CV Jordan Spreader

Building a Walthers kit into a CV Jordan Spreader...by Don Janes

Finished Central Vermont.Jordan Spreader sits beside the White River Jct. roundhouse

     When Walthers announced they were going to produce a Jordan Spreader kit a year ago I was really interested so I did some research into whether the Central Vermont had any similar cars. I want to expand my CV M of W fleet and I thought that this would make a great addition. CV had two Jordan Speaders, an older one numbered 4284 and a more modern unit, number 4285, built in 1947. After browsing through many different books and publications I found several good photos of the car with both the high front plow and also a short version. The model comes with the high plow.  The only problem I could see was that all the pictures with the high plow were painted with the post 1961 CV noodle and any with the low plow were in the older pre 1961 wafer scheme. Since I model the 1950’s I was afraid I would have to cut down the plow to match the photos.  The problem was that the kit is designed for the high plow and lowering it would require rebuilding the entire front end to accommodate the lower plow.

This photo shows the 4285 with the lower front plow blade, likely in the 1950's

              I decided to go ahead and build the kit as it was designed and hope that at some point I would find a photo of it in the 1950’s scheme.  Well, fortunately when I was just about to paint the spreader George sent me a photo from the CV Ambassador showing the plow with the white CV wafer on the side of the cab.  I think the car was built with the high plow but the top section was removed for better vision when doing right of way grading.  You can clearly see from the photos that the top section was held in place to the lower section with bolts and the bolt holes can be seen clearly in the photos. It seems the high plow was likely put back when used in snow plow service and once the snow plows were gradually retired the spreader was used more in snow plow service as well as grading.  

George sent me this photo from the Ambassador showing the spreader with the high plow and decorated with the wafer herald.

     The new model features working blades and can be built into various versions.  I decided to go with the kit instead of the RTR version so I could build it in sections and paint the various pieces separately then do the final assembly.  When I opened the kit I became a little concerned because there were a lot of parts and no written instructions, just a bunch of exploded views of the various sections.  Once I took a step back and started to decipher everything I noticed every part was numbered on the spruce and if you follow those numbers with the exploded views everything started to go together quite nicely.  All the parts making up the wing assemblies that move fit together extremely well with very little sanding or fussing.  The only real time consuming part of the construction was putting all the hinge assemblies together with the tiny pins.

Once the kit is assembled all the wings move in and out like on the prototype.

A rear view showing the air reservoir mounted on the rear deck

 

This model made a great addition to my CV M of W fleet.

  As mentioned before I built the kit in sub assemblies, painted them as I went them did the final assembly.  I used a mixture of Floquil Engine Black and Grimy Black for the body and painted the window frames in the cab area Floquil Signal Red.  The decals were given to me several years ago by Armand Premo and are printed by Rail Graphics. The rear truck is a roller bearing truck which is incorrect for my model so once I track down a Walthers Bettendorf truck that fits correctly I will replace it.  I still need to weather the car but the bulk of the work is behind me. 

     This was a fun kit to build and I am more than happy with the finished model.