Elvas Tower: Ten 1880 Central Pacific 15-ton Flat Cars - Elvas Tower

MSTS 1863-1890'S CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD FLAT CARS
A set of ten cars for the link and pin era.
Mesh, lettering and colors by Tim Muir
Wood grain overlay textures from cgtextures.com

6 Central Pacific cars, 1 Fiddletown & Copperopolis car, 1 Los Angeles & Independence car, 1 Stockton & Copperopolis car and 1 Southern Pacific car.


Central Pacific's first "standard" flat car. A 30-foot, 15 ton car built between 1863 and 1878, numbered 1 thru 4023, in odd numbers. They ran for years, through the 1890's, later receiving air brakes and automatic couplers. A pretty ubiquitous car, probably found all over the country in interchange service. In all photos of these cars in service in the 1860's through the 1880's, there's no hint of grab irons nor stirrup steps. I guess CP figured railroaders would boost themselves up on the deck when riding during switching moves! More background on this project can be found here:
http://www.elvastowe...pin-stuff-here/

I wish to thank the following folks for their assistance along the way:

Anthony W. Thompson, author of "SP Freight Cars, Vol.3" by Signature Press, for supplying original drawings and detailed accounts of these cars.

Jim Bebenroth, for testing the cars, and suggestions.