1870's Stake Car

And Now For Something Completely Different.

Wow, I have this image of John Cleese in my head.

I needed some model/mental masturbation after suffering at the hands of a narrow minded, self righteous, pompous ass of a "Rivet Counter". Y'all know the kind. Absolutely NO Tact or Manners whatsoever. The ones who have to put others down or belittle their work in order to feel bigger themselves. No ability to "lead" the conversation in a gentile manner, citing in friendly terms what I may want to look into for my next work, but started right off with the big guns of derision. I'm sure his little phallus was all "a quiver" with the feelings of superiority that he was heaping upon himself. I can guess his political leanings with near absolute certainty.

So, Now For Something Completely Different.
found in the American Car Builders Dictionary from the 1870s
This was a fairly easy build, flat car weighting set aside. Although varrying from the actual design I felt it kept the Spirit of the car. To be honest, I chose this over a more conventional Stake-Pocket Flat car because I couldn't figure out how to make stake pockets, or rather, Functional stake pockets.

Using my tried and true caboose chassis as a basis and my trusty coffee stirrer wood, I set about framing the chassis with the heavier gauge stirrers (.048 X .235) rough 1/87 at 5 X 18 inch. The decking is thinner stirrer pieces (.040 X .160) rough 1/87 at 4 X 12 inch.
It took several tries to get the stakes done to my liking, as I wished them to be functional. I finally settled on the offset "d" and "b" style to get the stakes to sit better in their respective rests. They don't fit into the rests as well as I had imagined, but I refuse to beat myself up over such a small detail. Using a pinvise and an .035 drill I ran holes into the sills and through the ends of the stakes. I secured the stakes using HO track spikes, tack glued under the frame but allowing for movement of the stakes. The stake rests are stirrer trimmings white glued to the sides,

 I know the era is close to my desired ACW to end of Reconstruction time frame. It has helped me greatly to relax and just have fun without worrying about the feelings of others (like masturbation). Rivet Counters Be Damned.

The deck planking was cut and each slat hand layed, and to my wonderment, it worked out to a nice even fit over a scale 24 feet (4 inch - 101mm).