Al,

The Reading had 2000 XMp class boxcars built in four series AC&F.

11550-12349, 800 cars built 1910
12350-12999, 650 cars built 1912-1913
13000-13199, 200 cars built 1910
13200-13549, 350 cars built 1913

The ORER for Jan 1952 shows 65 in service.

Some of these cars were converted to covered hopper cars class XMph with
internal slope sheets, roof hatches, boarded over door openings and hopper
bottoms. They were used in Bean service between Philadelphia and Hershey,
PA.

George Losse



_____

From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
al_brown03
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 10:00 AM
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Reading Box Car




Wow, what a beauty! Check out the fishbelly underframe, unusual arch bar
trucks, and Youngstown replacement door.

36' box, RDG class XMp, built 1912-1913.
ORER series is 11550-13549, 987 cars 1/43, 33 cars 1/53.
Builder's photo: Kaminski, "AC&F", p 163 (the end straps were original
equipment, as were those trucks); order said to be 1000 cars, so the ORER
may have combined orders into one series.
Two photos of a covered-hopper conversion (you 'eard!): Bossler, "RDG Color
Guide", p 63.
End-on in-service shot: Pietrak, "Coudersport & Port Allegancy and New York
& Pennsylvania", p 67.

If I were building that, I might kitbash it from a Roundhouse old-timer box
body, and a shortened Accurail reefer underframe. Not sure what to do about
the trucks, might cheat and give it more modern ones. (The covered hoppers
mentioned above have AAR cast trucks.)

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com <mailto:STMFC%40yahoogroups.com> , "railfan"
<rdglines@...> wrote:

Hi,
Just saw this photo on ebay of a Reading wood box car and was wondering if

anyone give any info on it? And are there any models in HO scale that would
be close to modeling it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&;item=390316223052>
&item=390316223052

Thanks, Warren

The covered hopper conversion was used to haul cocoa beans to the Hershey plant in Hershey, PA. Check out Wiseman Model Services (I think) for something close to the trucks.
Drew

Wow, what a beauty! Check out the fishbelly underframe, unusual arch bar trucks, and Youngstown replacement door.

36' box, RDG class XMp, built 1912-1913.
ORER series is 11550-13549, 987 cars 1/43, 33 cars 1/53.
Builder's photo: Kaminski, "AC&F", p 163 (the end straps were original equipment, as were those trucks); order said to be 1000 cars, so the ORER may have combined orders into one series.
Two photos of a covered-hopper conversion (you 'eard!): Bossler, "RDG Color Guide", p 63.
End-on in-service shot: Pietrak, "Coudersport & Port Allegancy and New York & Pennsylvania", p 67.

If I were building that, I might kitbash it from a Roundhouse old-timer box body, and a shortened Accurail reefer underframe. Not sure what to do about the trucks, might cheat and give it more modern ones. (The covered hoppers mentioned above have AAR cast trucks.)

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.

That too is a good idea. I do have an Alumilite casting kit.
 
Thanks,
Rich Christie

John, et al,

Yes Marion is a great place to meet and watch trains. Absolutely great

Marion tower was moved from across the tracks and restored, however I think
you'll find that it's an Erie tower (AC) and the restored interlocking
equipment inside is Erie, not NYC. The Erie station is also a great example
of a groups effort's at restoration.

Joe Lofland

On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 12:03 AM, John Golden <golden1014@yahoo.com> wrote:

Gentlemen,

I went to the Marion, OH RPM meet this weekend and had a great time. I
haven't
been to all the RPM meets, of course, but Denis Blake has gotta have the
best
location by far. He hosts the meet in the old Marion Union Station, which
is
now a musem. There's a ton of historical stuff and signal equipment
located on
the site, including a nice operating layout.

The station is surounded by three double-track mainlines and although I'm
not
much of a modern railfan I thoroughly enjoyed the parade of trains going by
the
depot. I was only able to attend the meet on Friday but I'm sure I saw
25-30
trains of all types.

There's plenty of stuff for the steam era fan to research there too--the
Marion
Shovel Works, the Erie yard, all the industry that once kept Marion going.
One
of the best things about the museum is the simulator for the old NYC tower
that
governed the junction--it works, and you can go into the tower and "play"
signalman, working the levers on an actual timed scenario with a totally
working
model board. It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. If you're a
steam
era guy this is something you've gotta come and check out--it is worth the
trip.

We had a nice time and Denis was a great host. I saw about 400 models of
all
types and I understand more came on Saturday. We had inpromtu slide shows
and
the clinics were all excellent and held in an adjacent part of
the building.
The local restaurant--The Shovel (the name comes from the old Marion Shovel

Works which was next door)--had great lunch and dinner specials and was 20
feet
from the depot. I spent a lot of time talking with Warren Calloway, Stan
Rydarowicz, and others--it was a nice time and I highly recommend it for
those
that want a break from the ordinary RPM meet. That is, of course, after
you
come to St. Louis in a few months...

John

John Golden
O'Fallon, IL

2011 St. Louis RPM Meet Info:
http://icg.home.mindspring.com/rpm/stlrpm2011.htm

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi,
Just saw this photo on ebay of a Reading wood box car and was wondering if anyone give any info on it? And are there any models in HO scale that would be close to modeling it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&;item=390316223052

Thanks, Warren

Andy

Thanks for posting these. Add in the ones on the Photobucket site and there are a ton of photos of the meet on line. A good time was had by ALL in attendance. Mother Nature cooperated after a week of rain to give us a couple of nice days for the meet. As Andy documented with photos, and John mentioned with words, there were over 400 models, many of them steam era, is you check out the photo selection.

Many thanks to those that attended and I look forward to seeing more of you there next year.

Also, thanks to those that helped make the meet possible. You all know who you are, your assistance was invaluable.

Check out the sites below for more information and photos of the meet.

http://www.hansmanns.org/meet/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/Central-Ohio-Prototype-Modelers-Meet/326645470797

http://s1187.photobucket.com/albums/z397/salguy1/?start=all


Denis Blake


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Andy Harman" <gsgondola@gp30.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 12:23 AM
To: <STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Marion, OH RPM

http://www.gp30.com/events/Marion2011/

Random photos of the meet, no captions... but it's quick and dirty and
they're up there.

Andy



------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

On the other hand, if I have consists for one of the classes of trains I need to model, it helps. When modelling the trains for which there are no consists one can use other versions of analysis/guess-work we often resort to - but no sense dispensing with better info if it is available.

Rob Kirkham

--------------------------------------------------
From: "soolinehistory" <destorzek@mchsi.com>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 4:02 PM
To: <STMFC@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Why not model actual train consists?

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

Interestingly, I have yet to find single consist from my period on my
modeled section of railroad (PRR, COLA tower, June 1944) so I have no
choice anyway.

I tend to agree with Bruce. If one is trying to model the operation, unless one has access to the train consists across the territory for the entire time modeled, or preferably multiples of that time period, you have no assurance you have all the cars you need. Even having a year's worth of time book consists won't assure you all the cars; depending on where the owner of the time book stood on the seniority roster, he likely wasn't working ALL the possible jobs. If he was too far down the list, he didn't catch the prize manifest jobs, whereas, if he was near the top, he didn't catch the dog-breath locals and empty car haulers. Either way, he missed recording either the reefers running non stop clear across the division, or the stinky Mty stockcars.

If you are going to model the entire day's action across the territory, rather than just one train, you need both, and everything else in between.

Dennis



------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

http://www.gp30.com/events/Marion2011/

Random photos of the meet, no captions... but it's quick and dirty and they're up there.

Andy

Gentlemen,

I went to the Marion, OH RPM meet this weekend and had a great time.  I haven't
been to all the RPM meets, of course, but Denis Blake has gotta have the best
location by far.  He hosts the meet in the old Marion Union Station, which is
now a musem.  There's a ton of historical stuff and signal equipment located on
the site, including a nice operating layout. 


The station is surounded by three double-track mainlines and although I'm not
much of a modern railfan I thoroughly enjoyed the parade of trains going by the
depot.  I was only able to attend the meet on Friday but I'm sure I saw 25-30
trains of all types. 


There's plenty of stuff for the steam era fan to research there too--the Marion
Shovel Works, the Erie yard, all the industry that once kept Marion going.  One
of the best things about the museum is the simulator for the old NYC tower that
governed the junction--it works, and you can go into the tower and "play"
signalman, working the levers on an actual timed scenario with a totally working
model board.  It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  If you're a steam
era guy this is something you've gotta come and check out--it is worth the trip.

We had a nice time and Denis was a great host.  I saw about 400 models of all
types and I understand more came on Saturday.  We had inpromtu slide shows and
the clinics were all excellent and held in an adjacent part of the building. 
The local restaurant--The Shovel (the name comes from the old Marion Shovel
Works which was next door)--had great lunch and dinner specials and was 20 feet
from the depot.  I spent a lot of time talking with Warren Calloway, Stan
Rydarowicz, and others--it was a nice time and I highly recommend it for those
that want a break from the ordinary RPM meet.  That is, of course, after you
come to St. Louis in a few months...

John
 
John Golden
O'Fallon, IL
 
2011 St. Louis RPM Meet Info:
http://icg.home.mindspring.com/rpm/stlrpm2011.htm

Andy Carlson, lover of hyphens in Ojai CA, wrote:

We do not need to wait for some Details Whatever to get scale (or out-of-scale)
door stops. A decent part can be cast with 2-ton epoxy from Ace Hardware. Pour
into a single use mold made with modeling clay (or silly putty). A good door
stop is found on the Red Caboose(IMWX) '37 AAR boxcar. If you find any molded-on
door stop which you desire, copy it! If you want a bunch, make a semi-permanent
mold from single part 1200 degree Silicone auto exhaust sealer from the auto
parts store. I have a mold made with this stuff that has yielded over 60 (5
dozen) parts.

If you want to duplicate surface detail, like door hardware, make a mold of the complete door. Then carefully file or sand the detail you want to capture from the door pattern. Coat the modified pattern with mold release, fill the hardware cavities in the mold with daubs of resin, then press the pattern into the mold. After the resin has cured, pop the door out of the mold. Your surface detail will be cast in place on the door pattern, but easily removable because of the release agent.

Tom Madden

Dick, will you please email me..

Thanks

Denis Blake

Central Ohio RPM

http://www.hansmanns.org/meet/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/Central-Ohio-Prototype-Modelers-Meet/326645470797

http://s1187.photobucket.com/albums/z397/salguy1/?start=all

We do not need to wait for some Details Whatever to get scale (or out-of-scale)
door stops. A decent part can be cast with 2-ton epoxy from Ace Hardware. Pour
into a single use mold made with modeling clay (or silly putty). A good door
stop is found on the Red Caboose(IMWX) '37 AAR boxcar. If you find any molded-on
door stop which you desire, copy it! If you want a bunch, make a semi-permanent
mold from single part 1200 degree Silicone auto exhaust sealer from the auto
parts store. I have a mold made with this stuff that has yielded over 60 (5
dozen) parts.

-Andy Carlson, lover of hyphens, in
Ojai CA

Just now (8:43 EDT) seeing this and know that there is a lengthy thread
attached to this, but this is something I've wanted to do for years. I have
been seeking an ERIE consist, preferably EB, preferably pulled by a ERIE
Berkshire (not to ask too terribly much) but as yet, I have had no luck.

SGL



From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jim
Betz
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 10:52 AM
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Why not model actual train consists?





Hi,

We keep re-visiting the topic of freight car distribution ...
and discussing how to represent the freight cars for a point
in time or an "era" ... and then, presumably, adjusting the
mix of freight cars on our layouts ...

So I'm prompted to ask "Why not model actual trains?" As in
find a train sheet you like and go for it - with selective
compression - of course. And then extend it to several trains.

Is anyone out there doing this? Thinking seriously about it?
Tried it and found they couldn't field enough models to fill
the bill (how close did you get)? Selectively compress out the
models you don't have as a first cut? No, substitutions allowed
(same number series but different number)? One box car - from
the correct era - is just as good as the next?

You could even preserve the order of the cars in the train
even if you aren't modelling all of them. And 'just' adjust
the waybills for the layout?
- Jim Why Not








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Thanks Tim, Elden, Bruce & Bill. Bill pointed out Tichy Box Car door hardware. I will also check some of my Sunshine kits for spares. I need a pair for a PS-1 kitbash, using the old Cannonball Car Sides, sides.
 
Rich Christie

Even with all that information it would still be difficult because many (most) of the cars are still unavailable.The selection process is ongoing.Too often one has to rely on "stand ins".Rosters are constantly changing as more and better models become available..Armand Premo

For me modeling actual train consists is always the goal.

Bob Moeller

Tony Thompson says:

Now, Mike, you know perfectly well that you possess a vast array
of SP reweigh dates and locations in the decal sheet I sent you. This
is EXACTLY what it's for! <g> So yeah, get the car good and dirty,
then make a nice clean paint patch for the reweigh.

and Dennis Storzek says:

"Errrr, Mike, why not do what the prototype would do? If the re-weigh stencil is out of date, roll the car across the scale, then slobber some paint across the previous re-weigh date and stencil it with a new date that is current. The weathering only has to make the car look like it's been three years since it's been repainted."

I know...I know. Yeah, I'll do it right. The last thing I want is for Tony to pull that Prototype Police badge out again...

Mike Brock

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

Interestingly, I have yet to find single consist from my period on my
modeled section of railroad (PRR, COLA tower, June 1944) so I have no
choice anyway.

I tend to agree with Bruce. If one is trying to model the operation, unless one has access to the train consists across the territory for the entire time modeled, or preferably multiples of that time period, you have no assurance you have all the cars you need. Even having a year's worth of time book consists won't assure you all the cars; depending on where the owner of the time book stood on the seniority roster, he likely wasn't working ALL the possible jobs. If he was too far down the list, he didn't catch the prize manifest jobs, whereas, if he was near the top, he didn't catch the dog-breath locals and empty car haulers. Either way, he missed recording either the reefers running non stop clear across the division, or the stinky Mty stockcars.

If you are going to model the entire day's action across the territory, rather than just one train, you need both, and everything else in between.

Dennis

Jim and Group,
I have been the fortunate recipient of four trains-worth of
conductor's logs for the exact time period and location I model, 1950.
They provide a wealth of information and I have had a lot of fun
researching how to model various cars. My fantasy would be to build a
complete train of correct models with exact car numbers, but I will
probably never achieve it within my life span. In the year or so I have
had the logs I have finished about 12 cars. I have resolved to at least
not buy or build cars that don't appear in these logs or in photos I
have of cars on the line I model. This serves as a useful constraint on
kit purchases, and while 274 cars is still statistically a very small
sample, the variety included is more than sufficient to yield some very
interesting consists containing cars I never dreamed would have shown up
in Southern Oregon. Within these constraints, I have randomly built
what most intrigued me or was an easily-completed kit. I find I'm more
willing to put extra time into super-detailing when I know it represents
a particular car, lading and destination.
As far as operation is concerned, I use the cars in any combination
that results from normal waybill operation. If I ever get a complete
train built, it would only be assembled as represented in the
conductor's log for a special display occasion. Its too bad there
aren't more extant logs. I would dearly love to have more, just to get
a more complete history of my line's operation.

Ken Roth