On Apr 27, 2007, at 11:33 PM, Andy Cich wrote:

Having exhausted the resources I have, can anyone tell me how many
rungs my
ladders should have and which doors to use? The kit comes with
Youngstown
doors.

Andy,
There were two series of GTW cars in the 516000-series. First was
516000-516249, blt. 1-53, ACF lot no. 3755. Second was 516250-516599,
blt. 2-53, ACF lot no. 3876.

Both series of cars had 7' wide door openings and Youngstown doors,
diagonal panel roofs, 8-rung ladders, Universal hand brakes, Apex
running boards/brake steps, and Barber S-2 trucks. The two series
appear to be identical and the same AC&F general arrangement drawing
was used for both lot numbers.

I haven't been able to find any paint specs for these two lot numbers,
but a photo of car 516402 (available from Jay Williams) having a NEW
2-53 date and 1954 repack clearly shows an unpainted galvanized steel
roof. The photo shows that the seam caps were painted. From about 1952
to 1954 AC&F commonly specified roofs of box cars to be unpainted with
the exception of the seam caps that were first coated with black car
cement and then painted the same color as the sides.

Paint specs are available from lot 3394, GTW 515500-515999, built 9-49
(having welded sides). These cars were painted entirely Mineral Brown
with white stencils and green background for the "tilted box" emblem.
Hope this provides what you need.
Regards,
Ed Hawkins