Ed wrote, "What is more frustrating (to me!) is when cars are produced that
have a fundamental flaw that renders them inaccurate for anything (eg the
infamous Tichy tank car). In so many of these cases the money involved to
make it right"


I have a few of the Tichy tank cars that I built when they first came out
and the resources available to make a decision on accuracy was not what it
is today. In fact, I believe there was a drawing in Mainline Modeler by Bob
Hundman done expressly to show that there was such a car. With Mainline
being the de facto source at that time, I was happy with that
"confirmation." I still have those cars, and you know what, I had an open house at my
layout last Saturday and ran a "Korean War" tank car extra that had one of
those cars in the consist. Curiously, no one noticed and no fingers wagged.
I am all for the greatest accuracy possible, but there are situations
where the ambience is what makes the impression, not a close examination of
each and every car and the attendant details.

Jerry Michels