Pullman passenger car handrails

[texas&pacific]

Oh Wise Masters of the One-to-Forty-Eighths Guild:

I am detailing some heavyweight passenger cars. Most all need handrails on side doors and ends.
1) What is the correct wire diameter to use (scale) for passenger handrails?
2) Is there a commercial wire-bending jig available to keep them consistently formed (and drill guide)? The tricky one is the "L-shaped" one on car end.
3) Does anyone make a casting for the nut-on-plate detail where the handrail is attached to body? To avoid tube-into-hole syndrome.

Thanks

[Rufus T. Firefly]

1) What is the correct wire diameter to use (scale) for passenger handrails?

What size was the prototype? 0.019" might be ~ 1" and is(was?) available from Detail Assoc.

2) Is there a commercial wire-bending jig available to keep them consistently formed (and drill guide)? The tricky one is the "L-shaped" one on car end.

Probably best to make your own jig to match your specific needs. I'll put together a block of wood to bend wire around....

3) Does anyone make a casting for the nut-on-plate detail where the handrail is attached to body? To avoid tube-into-hole syndrome.

I usually just "park" a Tichy nbw casting adjacent to the wire - after painting, and from more than a few feet away it's all one unit.

[E7]

Rufus covered things pretty well. You might be able to find commercial versions from Precision Scale or P&D Hobby Shop.

I've seen a couple of articles on bending your own. I know Gene Deimling the P48 wizard did one somewhere, but I can't recall where.....maybe for OST or in his proto48 journal, or the O Scale Resource online mag.

As for gauge, I'd go as heavy as I could without it looking silly, just to help preventing damage.

Try a few net searches!

Rich

[Rufus T. Firefly]

As for gauge, I'd go as heavy as I could without it looking silly, just to help preventing damage.

Some like steel or piano wire for its durability. Can be a bit annoying to work with and I had to get out my better nippers.....

[BruceB]

McCleod makes O scale grab iron ends, and PBL makes them in S scale size. PBL is a little finer (is that a word?). Foothill Models sells the McCleod.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Oh crap... I forgot to put hand grabs on my Walthers coach !!!

I'm glad you started this post

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Tichy Train Group sells O scale NBW and phosphor bronze wire, which I assume both are sized for use with one another.

[texas&pacific]

Did try a few searches on "o scale passenger grab irons" and "handrails" with limited quality hits before I posted here. If you are doing an F Unit diesel or a freight car, you are in tall cotton. Otherwise...scratch, scratch, scratch (as in, if you gotta ask, be ready to scratch build).

Thought maybe PSC made some in brass and checked their catalog. Lots of good stuff, but no "L" handrail for the body ends.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Think that Grandt Line also makes an nbw casting cored for 0.020 wire......

[Robert]

I'll put my two cent in to this subject by saying I would consider the need for such items as grab irons to be an opportunity to at least try making them myself. Some phosphor bronze wire from Tichy Train Group is a suitable starting point. Like Rufus noted a fixture can be contrived for a specific need, and time wise, making your own bits and pieces can be a lot less frustrating than trying to flush them out of the market place. It's a hobby and making things can really add to the enjoyment and the feeling of satisfaction as well. Just my thoughts.

Robert

[bob turner]

I personally skip them on Walthers passenger cars and do not miss them.

On box cars and locomotives I use artistic license - .032 for handrails and grabs, and .040 for condenser lines. My rivets are all way oversize on purpose.

On box cars with individual rungs I have a drilling jig that places hole pairs - a small escutcheon pin goes just above each hand grab entry, further simulating the prototype. Like Martin, at a distance of a foot, I cannot tell . .

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

I personally skip them on Walthers passenger cars and do not miss them.

Apparently I do too. I've been running the car for a while now and just realized they were not there.

Like Martin, at a distance of a foot, I cannot tell . .

I try to keep it out to 3 feet, but that'll work as well.

I've come to accept that I don't know a lot about the prototype. A chunky piece of detail discovered in a photo will most likely end up as a smaller chunky piece on a model, with me still not knowing what it actually is.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'll put my two cent in to this subject by saying I would consider the need for such items as grab irons to be an opportunity to at least try making them myself. Some phosphor bronze wire from Tichy Train Group is a suitable starting point. Like Rufus noted a fixture can be contrived for a specific need, and time wise, making your own bits and pieces can be a lot less frustrating than trying to flush them out of the market place.

Yes, spending time looking for something pre-formed can end up being just that while you could have just made them and been done. I tend to make all mine other than when I can make use of the ones from PSC or the ones I have in a ziplock baggie from Northeastern (keep those about for resin kits...)

It's a hobby and making things can really add to the enjoyment and the feeling of satisfaction as well. Just my thoughts.

Yup!

[rex desilets]

I personally skip them on Walthers passenger cars and do not miss them.
<snip>.

I demur here. However, finicky insistence on proper diameter scale grabs on a Walthers car seems overkill. On a Joe Fischer car, yes. On the relatively crude Walthers? Like Bob, I'd go for robustness first.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I personally skip them on Walthers passenger cars and do not miss them.
<snip>.

I demur here. However, finicky insistence on proper diameter scale grabs on a Walthers car seems overkill. On a Joe Fischer car, yes. On the relatively crude Walthers? Like Bob, I'd go for robustness first.

That would all depend on who built that Walthers car - I've seen more than a few that have been very impressive. In any case, why not just put the scale grabs on everything as a standard and be done with it?