Thread: Needed another cattle car for my Reading train.

Yes we are making another one, in fact I’ll be building two.
Just wanted to make something quick and like building for my Reading train so a cattle car or two it will be.
I’ve tries explaining how I glue and cut the sides for the car,
and it has always been an after thought so this time I took pictures as I did it so should come out more logical.This is walnut and maple and is a scratch build from pictures.They will look something like this when done.

Cutting grooves in the floor with the miter saw.
Yes it could be done with the tip I’m showing next but not that safe with this thin a wood.

Now on to the sides, cutting the slats.
First I glue on all the braces, [and glue them really good!]

I use this jig to shape and fine tune the angles.

Now that the braces are all glued on,
I set the table saw blade to just cut the sides and just a tad of the braces.For this project I made a 3/8” spacer board and set it between the blade and fence and move the fence next to the spacer and blade.

Lock the fence and take out the spacer and make first cut.
In this picture I’ve already made the cut.

Now slide the side back over the blade and loosen the fence to add the spacer.

Add the spacer and slide fence over and lock, then take out spacer.


Your now ready for cut number two.

Again slide the board over the blade, add the spacer and lock down the fence.

We’re now ready for the third cut, and we keep this up till we have all we need.

I used the same method for the ends and then started gluing it up.
The board inside is just to square it up.

Here's the link to the first time I made a cattle car.
I hope this was helpful to some one.

Sorry the pictures were all messed up but fixed now..