Hi all,

I am about to weather a combine to match a photo of the same one in the late 1940s on the branchline I am modeling and near my prototype area. The combine also served as the "caboose" on the end of a short mixed train, and the photo shows one window converted with weather guards and a rain deflector to serve as the crew observation area.

Given all this, I am assuming it is pretty dirty and worn, yet some people are saying passenger cars should not be weathered much since they went through the washers all the time and stayed pretty clean. True no doubt on the mainline. But I am thinking in this peripheral service, on the low-end route, and late in the game, it was pretty much a "poor relation" and not serviced that often.

Any thoughts? (Email me off list and I can send you a good sized scan, or look in David Marcham, LEHIGH VALLEY MEMORIES, page 59.

Phil Lord