Today we have three nice photos of yet another car from the Norfolk & Ohio layout of Carl Appel, currently in the collection of Dick G., an express reefer. This car from the Norfolk & Ohio is a great example of an OO gauge express reefer.

Dick wondered who the maker was. I would suggest that it is scratchbuilt. Although it could be based on a Graceline kit but tweaked pretty good. The Graceline cars do not have the frame casting seen here and that could be a Selley casting. It could also be based on Picard in some manner. Whatever parts were used, they were just a starting point to make the car you see.

The trucks deserve some special comment as well. They are standard Scale-Craft side frames but mounted on a different bolster of brass and with different wheelsets (perhaps Famoco). Dick described them as follows:

The trucks on this reefer are unusual. The bolsters are made from 1/4″ square brass. The Scale-Craft passenger car side frames are attached to the brass bolsters with a single small screw. The axles are steel with insulated brass wheels….

I think it would be interesting to see what tools Carl used to make these brass bolsters. They look to be of professional quality.

This car was a runner; Appel modified things to suit his layout. As the wheelsets look to be insulated on one side. I tried once to use Famoco wheelsets in a pair of Scale-Craft passenger trucks; they rolled great but from experience I know that he needed a bolster that was not as flexible as the stock Scale-Craft bolster or he was looking at shorting. So my guess is he wanted to use the upgrade wheelsets on this N&O car and to do so had to make the bolster less flexible; using the tools and skills of the jeweler he was, he fabricated new bolsters. A fine vintage piece.

UPDATE: Also worth noting, as I see traffic is making it to this article, the car has early Kadee couplers of the type seen on many other Appel cars. See this article for more on early Kadee couplers.