On May 30, 2008, at 7:26 PM, Kurt Laughlin wrote:

Looking my files I have two RailModel Journal articles on
prototypes for the Tichy USRA tank car, both by Richard
Hendrickson. Part I was 10/90, Part II was 4/91. At the end of Part
I it was promised that "next month" would have an article on
modeling USG-A cars with the Tichy kit. (Part II, six months later,
has nothing about modeling.) Was this ever published?

Kurt, the modeling article never materialized, for reasons I can't
recall at the moment, though I did, in fact, build a couple of models
using the Tichy kit as a basis.

Also, Part I mentions the "mysterious" Frontenac car, FPLX 1027.
Has the story behind this car ever been determined?

Yes, USG-A tank cars were built by AC&F for both the Frontenac Oil
Co. of Canada and Nationales de Mexico - there are builder's photos
of both in the AC&F archives - but before they could be delivered the
War Production Board said, "hey, wait a minute, you can't send those
cars to Canada and Mexico when we have an acute tank car shortage in
the US, which the USG-A cars are supposed to alleviate," so the
Frontenac and NdeM cars were repainted and restenciled for Shippers
Car Line, the AC&F-owned leasing company.

Richard Hendrickson