Tony,

Getting the cars as a gift from the San Jose NMRA meet
from a friend of mine (all 5),they were the first I
built. If you remember, IM put them out special and
lettered them for SP. I know they aren't really SP
cars and they (SP) wouldn't carry sugar beets in them
when they had the GS-23 cars. I figure that I can use
them on "my railroad" with the GS-23 cars and they
would look okay to a "novice." By using them, I also
learned that the beet load for the RC car is really
for the car with the extensions and not for the
original car they put without the extensions. I am
now using the loads built for the IM cars in the
balance of my RC cars and the weight still works out
the same but the load looks better because I can place
it below the sides of the car. I am running seven RC
cars and five IM cars plus seven stock cars behind a
Rivarossi Cab Forward with an IHC mogul pushing behind
the last stock car and ahead of a modified MDC
caboose. The guys at the Club really like it and it
was a big hit at our last open house. Am wondering
how it will look behind a BL cab forward which I have
on order... (Can also use my two FM Trainmasters if
they aren't working on the weekend pulling commuters).
I know this isn't proto but for right now as I
continue to develop my ability to build and find the
proper equipment, I am learning and improving building
and will someday tackle the Westerfield resin stock
car kits I have.

Jim Scott
Lompoc, CA.
--- thompson@... wrote:

If you know of any evidence these USRA gons EVER
carried sugar beets,
Jim, I'd like to know of it. To the best of my
knowledge, prior to the 1948
arrival of the composite GS gons, Blackburn beet
racks were used for this
crop; and before the Blackburn there was a more
primitive flat-car rack
used.
That said, of course, the USRAs would fit nicely
into the LOOK of a beet
train of a later era...<g>

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