Model Railroading > Thrall Double Stack Electric version info

I am building a Proto Power West Thrall double stack car, the electric version, and know somewhere at sometime there was an article about building this set with all the bells and whistles but can't remember who did it. I need pictures of the fuel tank and generator end. in one word......HELP

Model Railroading Magazine had a two part article on building one of these using the Plano kit.

I was preparing myself to see a double-stack train under catenary. Damn! :)

PHall Wrote:
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> Model Railroading Magazine had a two part article
> on building one of these using the Plano kit.


Could you tell me the dates on these issues?
THANKS

BNModeler Wrote:
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> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Model Railroading Magazine had a two part
> article
> > on building one of these using the Plano kit.
>
>
> Could you tell me the dates on these issues?
> THANKS

20 plus years ago. IIRC '92 or '93.

I dug around last night and found a CTC Board from 1985 with an article about APL stack trains and a close-up photo of the generator and tank. There isn't much to the assembly, at least as shown in that photo. The generator was pretty much just a box with a grille and the tank had a little spout or something on top.

Also, the new "Piggyback Color Guide" from Morning Sun Books has photos of four of the five wells of red APLX 2002, but no close up shots of the generator.

> Could you tell me the dates on these issues?
> THANKS

November '93

Great article! Shows how the cables are pre-plumbed through-out the wells to provide power to reefer units. Having never seen one in person, this article helped fill-in lots of gaps in my understanding of the prototype and the details to accurately model it.

However, I have seen is a variation of this concept, where the genset is mounted on a 40' container chassis, then placed in the middle well. A reefer unit is stacked on top of it, and also in the remaining wells. The genset has retractable reels of cable that are run to the reefers, with the cables lashed to the sides of the wells with large zip-ties. They left slack between wells to allow for articulation in curves. This allows the shipper more flexibility as then can choose any well car set to haul the reefers, rather than needing to have a specially equipped getset well car configuration always on stand-by.

Dave