On Mar 15, 2012, at 7:27 PM, Charles Hostetler wrote:

I'm starting another "do with what's on hand" weathering project
and the subject is an NP 70000-70048 hopper. I've got an Accurail
model of a USRA twin hopper that's lettered for this series. It has
a ratchet hand brake. The equipment diagram

http://research.nprha.org/NP%20Hopper%20Cars/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=46

shows a vertical staff. For a representation of a 1957 car, should
I replace the ratchet handbrake with a vertical staff?

I don't have a photo to model from, so I guess I'm really asking
about whether vertical staff handbrakes were routinely converted to
other types by the late 1950s.

Charles, you'll note that this car was built by Pressed Steel in
1922, so it wasn't an original USRA car, though it closely followed
the USRA design. Like most of the USRA clones built in the 1920s, it
came from the factory with a vertical staff brake wheel rather than a
ratchet and lever type. So, yes, you should replace the hand brake
on the model.

Richard Hendrickson