo

This classic 3/4 view shows everything you need to know.

Don Burkett Photo

The right hand side.

Don Burkett Photo

The left hand side.

Don Burkett Photo

The A end.

Don Burkett Photo

The B end.

Of course now that it is done we need to pay the bills and assure funding for long term preservation.  We do not want to have to consider doing this over in 5 or 10 years.  Do you like what you see?  If so, please send a small donation (or a larger one) to fund   R70104.

THERN

What is a THERN?  Well, the last part of our beloved GREAT NORTHERN name, now painted on the left side of the car.  Almost 60 F on Friday, and too good a day to sit watching TV when lettering can be applied.

Dimensional Data

No dimensions in this group of lettering but commonly referred to as such.

Tack Boards

Always more ways to superdetail a model car, even if it is 12 inch = 1 foot scale.  Victor Humphreys made up two new tack boards and we installed them on the car.

Builders Logo

The left side continued to see more lettering.  So for this long holiday weekend a total of ten blocks of new lettering was added - TWO COATS of paint for each!

Regrettably, the weather is really turning too cold to do much more of the final touches on this car.  And we were making such good progress.

Trucks

Yet, there we were this weekend.  Victor Humphreys adds still more finish paint to the trucks, over the previously cleaned and primed areas.  Does this pose look comfortable to you?

A End

Lettering was completed for the A end, and is now 100% done on both the A end and the B end.

Left Side

And the left side continues to see addition of more data and lettering, one small item at a time.

In between other activity, work on the trucks continues and new lettering continues to be applied to the hopper car.

Truck Bolsters

Victor Humphreys was in an uncomfortable position as he has worked his way under the car, here removing years of dirt and crud from the truck bolsters.  By the end of the day the bolsters on both trucks had been cleaned and primed.  Why you ask?  We try not to ignore the hard parts and these are quite visible through the open framing on the ends of this car.

Builders Data

Car builders often applied lettering to blow their own horns, and Pullman was no exception when these cars were built.

Lube

The Great northern was a classy outfit and stenciled a record of when the car received grease and lubrication.  The "Y" indicates this work was done in Superior, Wisconsin.

In Date Testing

Rules required application of an IDT stencil.

Turning Time

As the fall leaves turn, so it was time to turn the car, end for end.  This presents the unlettered side for more work in its location.  And presented another rare opportunity for a photo.  This right hand side now has all lettering completed except for the 'medallion' graphics.

B End

The B end also has all its lettering.  On Sunday I did not grab any more images but work continued with a second coat on some of the applied lettering, more lettering applied to the A end, and the left hand side.  I have been carrying around rolls of transfer patterns and stencils.  Now, several of them have been used as needed and are complete on the car.  So I gratefully now have a pile of 'DONE WORK' sheets.

The weather turned nasty this week, but we did get some lettering done before the bottom fell out of the thermometer in the afternoon.  This is one of the groups, a lot of letters to be drawn and cut out with two days of 'homework' earlier this week for me.

B End

This almost completes the lettering needed on the end sheet for this end of the car.  We did some more on the left side, but tight quarters and poor light resulted in no images.

You did not think I would let you get away without some views of our hopper car restoration, did you?  I know it may not seem to be balanced reporting but this major effort by the Freight Car Department is near to my heart, and I could not help but take a lot of images.

Trucks

Victor Humphreys continued work on the truck sideframes, completing the finish painting on the right side of this car.

Dimensional Data

I suppose modelers treat such notations with only passing interest as long as some generic stuff is shown on a car.  Not so with our restorations, seen here complete on the right side of the car.  There are a lot of letters and numbers painted here, each one having a meaning and significance to this car.

Coming Out

There were needed switch moves in Barn 8 and also Barn 4.  Our beloved hopper got outdoors for the first time since lettering efforts began and this 3/4 view from the B end shows much of the efforts to advantage.

A End

A similar pose is this view from the A end, and yes, some lettering has been applied here also.  Keep hoping for good weather for this pace to continue.

Right Side

This is a more traditional straight on view of the right side.  Amazingly, there are four more blocks of decorations to be painted on this side.

On the Move

Too soon, the locomotive coupled up and the hopper was off to be put away.

B End

This close up of the B end, shows nearly complete lettering for this end, some of it still wet from being painted an hour previous.

Priming

Victor Humphreys worked on two truck sideframes, cleaning them up and prime painting.  Here he is working on the near left truck on the B end.

A End

Earlier in the day, Victor applied the finish paint to the far right truck sideframe on the A end.  Yes, MINERAL RED is the correct color for the trucks.  Meanwhile, I was working to apply more lettering, seen also in this image.

A End

And here is the first lettering applied to the end of the A end.  Does that make sense?

Dimensional Data

On the right side we applied the AAR car type and the start of the dimensional data.