mofw

mofw Maintenance of Way...
Here are my models of Maintenance of Way (MofW) equipment. These cars are not used to generate revenue for the company, but instead maintain the right of way or assist in running the company. There are many types of MofW cars including cars to clear snow, calibrate scales, fix ballast, fix track, or haul ties, sand, rail, wheels, etc. There were dedicated wreck trains as well that were used, usually with a large crane to fix derailments. Some cars were even bunk cars to provide sleeping quarters for workers out on the job sites.

Each predecessor road had their own MofW paint schemes. Mostly the road used colors that would not confuse these cars with revenue cars. The C&O was the most obvious with bright green MofW cars with yellow letters. The B&O used several colors, but its "Devil Red" was the most famous. Also, it should be noted that MofW cars do not get much maintenance or care. They are generally older revenue cars that have been converted for MofW service. Therefore, it was common to see Chessie MofW cars in the predecessor paint schemes. Chessie MofW schemes were also varied. Some were dark blue with yellow lettering, some were green with yellow lettering and some were just renumbered revenue paint schemes. There are even a few MofW gondolas in B&O Devil Red with white Chessie markings.

The B&O and C&O used two letter and two number designations for their MofW equipment, like SF13 for Snow Flanger #13. These numberings continued well into the Chessie Era but were slowly renumbered into the 9XXXXX series.

Tie Handler: Two views of the same Custom Finishes kit. It is a maintenance of way piece of equipment that is used to move railroad ties while repairing track. It is a non-operating model, but makes for a good decoration on an unused track.

Speeder C&O 654. This little MofW speeder is not powered. It's a Durango Press metal kit. I use it as scenery on my layout, but in real life, these are powered pieces of MofW equipment. They make for quick projects and are routinely seen around the system. For some reason this C&O one was in B&O country in Hancock, WV in 1975.

Ice Breaker Cars B&O IB3, IB7 and IB11. These are Atlas hoppers with B&OHS ice breaking structures added. I made custom decals for the cars as well. IB7 has the added height beam added for even higher tunnels.

Snow Flangers B&O SF13 and SF43: Both were used by the B&O and Chessie to remove snow from the tracks, where snow falls didn't warrant a full sized plow. They are scratchbuilt off hand drawn plans.

Crane B&O X205: A Walthers crane. I custom painted it and decaled it to match a prototype picture.

Scale Test Car B&O X4914: This little car is a unique piece of Maintenance of Way equipment. Used to test the scales for accuracy, this car was usually restricted to riding just in front of the caboose on a train. This Walthers kit comes all black. I painted the grab irons, brake wheel stand and squares yellow. I added Kaydee couplers, rusted up the wheels and whallah, you're done.

Bunk Car B&O 911522: This Walthers kit came decorated all green and had the appropriate MofW door, but had the pre-1982 road number. I had a very good photo of the real 911522 in Cumberland, MD, so had to model that car. This car would be used for MofW personnel to sleep at the work site.

Difco Dumper B&O 913814 and Chessie-B&O 913821: This Walthers kit came decorated as is, I just weathered it. This kit is a good match for the B&O Difco cars, which were smaller than the C&O Difco cars. These cars were used to dump ballast or fill trackside. They are very common, unique looking, and one of the few classes of car that has existed in Chessie paint well into the CSX era.

Jordan Spreader Chessie-B&O 914072: There is a whole page on how to modify the Walthers kit to make this car on the modeling tips page. It is a nice first kit modification project and is a real conversation piece on any layout. Use the link here to see that page. Unlike most Jordan Spreaders, the B&Os examples had the large snow plow removed, hence the need for me to model the Snow Flangers.

Wheel Car WM 950448: Although almost all MofW equipment on a B&O line would have B&O reporting marks, the WM did give alot of their equipment to the B&O in 1975 when the parts of the WM were abandoned. I model this as one such car. I used the Athearn blue box gondola as the starting point. Use this link to see how I made this car.

Sand Covered Hopper Chessie-WM 951237: This homemade conversion is an old revenue class hopper with a WM shop made top and hatches added. It was used in company sand service. What is rare is this car received a full Chessie paint job. You can see a photo of the real car in the WM Color Guide. I built mine off a Stewart 2-bay "fish belly" covered hopper.

Ballast Hopper Chessie-B&O 964346: Originally revenue cars numbered in the 64XXX series, these hoppers quickly became MofW hoppers used to discharge ballast trackside. Notice the unique dumping hatches on the bottom. This allows for easy dumping of ballast or fill on either side of the car. It is seen here wearing a MofW road number, which just added a "9" preceding the revenue road number. I used a Roundhouse hopper as a starting point. See how I made this car through this link.
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