1. main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
  2. Messages
   Date   
Couplers for sale

rob.mclear3@...
 

Hello to all. 


After having started to convert my cars over to Sergent couplers I have the following Kadee couplers for sale.   Unfortunately there are no boxes with these so I have priced them with reference to what Kadee charges for bulk packs.   There are springs with the number 5's for the boxes and I have included some small springs for the couplers in each pack.


Number 5 standard couplers with springs, no boxes.   Have 32 looking for $25


Number 158 which are the scale head whisker couplers medium shank, no boxes.  Have 108 asking $80


Number 153 which are the scale head whisker couplers with the short shank.  Have 34 asking $40


You can get me on my email at rob.mclear3@... sorry for the cross postings if you are getting this more than once.   Also moderators if this is not allowed on this list please delete.


Regards

Rob McLear

Australia.
Re: Bozos and Athearn container gondolas

Mikebrock
 

Ben Hom notes about the Athearn gon:

"This is the model that spurred the formation of the STMFC group when Richard Hendrickson stated on the now defunct Freight Car List that the target audience for this model was "toy train bozos", a characterization some members took as a green light to start a flame war."

And established a rule in the new STMFC that Richard...and only Richard...was allowed to refer to anyone as a Bozo. As far as I know, I think I escaped such recognition...but only barely.

Speaking of the Athearn gon, I used two to build an ATSF GA-55 65' [?] gon which still wanders around my layout.

Mike Brock
Re: Quicken Loans box car

Dave Nelson
 

95 year old freight cars… rotting in the sun. 

Must be a railroad museum.

 

Dave Nelson

 

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 2:03 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

 




Fillmore & Western in California. It is one of several preserved Western Pacific channel side DS box cars. All of the WP cars had steel end replacements; earlier ones were corrugated, later ones were inverted-reversed??? early Dreadnaught. Our own Garth Groff has a nice Sacramento Northern web site which has a page devoted to the WP cars sold to the SN, plus the same cars SN had new, which never had steel end replacements. 2 cars at Fillmore, one of each steel end variety, plus one at Niles Canyon and several which are scattered around the state in private hands.

 

-Andy Carlson

Ojai CA

 
Re: Athearn container gondolas

Tim O'Connor
 

If you watch the 1960's movie "In The Heat Of The Night" there is scene
that features a Missouri Pacific train passing overhead and there are three
gondolas filled with containers that look remarkably like the Athearn "box"
style containers. The other cars in the train are covered hoppers so I'm
going to guess this train is moving cement cars. (It was filmed in Illinois.)

But I agree with Ben there were some insulated/LCL containers that also had
a similar appearance to the boxy Athearn containers. MP operated a number of
different kinds of bulk and LCL containers.

I've only ever seen the cylindrical containers in LV gondolas. I bought decals
for them from someone here years ago -- although the name escapes me now. The
gondolas can be "stood in" by modifying the Athearn gondola to remove the deep
fishbelly, cutting holes in the side, and putting steel braces on the floor and
top chord to hold the containers in place. You can detail the containers to
greatly improve their appearance, especially the lifting lugs.

Tim O'Connor
Re: Athearn container gondolas

Benjamin Hom
 

Arved Grass wrote:
"Here's a NYC car that at least vaguely resembles the Athearn model (ie a gondola with those containers):
http://www.readingmodeler.com/media/kunena/attachments/122/NYCCementContainerGon.jpg

NYC 501640-501739, Lot 755-G, 40 cars modified from Lot 377-G 46 ft USRA steel gons. (Series also incudes 60 cars converted from similar Lot 557-G). Here's a larger version of this photo from Terry Link's website:
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/nyc-501660.jpg

The Athearn containers can be used with the Westerfield or Walthers models to do this car.




Ben Hom
Re: More tank car number series help

genegreen1942@...
 

Thanks to Ben, Tony, Garth and Arved for responses about the Athearn "container" gondolas.  

Yes, Ben those are the ones to which I was referring.  I knew the paint schemes were wrong for 1950 and seemed to recall the gondola had no actual prototype.  

I am much more interested in the containers, especially the cement containers, than the Athearn gondola.  The gondola could be sold on eBay or even discarded.  I need to find at least a shred of evidence that cement was moved in containers in 1950 in the middle of Iowa.  Most cement was bagged and moved in box cars in 1950 and covered hoppers were just coming into use at that time.  

In Hampton, Iowa, was a plant that made concrete culverts.  By the early 1950s they were receiving cement in covered hoppers but I don't know when that began.

When US Highway 65 was widened through Franklin county and southern Cerro Gordo county the paving company set up a batch plant in my home town of Chapin.  They received cement in covered hoppers but the widening occurred in 1955.  I am confident, but do not actually know, that the cement came from one or the other or both cement plants in Mason City.  The covered hoppers were delivered by the M&StL and most likely were M&StL covered hoppers.

So - bottom line - still looking for an excuse, er reason, to use cement containters in central Iowa in 1950.

Gene Green
Out in the Badlands of New Mexico
Re: More tank car number series help

Douglas Harding
 

Clark my error. The set out list is for the CB&Q at Congress Park. So the Armour cars would be out of South Omaha

 

I also looked in my April 1960 ORER. It shows Chicago Freight Car Leasing Co with a total of 217 tank cars, CWTX

 

3001-3096 TM ICC103 10,000gal

3101-3168 TM ICC103 10,000gal

3201-3249 TM ICC103 8,000gal

3301-3304 TMU --  --  80,000lbs

 

The company also had Refrigerator Cars CRDX

25 Express Reefers,

30 42’ ice bunker reefers

 

31 Covered Hoppers in five different listings CRDX

 

4 Flat Cars 50’6” container flat CRDX

 

 

Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

 
Re: Athearn container gondolas

Benjamin Hom
 

Arved Grass wrote:
"The gondola is another story. I think the consensus is the Athearn 50' gondola has no prototype. Irv did claim his models were "Scaled from official blueprints." I guess it could be argued by a good lawyer that if Irv drew the blueprints, they were as official as anything else. He never claimed they were official RAILROAD blueprints. However, I've seen a reference on Trainorders.com that the car could be a GBRS class gondola made in 1959 for the New Haven.

Don't take my word for it. I know diddly squat about the New Haven. As my professors would say:

'The proof is left as an exercise to the student.'"

Sorry, your source on Trainorders.com is wrong. The Athearn gon model is bogus for New Haven. It's too short and has the wrong location of side stakes. NH 62000-62014, 52 ft 6 in IL cars, Bethlehem, built 1959.





Ben Hom
Xxtreme Modeling Presentation

Bill Welch
 

I saw several comments about my "Xxtreme Modeling" presentation at THE BEACH and wanted to Thank all who commented and attended. I wanted to alert folks that there is sometimes sensitivity with the link that I provided in that sometimes for whatever reason it will not work with a particular Web Browser, so if people run into a problem, try another Browser because it is a good link. My plan is to the same presentation at Lisle if Joe wants me to and then I will make the link generally available and ask Marty to put it on his Freight Car Blog.


Something I forgot to mention that Lance Mindheim touched on in his presentation reminding me that I forgot. I prefer to use slightly undersize strip styrene when making parts. Hence that is why I use .020 x .020 instead of HO Scale 2 x 2 etc. for freight car project.


Bill Welch
Re: More tank car number series help

Clark Propst
 

Thanks much Doug! The two cars I mentioned carried lard from Deckers in May 57.
 
I do have a questions. Are you sure that’s an IC train? If it has F units.
 
Second question, what is the number series for these cars?
Clark Propst
Mason City Iowa
Re: Quicken Loans box car

water.kresse@...
 

Their stationary Abe Lincoln is a local CWRT re-enactor. 
 
Al Kresse

From: "Garth Groff sarahsan@... [STMFC]"
To: STMFC@...
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 4:59:59 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

 

Brian and Al,

Yes, the Fillmore & Western. They maintain a movie train that has several wooden ex-SN cars. The boxcar is either an ex-ex WP car from the 16001 series dating from 1917/1918, or an ex-SN car dating from 1919. Both are the same design. The SN had some ex-WP cars with steel ends as well as their own with wooden ends. Both were built by Mt. Vernon, and were offered by Sunshine at one time.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff

On 1/14/15 4:38 PM, BRIAN PAUL EHNI bpehni@... [STMFC] wrote:
 

I think those are filmed on the Fillmore & Western

Thanks!
--

Brian Ehni

From: STMFC List
Reply-To: STMFC List
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 3:33 PM
To: STMFC List
Subject: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

To all ­ Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some
presidents in harm¹s way. In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to
escape. The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted
for Quicken Loans. It appears to be genuine. Perhaps someone knows where
the car is. ­ Al Westerfield



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Quicken Loans box car

Andy Carlson
 

Fillmore & Western in California. It is one of several preserved Western Pacific channel side DS box cars. All of the WP cars had steel end replacements; earlier ones were corrugated, later ones were inverted-reversed??? early Dreadnaught. Our own Garth Groff has a nice Sacramento Northern web site which has a page devoted to the WP cars sold to the SN, plus the same cars SN had new, which never had steel end replacements. 2 cars at Fillmore, one of each steel end variety, plus one at Niles Canyon and several which are scattered around the state in private hands.

-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

From: "'Al and Patricia Westerfield' westerfieldalfred@... [STMFC]"
To: STMFC@...
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 1:33 PM
Subject: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

 
To all – Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some presidents in harm’s way.  In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to escape.  The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted for Quicken Loans.  It appears to be genuine.  Perhaps someone knows where the car is. – Al Westerfield
Re: Quicken Loans box car

Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
 

Brian and Al,

Yes, the Fillmore & Western. They maintain a movie train that has several wooden ex-SN cars. The boxcar is either an ex-ex WP car from the 16001 series dating from 1917/1918, or an ex-SN car dating from 1919. Both are the same design. The SN had some ex-WP cars with steel ends as well as their own with wooden ends. Both were built by Mt. Vernon, and were offered by Sunshine at one time.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff

On 1/14/15 4:38 PM, BRIAN PAUL EHNI bpehni@... [STMFC] wrote:
 

I think those are filmed on the Fillmore & Western

Thanks!
--

Brian Ehni

From: STMFC List
Reply-To: STMFC List
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 3:33 PM
To: STMFC List
Subject: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

To all ­ Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some
presidents in harm¹s way. In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to
escape. The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted
for Quicken Loans. It appears to be genuine. Perhaps someone knows where
the car is. ­ Al Westerfield
Re: Quicken Loans box car

Paul Koehler
 

Al:

 

Brian is correct the commercial was filmed on the Fillmore and Western.  Fillmore CA.

 

Paul C. Koehler

 

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 1:39 PM
To: STMFC List
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

 

 

I think those are filmed on the Fillmore & Western

Thanks!
--

Brian Ehni

From: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Reply-To: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 3:33 PM
To: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Subject: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car

To all ­ Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some
presidents in harm¹s way. In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to
escape. The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted
for Quicken Loans. It appears to be genuine. Perhaps someone knows where
the car is. ­ Al Westerfield



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Quicken Loans box car

BRIAN PAUL EHNI
 

I think those are filmed on the Fillmore & Western

Thanks!
--

Brian Ehni

From: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Reply-To: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 3:33 PM
To: STMFC List <STMFC@...>
Subject: [STMFC] Quicken Loans box car







To all ­ Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some
presidents in harm¹s way. In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to
escape. The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted
for Quicken Loans. It appears to be genuine. Perhaps someone knows where
the car is. ­ Al Westerfield








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Quicken Loans box car

al_westerfield
 

To all – Quicken is running a series of ads with Ben Franklin and some presidents in harm’s way.  In one Franklin jumps a passenger train to escape.  The final scene is of a 1910 era channel side sill box car painted for Quicken Loans.  It appears to be genuine.  Perhaps someone knows where the car is. – Al Westerfield
Re: Athearn container gondolas

arved_grass
 

NMCI? Richard Hendrickson's "Toy Train Bozos?" You have me in stitches.

For those that don't know, NMCI = Navy/Marine Corp Internet, or as we say at work, Non-Mission Capable Internet, although there are many more versions of this. Basically, the company in charge is responsible for securing the network against cyber attack. Evidently, actually being able to use the internet is not a contractual requirement.

The round containers of ATH29286 seem similar to the containers used by several railroads, Here's a photo of DLW cars with similar containers:

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/Chris333_33/media/DLW.jpg.html

Here's a NYC car that at least vaguely resembles the Athearn model (ie a gondola with those containers):

http://www.readingmodeler.com/media/kunena/attachments/122/NYCCementContainerGon.jpg

The rectangular container isn't familiar to me.

The gondola is another story. I think the consensus is the Athearn 50' gondola has no prototype. Irv did claim his models were "Scaled from official blueprints." I guess it could be argued by a good lawyer that if Irv drew the blueprints, they were as official as anything else. He never claimed they were official RAILROAD blueprints. However, I've seen a reference on Trainorders.com that the car could be a GBRS class gondola made in 1959 for the New Haven.

Don't take my word for it. I know diddly squat about the New Haven. As my professors would say:

"The proof is left as an exercise to the student."

(GD&R)

At the very least, I'm told fishbelly sides and fishbelly center sills were mutually exclusive of one another, so I side with those saying there's no prototype for the Athearn 50' gondola.

A lot depends on how accurate you want to be. If you're one of those "Toy Train Bozos," it probably doesn't matter (but, then, you probably wouldn't be here). Even if it is a 1959 New Haven car, I don't think it was used to carry these containers, and even if it was, it's very close to being at the end of this groups cut-off date. Maybe it's an acceptable stand-in for a car you feel the need to model. Nobody should decide that for you. If I wanted to model either of those cars above, I'd probably go for it, and be wrong, but it's certainly better than going without.

Arved Grass
Arved_Grass@... or Arved@...
Fleming Island, Florida

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

On Wed, 1/14/15, Benjamin Hom b.hom@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:

Subject: Re: [STMFC] Athearn container gondolas
To: "STMFC@..." <STMFC@...>
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 3:45 PM


 











Gene Green asked:

"Athearn is currently offering at least two gondolas
with loads of small containers. Athearn literature labels
these as appropriate for 1980 to the present and, based on
the paint schemes alone, that is likely correct."



Do you mean these? (I'm unable to cut and paste links
due to browser issues at work. Thank you, NMCI.)

S/N ATH29287 - NS 29287

ATH29286 - CSX 379883

ATH29285 - BNSF 505349

ATH29238 - UP 697012

These paint schemes are at least four to five decades too
new for both the cars and the containers.



"Is the Athearn gondola model at least representative
of a gondola built and in use before 1950? Before 1960? I
assume it is not actually a model of any specific
car."



Define "representative". This model is bogus and
has no specific prototype. It can be kitbashed into a
prototype model (ex: DT&I gon from a previous Cocoa
Beach Shake-N-Take) but isn't good for anything out of
the box. This is the model that spurred the formation of
the STMFC group when Richard Hendrickson stated on the now
defunct Freight Car List that the target audience for this
model was "toy train bozos", a characterization
some members took as a green light to start a flame war.



"My research seems to indicate that the containers and
gondola were dedicated to one another. That is, the gondola
couldn't be used for any other purpose and the
containers could only be carried in a gondola outfitted for
that specific purpose. Can anyone confirm or
refute?"



True in the case of the Athearn containers, which represent
two specific types of containers. The orange cylindrical
containers are for cement, while the silver ones are
refrigerated containers.



Ben Hom











#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945 --
#yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp {
border:1px solid #d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px
0;padding:0 10px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp hr {
border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp #yiv8741756945hd {
color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px
0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp #yiv8741756945ads {
margin-bottom:10px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp .yiv8741756945ad {
padding:0 0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp .yiv8741756945ad p {
margin:0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mkp .yiv8741756945ad a {
color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}
#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor
#yiv8741756945ygrp-lc {
font-family:Arial;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor
#yiv8741756945ygrp-lc #yiv8741756945hd {
margin:10px
0px;font-weight:700;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor
#yiv8741756945ygrp-lc .yiv8741756945ad {
margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945actions {
font-family:Verdana;font-size:11px;padding:10px 0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity {
background-color:#e0ecee;float:left;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;padding:10px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity span {
font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity span:first-child {
text-transform:uppercase;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity span a {
color:#5085b6;text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity span span {
color:#ff7900;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945activity span
.yiv8741756945underline {
text-decoration:underline;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945attach {
clear:both;display:table;font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;padding:10px
0;width:400px;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945attach div a {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945attach img {
border:none;padding-right:5px;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945attach label {
display:block;margin-bottom:5px;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945attach label a {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 blockquote {
margin:0 0 0 4px;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945bold {
font-family:Arial;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945bold a {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 dd.yiv8741756945last p a {
font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 dd.yiv8741756945last p span {
margin-right:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 dd.yiv8741756945last p
span.yiv8741756945yshortcuts {
margin-right:0;}

#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945attach-table div div a {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945attach-table {
width:400px;}

#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945file-title a, #yiv8741756945
div.yiv8741756945file-title a:active, #yiv8741756945
div.yiv8741756945file-title a:hover, #yiv8741756945
div.yiv8741756945file-title a:visited {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945photo-title a,
#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945photo-title a:active,
#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945photo-title a:hover,
#yiv8741756945 div.yiv8741756945photo-title a:visited {
text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 div#yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg
#yiv8741756945ygrp-msg p a span.yiv8741756945yshortcuts {
font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;font-weight:normal;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945green {
color:#628c2a;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945MsoNormal {
margin:0 0 0 0;}

#yiv8741756945 o {
font-size:0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945photos div {
float:left;width:72px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945photos div div {
border:1px solid
#666666;height:62px;overflow:hidden;width:62px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945photos div label {
color:#666666;font-size:10px;overflow:hidden;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;width:64px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945reco-category {
font-size:77%;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945reco-desc {
font-size:77%;}

#yiv8741756945 .yiv8741756945replbq {
margin:4px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-actbar div a:first-child {
margin-right:2px;padding-right:5px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg {
font-size:13px;font-family:Arial, helvetica, clean,
sans-serif;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg table {
font-size:inherit;font:100%;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg select,
#yiv8741756945 input, #yiv8741756945 textarea {
font:99% Arial, Helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg pre, #yiv8741756945
code {
font:115% monospace;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg * {
line-height:1.22em;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-mlmsg #yiv8741756945logo {
padding-bottom:10px;}


#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-msg p a {
font-family:Verdana;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-msg
p#yiv8741756945attach-count span {
color:#1E66AE;font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-reco
#yiv8741756945reco-head {
color:#ff7900;font-weight:700;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-reco {
margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor #yiv8741756945ov
li a {
font-size:130%;text-decoration:none;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor #yiv8741756945ov
li {
font-size:77%;list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-sponsor #yiv8741756945ov
ul {
margin:0;padding:0 0 0 8px;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-text {
font-family:Georgia;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-text p {
margin:0 0 1em 0;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-text tt {
font-size:120%;}

#yiv8741756945 #yiv8741756945ygrp-vital ul li:last-child {
border-right:none !important;
}
#yiv8741756945
Re: Athearn container gondolas

Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
 

Friends,

IIRC, both those containers go back to Athearn's kits and RTR trainset cars of the late 1950s. I seem to remember seeing something like the refrigerated container in the CBC, possibly the 1953 edition.

Yes, some containers were specific to their cars, and possibly not ever removed. The D&H had some cement container gondolas that had holes cut in the sides and couldn't be used for anything else, and I think the containers were permanent. OTOH, some PRR containers were definitely meant to be transferred to trucks for off-line delivery. In any case, probably many gondolas or flat cars carrying containers had bracing and/or tie-downs that made them unsuitable for other loads.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff

On 1/14/15 3:45 PM, Benjamin Hom b.hom@... [STMFC] wrote:
 


Gene Green asked:
"Athearn is currently offering at least two gondolas with loads of small containers. Athearn literature labels these as appropriate for 1980 to the present and, based on the paint schemes alone, that is likely correct."

Do you mean these? (I'm unable to cut and paste links due to browser issues at work. Thank you, NMCI.)
S/N ATH29287 - NS 29287
ATH29286 - CSX 379883
ATH29285 - BNSF 505349
ATH29238 - UP 697012
These paint schemes are at least four to five decades too new for both the cars and the containers.

"Is the Athearn gondola model at least representative of a gondola built and in use before 1950? Before 1960? I assume it is not actually a model of any specific car."

Define "representative". This model is bogus and has no specific prototype. It can be kitbashed into a prototype model (ex: DT&I gon from a previous Cocoa Beach Shake-N-Take) but isn't good for anything out of the box. This is the model that spurred the formation of the STMFC group when Richard Hendrickson stated on the now defunct Freight Car List that the target audience for this model was "toy train bozos", a characterization some members took as a green light to start a flame war.

"My research seems to indicate that the containers and gondola were dedicated to one another. That is, the gondola couldn't be used for any other purpose and the containers could only be carried in a gondola outfitted for that specific purpose. Can anyone confirm or refute?"

True in the case of the Athearn containers, which represent two specific types of containers. The orange cylindrical containers are for cement, while the silver ones are refrigerated containers.

Ben Hom
Kodick and STMFC

ed_mines
 

I worked for Kodak for much of the '70s.


The company was run by the most arrogant, know it all windbags imaginable. Business decisions were made

irrationally. I could see the eventual failure of the company after working there for 2 weeks.


Not too long before going bankrupt new management starting making decisions based solely on dollars and cents. They demolished much of Kodak Park to save on taxes.


I'm sure they would still be making traditional silver halide products overseas if it was economically sound; unfortunately the old time Kodak way of doing things still makes their costs a multiple of anyone elses.


Digital is a whole lot cheaper than old time silver halide. Don't you think they  had enough scientists working there when I was an employee to be at the top of digital today?


STMFC content - I walked by a 1920's era NYC 40 ft. gon every day & saw a USRA NYC hopper in the Kodak power plant.


Ed Mines
Re: Athearn container gondolas

Tony Thompson
 

Ben Hom wrote:

 

This model is bogus and has no specific prototype. It can be kitbashed into a prototype model (ex: DT&I gon from a previous Cocoa Beach Shake-N-Take) but isn't good for anything out of the box. This is the model that spurred the formation of the STMFC group when Richard Hendrickson stated on the now defunct Freight Car List that the target audience for this model was "toy train bozos", a characterization some members took as a green light to start a flame war.


      Leave us not forget that this Athearn gondola, certainly representing no prototype out of the box, CAN be kitbashed into MANY prototypes. Richard himself did a two-part article in Prototype Modeler back in the day, accomplishing reasonable models of eight different railroads' gondolas, though most had to be lengthened, side sills or ends modified, floors redone, etc.

Tony Thompson             Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705         www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@...
Publishers of books on railroad history
63941 - 63960 of 194804