n scale
model railroads of michigan
ferry ballast cars; dti #X-663 & dti #X-665
According to historical research, there were occasions when the Ann Arbor's scheduled cross-lake traffic lacked either sufficient volume or tonnage to effectively balance the car ferries. When this happened, the railroad turned to some unique special equipment to place onto the ferries for the purpose of ensuring the tracks were evenly loaded. Borrowed or assigned from the DT&I, these cars included diminutive 50-ton Greenville hoppers and convertible gondolas that had been in use as piggyback idlers.
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Because I could not locate any N Scale models of 50-ton hoppers, I decided to try my hand at kit-bashing a couple of the convertible gondolas. Thankfully, Craig Wilson included good photos and drawings of these cars in his Ann Arbor Freight Car book. See the prototype photo at the right, courtesy of Don Wilson.
​I chose Dimi-Trains convertible gondola kits as my starting point. As there were examples of each configuration, I decided to build one unit with the convertible walls moved in toward the center of the car and one unit with the walls at the ends. As you see in the picture, these custom DT&I cars had deep side sills and were adorned with the compass herald of the mid-1960s.
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I used sheet styrene to fabricate new side sills and single strips of car siding to replicate the extended ribs from the car body onto the sill. Once the new sides were in place, the end walls were trimmed to fit each version and glued in place. A little black and gray paint and some modeler's license with AA compass decals, and two more important non-revenue cars have joined my roster. Accompanying model pictures tell the story...
DTI ferry ballast cars at Boat Landing
