I don't have drawings of the car, so I can't comment on fidelity
to an original, but here's what I know:

My sample of the Walthers USRA mill gon (NYC 501536) came ready
to run, except for the grab irons, which are formed from silver-
colored 0.010" wire and packed in a plastic bag. The instructions
say to use a #80 drill and ACC to mount them to the sides and ends.

The vertical brake staff is the same shiny metal, and came already
in place. The underbody detail is slightly better than the Accurail
box car I compared it to, but the brake cylinder was significantly
smaller, about 10" in diameter. The corner steps (one piece with
the body) appear to be about 1" thick and measure 3" deep. The
rivet heads are under 1" wide. The sides are 51" high, and the
hat-shaped ribs taper to flat at the bottom over the last foot or
so. The top of the sides are just under 7" wide.

The "engineering plastic" [Bettendorf style solid bearing] trucks
have nonmagnetic axles and a little flash around the journal boxes.

The 16" diameter five-spoke brake wheel is 5" below the top of the
flat ends, but doesn't touch the body. The platform nearby is an
added detail, already in place.

The paint (Flat white on flat black) is crisp, and the reporting
marks are also on the ends, centered near the top, NYC over 501536.
The stenciled IL says 46-0, but the model actually measures 45-6
inside.

The BLT date is 9-27 and the reweigh date is AO5-27. The letters
C22-G appear above the oval New York Central System logo.

It is stenciled CAR EQUIPPED TO CARRY L C L CONTAINERS MUST NOT BE
USED IN ANY OTHER SERVICE, but except for the floor planking there
is no detail on the inside of the car. Some rivets on the outside
look like they're meant to hold internal hardware. I don't intend
to carry containers, so I guess I should paint out the stenciling
and shave the rivets.

I tried it on 18" radius track, and one of the wheel flanges
occasionally rubbed against the frame. That should be easy to
correct with a chisel blade. The E-Z Mate couplers are medium brown,
have plastic leaf springs for the knuckle, and seemed to be a third
to a half a knuckle too high. :-( "NMRA" couplers are provided as
replacements. Unlike other Walthers cars I have, the screws on the
coupler box are black and don't rub the axles on rough track.

Except for the coupler height, I'm happy with it.

I now open the floor for comments.

- Tom Gloger e-mail: mailto:tomgloger@yahoo.com
web page: http://pws.prserv.net/usinet.tgloger