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Steam Ejector Air conditioning
Photo by Robert Hale, 12/1/51 at Frost. From Santa Fe in the Mountains.
Santa Fe heavyweight cars utilized steam ejector air conditioning. As a result the roofs have some unique hatches (often erroneously called "ice hatches"). There are six very visible items which air conditioned heavyweights should have:
1. A/C ducts
2. Refrigeration Unit roof hatch (larger)
3. A/C Unit roof hatch (smaller)
4. Air vent
5. Condenser Water Pump and Valve Box.
6. Valve Closet
Two above photos from Herb Sullivan at his curve, from Santa Fe in the Mountains.
Pecos River Brass has high detail roof hatch set for $12 per set. (Click here for photos)
Coach Yard has a complete set which includes 5 of the 6 items above (minus the A/C ducts), and two truck mounted generators. It sells for $28. The roof hatches in the CY kit are nearly identical to those sold by Pecos River Brass. (Click for information sheet)
NOTE: some of these pages will take some time to load. Be patient, it is worth it.
New England Rail Service #250 Pullman Air Conditioning Duct will finish the roofline.
Jay H. Miller had a good article in the 1st Quarter 1987 Santa Fe Modeler on SE Air Conditioning. I followed his recommendation and made some master pieces out of styrene and then used resin casting to duplicate them. His article includes photos of two cars at the Age of Steam in Dallas. (Click here)
Santa Fe had 6 ton and 7 ton models. The photos in Miller's article shows the roof hatches to be the same width, but different lengths - 7 ton units. The CY and PRB hatches are of different widths - 6 ton units. A quick look at the attached photos illustrates that the underbody equipment did not always look the same nor were they in the same location. Different cars have a different look. A/C equipment was added to most cars after they had been in service, so equipment had to be place around existing equipment. Modelers will need photos of the car they are modeling if they want precise duplication.
Here are some photo pages:
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