Bill, Accurail's website shows the FGE car with a NEW -52 date and WFE
with a JAX -60 reweigh date, both in the Optic style letters.


On 5/9/2012 11:56 AM, lnbill wrote:

Ray

The Accurail Sliding door refrigerator car is correct for FGE, WFE and BRE. I am not sure if Accurail has issued models with the correct stenciling for this list's era as yet which would be the faceted and distinct Optic style.

--

Frank Greene
Memphis, TN

Ray

The Accurail Sliding door refrigerator car is correct for FGE, WFE and BRE. I am not sure if Accurail has issued models with the correct stenciling for this list's era as yet which would be the faceted and distinct Optic style.

Tom:

I am sure the Gould/Tichy kits were first. While their die work was/is at a very level, I would argue that the IMWX model kit had greater impact because they were available with accurate paint and stenciling. Conversely the Gould/Tichy kits with a few exception have never been well supported with such essentials as decals, leaving it up to the modeler to sort out completing the model. The few examples they supported with decals featured poor quality decals.

That is my observation at least.

Bill Welch

--- In STMFC@..., tyesac@ wrote:

Bill,

Which came first IMWX cars of the Gould (later Tichy) cars? I thought the Gould cars camme first.

Tom Casey


The seminal styrene kit I think it could be argued was the "Innovative Model Works" 1937 boxcar kit. When was this kit introduced. Does anyone have any good stories about the development of this model by Jerry Porter they can send me?






-----Original Message-----
From: lnbill <fgexbill@>
To: STMFC <STMFC@...>
Sent: Wed, May 9, 2012 11:39 am
Subject: [STMFC] History of Prototype Freight Car Modeling




As some of you will remember from posts I made in the fall of 2011, I want to put together materials to create a history of modeling freight cars more accurately and more prototypically. I now have some good materials about the early offerings of Al Westerfield and the materials that publicized the releases of Westrail and Dennis Storzek. F&C is putting some materials together for me and I will be talking w/Martin about Sunshine's initial offerings.

Here are somethings I need your help with.

Materials related to Roller Bearing models--instructions, ads, kit lists, etc. It would especially be helpful to know when they started advertising. Also photos of built-up models.

Materials related to the Rail Progress hopper kits. (Do I have the correct name for this line?) Again built up model photos would be appreciated.

It could be argued that two seminal articles related to how our niche in the hobby has developed were Dennis Storzek's article on 5 things to do to improve existing styrene freight car models. This appeared sometime in the 1980's. Can someone provide scans of this article?

Bill Clouser's articles on using rubber molds and polyester (was that the material?) to make copies of parts, components, etc. Not sure of the dates or how many articles there were. Ned scans of at least one of these.

Arguably Prototype Modeler magazine helped change the thinking and orientation for some of us. I would love to have scans of the cover of the first few issues of this.

The seminal styrene kit I think it could be argued was the "Innovative Model Works" 1937 boxcar kit. When was this kit introduced. Does anyone have any good stories about the development of this model by Jerry Porter they can send me?

Can anyone furnish me with info about the beginnings of McKean, Front Range, and C&BT, i.e. the people involved, initial offerings, and or course nicely built up models.

Anecdotes about these pioneering styrene efforts and the people involved would be appreciated.

One more item and this may start an argument. Do we know who night have first used the term "Prototype" to describe the approach to what we are doing, either specifically to modeling, or more generally to the model railroading hobby.

I am planning to talk about this history from the 1/87th scale perspective because that is what I know. Tentatively this will be a presentation at Naperville and Cocoa Beach and I will consider how to make the presentation available to others for them to do a presentation.

Bill Welch
2225 Nursery Road; #20-104
Clearwater, FL 33764-7622
727-470-9930
fgexbill@







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As some of you will remember from posts I made in the fall of 2011, I want to put together materials to create a history of modeling freight cars more accurately and more prototypically. I now have some good materials about the early offerings of Al Westerfield and the materials that publicized the releases of Westrail and Dennis Storzek. F&C is putting some materials together for me and I will be talking w/Martin about Sunshine's initial offerings.

At 07:15 PM 5/8/2012 -0700, you wrote:

to the track, making them easier to re-rail. All in all, the kind of
engineering excellence we have come to expect from Kadee, and they
are gradually replacing the older trucks with them.

Has anyone installed code 88 wheels in these yet? I was looking at the
Reboxx web site and they recommended a 1.115" axle length for the older
Kadee trucks. I tried them in a pair of the new A3s and there is too much
play - although the Kadee axle measures at about 1.115" tip to tip, the
smaller diameter and point on the Reboxx axle just rattles around in the
Kadee journal. I'm thinking they're going to need 1.125 or 1.130. My
current policy on code 88 wheels is that I will try to always use them on
any open-ended car... hopper, tank car, etc where the wheel profile is
visible, and I'll use them on a box car or gondola if the kit comes with
them in the correct trucks but otherwise I'll use code 110.

Andy

Just finished watching "The Nickel Plate Story" 1953 on You Tube. The item that caught my eye was at 5 minutes
and 21 seconds into the film. NKP 32082 rolled by, a panel side hopper on it's way to the coal docks. I didn't know
the NKP had panel side hoppers. Can someone shed some light on the history of these cars?

Regards.....David Henderson

Hi David,

Sure can! NKP 32000-32149 were rebuilt by the NKP from their 30750-31749 composite hoppers (the larger of their two series of composite twins, built by Pressed Steel in 1923). The Conneaut shops rebuilt them all from kit sides between January and April 1936.

These cars are a bit different than most conventional panel side hoppers, in that they only have six panels per side. When they were rebuilt their wood slope sheets and ends were replaced with corrugated ends from retired 36 foot DS boxcars. The cars are definitely a scratchbuilding project!

The cars wore two paint schemes that I've been able to determine, with 1945-1950 being the general changeover period.

The cars didn't last very long overall. While their USRA twins and conventionally rebuilt composite hoppers lasted right through 1964, these panel rebuilds were gone by 1955 (three remaining in that ORER).

Hope this helps!
Regards,
Ray Breyer
Elgin, IL

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