Friends,

I did a search of this and several lists and could not find an answer, has anyone ever shortened a Kadee running board? I am building a Rail Shop Carbon Black Hopper and want to replicate a 1948 build with an Apex running board. I would love to use a Kadee 50’ part and need to cut out 5’, presumably from the center in order to keep the end details in place.  

Has anyone tried this or have suggestions that would make it easier? Photos? I know canopy glue is a good adhesive for adhering to supports and maybe I could make the joint over one. Thanks for your insights. 
 

Bruce D. Griffin
Ashland, MD
https://bomodeling.com/blog/

Not to throw the Red Owl warehouse topic off or head off in a tangent, however with all due respect to "where the sugar comes from” regarding the Hopkins MN warehouse; 
   Sugar is (1) a bulk commodity, (2) it is publicly traded, and should it be cane or beet (3) it is grown in many areas around the US.

Sugar costs are low, low enough that in that the US sugar industry, price supports exist to maintain US sugar independence.  

And because of all of the above - shipping transport costs quickly assume a great importance to final prices when all other costs tend to be either low or stable across large areas. 
Here we have both.

      I dislike greatly the mixing of data across eras, and am aware of this lists cut-off date of 1960, something I very strongly support. However ask that the map introduced by this link be looked at and ask yourself the question; with all these sugar processing options closer to the Hopkins, MN Red Owl warehouse, just south of the Twin Cities or in the Red River Valley, why would one go into MT?             Billings is closer (550-600 miles) to the population center of Denver, CO and seems a more logical destination.  (Wasn't there a large baking consortium there?)

https://sugaralliance.org/us-sugar/sugars-coast-to-coast-reach

_,_._,_

Mont Switzer's 2017 Chicagoland RPM presentation motivated me to model a Monon boxcar.  O-scale CIL 9157 began as an Intermountain kit.  I scratchbuilt a new roof walk for it from styrene strips, and I replaced some of the kit's more fragile styrene parts with brass equivalents.  I painted the car with Polly Scale and MicroLux acrylics, and lettered it with Protocraft decals.

The Monon had 450 of these 1937 AAR boxcars, with road numbers 9000-9449.  Pullman-Standard built them in 1941 and 1942, and all rode on National B-1 trucks.  O-scale B-1s are hard to find so I "scratch-bashed" these from 1970s-vintage Atlas Bettendorf trucks.  The Atlas side-frames were molded from high-impact polystyrene so the conversion wasn't difficult.  The attached photos show how I did it.

Stay well,

Dick Scott

 

Attachments:

• CIL 9157.JPG
• Truck modification.jpg

Not to throw the Red Owl warehouse topic off or head off in a tangent, however with all due respect to "where the sugar comes from” regarding the Hopkins MN warehouse; 
   Sugar is (1) a bulk commodity, (2) it is publicly traded, and should it be cane or beet (3) it is grown in many areas around the US.

Sugar costs are low, low enough that in that the US sugar industry, price supports exist to maintain US sugar independence.  

And because of all of the above - shipping transport costs quickly assume a great importance to final prices when all other costs tend to be either low or stable across large areas. 
Here we have both.

      I dislike greatly the mixing of data across eras, and am aware of this lists cut-off date of 1960, something I very strongly support. However ask that the map introduced by this link be looked at and ask yourself the question; with all these sugar processing options closer to the Hopkins, MN Red Owl warehouse, just south of the Twin Cities or in the Red River Valley, why would one go into MT?             Billings is closer (550-600 miles) to the population center of Denver, CO and seems a more logical destination.  (Wasn't there a large baking consortium there?)

https://sugaralliance.org/us-sugar/sugars-coast-to-coast-reach

  Hold your cursor over the dots on the map for more information.  

    And of the map listings for processing plants – Please, Google up the data of the plant you are interested in locally to see its history and build date. Some plants listed on the link did not exist in the STMFC era, which is why again, I dislike mixing data across extended time frames.

 

Chaska, MN to Hopkins, MN – possibly 20 miles and a single line shipment if M&StL has rights to switch the Red Owl Warehouse. (Chaska had a sugar processing plant that opened in 1906 and operated well through the STMFC era.)

East Grand Forks area to Hopkins - ~300 to 350 miles and if served by GN as the Sanborn map elsewhere shows tracks of this railroad nearby and GN has reciprocal switching rights into this plant off its Hutchinson branch, and then it would also be a single line shipment .
Via NP about the same mileage as NP and M&StL looked to each other as friendly connections. (East Grand Forks plant – opened 1923, Moorhead, MN – 1948, Crookston – 1954)   

Sidney, MT to Hopkins, MN – 600+ miles.  

East Billings to Hopkins - ~ 800 miles NP/Milwaukee (the Milwaukee is local to Hopkins Red Owl warehouse.) Or ~850 miles via NP/M&StL.  

 

I do have revenue freight classified tables for 1953 of my studied railroad however looking, Sugar, syrup, molasses, and candy - are all given in an aggregate figure under manufactured products and as such, not a lot of help.  

 

For more on sugar and sugar price supports look here:

 https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/sugar-sweeteners/background/     Sugar cane listed one third down, beets one half down

                                                                Jim Dick – St. Paul, MN  

Ray Carson wrote:

I currently have a Walthers GACX express reefer that I was doing some modifications to match it with the PFE prototype. The problem is I got carried away and damaged the paint and some of the wood sheath details on the sides. Even though express reefers aren't technically considered freight cars but passenger cars, I was wondering if the PFE cars were actually dark olive like the UP and SP heavyweight cars or just the general Pullman green.

Dark Olive Green.

Also what are some good PFE decals to go with these cars? The Tichy decals are rather off as I look at them.

Not sure what is currently available. 

Tony Thompson

tony@...

Tony and Bruce,

I would love to go the other way and lengthen a Kadee 40' Morton running board to 50'. Most Western Pacific/Sacramento Northern/Tidewater Southern 50' PS-1s had Morton running boards, and I have a mess of these I would like to be more accurate.

Yours Aye,

Garth Groff  🦆

Not to throw the Red Owl warehouse topic off or head off in a tangent, however with all due respect to "where the sugar comes from” regarding the Hopkins MN warehouse; 
   Sugar is (1) a bulk commodity, (2) it is publicly traded, and should it be cane or beet (3) it is grown in many areas around the US.

Sugar costs are low, low enough that in that the US sugar industry, price supports exist to maintain US sugar independence.  

And because of all of the above - shipping transport costs quickly assume a great importance to final prices when all other costs tend to be either low or stable across large areas. 
Here we have both.

      I dislike greatly the mixing of data across eras, and am aware of this lists cut-off date of 1960, something I very strongly support. However ask that the map introduced by this link be looked at and ask yourself the question; with all these sugar processing options closer to the Hopkins, MN Red Owl warehouse, just south of the Twin Cities or in the Red River Valley, why would one go into MT?             Billings is closer (550-600 miles) to the population center of Denver, CO and seems a more logical destination.  (Wasn't there a large baking consortium there?)

https://sugaralliance.org/us-sugar/sugars-coast-to-coast-reach

  Hold your cursor over the dots on the map for more information.  

    And of the map listings for processing plants – Please, Google up the data of the plant you are interested in locally to see its history and build date. Some plants listed on the link did not exist in the STMFC era, which is why again, I dislike mixing data across extended time frames.

Chaska, MN to Hopkins, MN – possibly 20 miles and a single line shipment if M&StL has rights to switch the Red Owl Warehouse. (Chaska had a sugar processing plant that opened in 1906 and operated well through the STMFC era.)

East Grand Forks area to Hopkins - ~300 to 350 miles and if served by GN as the Sanborn map elsewhere shows tracks of this railroad nearby and GN has reciprocal switching rights into this plant off its Hutchinson branch, and then it would also be a single line shipment .
Via NP about the same mileage as NP and M&StL looked to each other as friendly connections. (East Grand Forks plant – opened 1923, Moorhead, MN – 1948, Crookston – 1954)  

Sidney, MT to Hopkins, MN – 600+ miles. 

East Billings to Hopkins - ~ 800 miles NP/Milwaukee (the Milwaukee is local to Hopkins Red Owl warehouse.) Or ~850 miles via NP/M&StL. 

I do have revenue freight classified tables for 1953 of my studied railroad however looking, Sugar, syrup, molasses, and candy - are all given in an aggregate figure under manufactured products and as such, not a lot of help. 

For more on sugar and sugar price supports look here:

 https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/sugar-sweeteners/background/     Sugar cane listed one third down, beets one half down

                                                                Jim Dick – St. Paul, MN