Does anybody known anything about Tichys latest offering, an injection
molded (or moulded for our friends north of the border) kit for a war
emergency gondola?....it's coming in several varieties, i.e. factory
painted >2-3 roads, unpainted and unpainted with a set of decals for 5-6
roads. I don't >suppose there will be any variety of detailing to match
known prototypes, will >there be? Like different ends, brakes, board
spacings, steel siding or no >siding at all (to match the car in the
IRM)?...

Byron, as I'm not well connected at Tichy, all I know is what I've heard
second hand. I doubt that there will be variants of the sort you
enumerate, though it's my understanding that they will eventually do the
steel sheathed version. Tichy is apparently using Funaro's research and
decal sets, FWIW. The car body is supposed to be in one piece with
separate ends. What provision has been made for weighting the car remains
to be seen, but with the open side framing below the floor my usual
procedure of slapping some wheel balance weights on the bottom of the floor
obviously won't work.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Guys,
Some of you have suggested that the STMFC membership require approval for
entry. I have decided to do that at least for the time being. OTOH, I don't
want to be the Supreme Court [ we have enough of those ] on such matters, so
we'll have to see what transpires. I still believe and hope that the last
sentence in the charter

"Emphasis is to be placed on the study of the prototype with a goal of
producing models of them with as great a degree of accuracy as possible."

will steer those not interested in such a commitment to other sites.

As many of you know, Al Westerfield's server has been down and, therefore,
did not receive word about this group. I have sent him another message
asking him to join. I would appreciate any of you that care to, to suggest
the same.

It has occurred to me, BTW, that the population of this group includes a
very large number of people who own Friends of the Freight Car shirts.
Perhaps we might consider this group to be the internet tool for that august
group.

Mike Brock

Does anybody known anything about Tichys latest offering, an injection
molded (or moulded for our friends north of the border) kit for a war
emergency gondola? I just received notification of its forthcoming
availability and it seems to have escaped my radar entirely. Perhaps
that's because I've been living in a freight car vacuum by not being a
part of that other Internet group. In any case, it's coming in several
varieties, i.e. factory painted 2-3 roads, unpainted and unpainted with a
set of decals for 5-6 roads. I don't suppose there will be any variety
of detailing to match known prototypes, will there be? Like different
ends, brakes, board spacings, steel siding or no siding at all (to match
the car in the IRM)? I guess I'll hang onto my Sunshine/F&C kits for a
while longer.

BSR
________________________________________________________________
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From: byronrose@juno.com

What size were the pivot pins on 1920s era coupler knuckles?

Come on, Byron, you ought to know that D couplers used a 13 3/8" long, 1 5/8"
diameter pin, drilled for a 3/8" X 2 1/2" cotter. Geez, I thought everybody
knew THAT one.

Now, can anyone help me with the correct contour of a USRA striker casting?
The 1919 CBC plans I'm looking at show, looking from the top, a flat striking
surface in some plans and a convex surface in others.

As everyone knows except Bob Hundman, the drawings were only proposals and
don't necessarily represent the cars as built. In fact, the striking
castings on most of the USRA cars were concave. They weren't that way to
start with, but that's how they looked after several hundred abrupt stops.

Seriously, I just looked at a number of builder's photos of several
different USRA car types and the face of the striker casting was flat in
all of them.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

From: byronrose@juno.com

What size were the pivot pins on 1920s era coupler knuckles?

Come on, Byron, you ought to know that D couplers used a 13 3/8" long, 1 5/8"
diameter pin, drilled for a 3/8" X 2 1/2" cotter. Geez, I thought everybody
knew THAT one.

Now, can anyone help me with the correct contour of a USRA striker casting?
The 1919 CBC plans I'm looking at show, looking from the top, a flat striking
surface in some plans and a convex surface in others.

Earl Tuson

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
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Hi:

I don't know that the Maritime fishery was involved but seeing as we are
talking fresh fish, speed was critical to keep the time from the water to
the consumer's plate at a minimum. Therefore my guess would be yes as I
expect that fishing boats weren't also travelling to New York and other
ships wouldn't have been particularly fast.

sswain@TOTAL.NET wrote:

CN 10000-10099 express reefer kit in
HO scale. I'm told these wood-sheathed cars were commonly seen in New
England headed to New York loaded with fresh fish from fisheries such as
that based in Prince Rupert BC and the inland fisheries of Manitoba,
Ontario, etc.

Probably from maritime fisheries, too, or would that be
assumed to be unable to compete with direct coastal shipping? In
any case, CN express reefers were common on the Rutland's
passenger trains originating in Montreal (and presumably empties
returning). Since these trains went to both NYC and Boston, I'm
not sure which of these was the destination of the Canadian fish.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff English Troy, New York
Proto:64 Classic Era Railroad Modeling
englij@rpi.edu

| R U T L A N D R A I L R O A D |
Route of the Whippet
---------------------------------------------------------------


To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
STMFC-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Stafford Swain
26 Kenneth Street
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
R3T 0K8
(204) 477-9246
sswain@total.net

Bet you never thought I'd be asking for prototype data on hopper cars. But
it's not for me personally. However, I would very much like to track down
photos of Wabash and GM&O (ex-Alton) war emergency twin hopper cars showing
how they were lettered after they were rebuilt with steel sheathing in the
late 1950s. Anybody have any ideas about where such photos might be found?

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Tim O'Connor writes:
"The discussion about GLUE has been covered in virtually every mailing list
since the beginning of time
and I hope that now that's it come up and been discussed, that that is the
last we'll see of it here...

Gee, Tim, sorry I spoke. I was responding to a question about GLUE, if
you perhaps recall. But I will in future try hard never to answer any
question which may have been answered previously.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2942 Linden Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 http://www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroads and on Western history

sswain@TOTAL.NET wrote:

CN 10000-10099 express reefer kit in
HO scale. I'm told these wood-sheathed cars were commonly seen in New
England headed to New York loaded with fresh fish from fisheries such as
that based in Prince Rupert BC and the inland fisheries of Manitoba,
Ontario, etc.

Probably from maritime fisheries, too, or would that be
assumed to be unable to compete with direct coastal shipping? In
any case, CN express reefers were common on the Rutland's
passenger trains originating in Montreal (and presumably empties
returning). Since these trains went to both NYC and Boston, I'm
not sure which of these was the destination of the Canadian fish.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff English Troy, New York
Proto:64 Classic Era Railroad Modeling
englij@rpi.edu

| R U T L A N D R A I L R O A D |
Route of the Whippet
---------------------------------------------------------------

While we're on the subject:

Were the cars of the big lessor/owners, like UTLX, SHPX
and GATX assigned regionally, or were cars simply leased
out to companies wherever they might be? I'm curious to
know if the cars that Mr. English documented on the East
Coast would have tended to stay in that area.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Some cars were on long-term leases and
remained in the service of the same shipper (and often on the same routes)
year after year. Some of these cars were stenciled with the shipper's
logo, but most were not. Other cars were leased on a short-term basis,
sometimes for only a single trip, and once they were returned to the car
owner's pool, cleaned, and serviced, their next trip could be to anywhere
in North America.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

While we're on the subject:

Were the cars of the big lessor/owners, like UTLX, SHPX
and GATX assigned regionally, or were cars simply leased
out to companies wherever they might be? I'm curious to
know if the cars that Mr. English documented on the East
Coast would have tended to stay in that area.

Shawn Beckert

Oooh, looky, some real FC questions:

What's the latest on Branchline freight cars?

Are the 40' [as opposed to 41'] box cars available yet?

No. It's my understanding that the tooling is finished, but (with only one
molding machine) BL has a BIG backlog of kits that have been promised but
aren't yet available - wood reefers, express reefers, etc. etc.

Do they have a version of their 50' box car that has a 10'6" IH and 4/4
early IDE's that can be used to model the UP A-50-18 and A-50-21?

Yes, and some of these kits have been produced, though not with UP
paint/lettering. In fact, their catalog doesn't show UP as one of the
future versions. Might be a golden opportunity to do a UP Historical
Society convention car, or something of the sort. Bill Schneider is very
easy to work with on a project of this kind, as I found when negotiating
for the convention cars for the San Jose NMRA convention.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Jeff, In further contemplating the UOCX car you identified as being on the
Rutland, I realized that you found it in

Switch Lists for Train #9 westbound out of Alburgh, Vermont, 9-21-
42 through 12-31-42, 5443 cars

So I'm not so surprised, after all. That was a period when there was still
a desparate shortage of tank cars, the feds had essentially pooled all
available tank cars to transport crude oil to eastern refineries while the
"big inch" and "little inch" pipelines were being constructed, and all bets
were off regarding where the cars of a particular owner might turn up.
Also, the gasoline business was off in the west (owing to severe
rationing), so Union might well have had surplus cars which went to the
government pool.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

From: Jeff English [mailto:englij@wizvax.net]

Report of Waybills Received at Ellenburg, NY, 7-2-51 through 8-28-
52, 1394 cars

Would you be interested in a data swap?

If you can send me a spreadsheet list of the car initial & number from the
above, I'll return to you on the following day the corresponding ORER data
for each pre April 1950 car in the list.

I'm kicking around some ideas about sampling data and how it relates to
ones own car roster. I've got 1000+ cars off a Southern Rwy conductors book
and am working towards another 1000 or so cars recorded by a UP conductor.
Data from a third region would be a useful.

And if you'd rather not, okay. I understand. I'm sure I'll acquire another
useful conductors book.

Dave Nelson

Mike Brock wrote, in part:

...secrecy is not a need...at least as far as I'm
concerned. This group is likewise not meant to
insult or demean the FCL in any way.

Mike, and List:

I hesitated a great deal before posting this, but I
feel it needs doing - I watched with concern last
week as the unfortunate debate over the "B" word got
hotter with each posting. I even attempted to inject
a little levity to try and cool things down, and just
ended up looking foolish.

I know this list was formed as a direct result of what
happened this past weekend, and I feel fortunate to be
included as a "charter" member. But I do have a real
concern about this list being common knowledge. This
list was created (I think) for the express purpose of
getting away from the newcomers and "Christmas Tree"
modelers. And I agree with that reasoning. But I also
have a concern that if the list is not restricted, at
least somewhat, you're going to have the same type of
people migrate here. And eventually there will be an
altercation of some kind, and the whole nasty cycle
will start over again.

I don't want to sound like there needs to be a "bouncer"
for this list, nor would I want to be a judge over who's
here and who isn't. But just so you know, I don't intend
to breathe a word of this list to anyone. Ever.

Having said all this,I will not bring the subject up again.

Shawn Beckert

Oooh, looky, some real FC questions:

What's the latest on Branchline freight cars?

Are the 40' [as opposed to 41'] box cars available yet?

Do they have a version of their 50' box car that has a 10'6" IH and 4/4
early IDE's that can be used to model the UP A-50-18 and A-50-21?

--
Jeff Aley, Development Engineer jaley@pcocd2.intel.com
Graphics Components Division
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA
(916) 356-3533

On Dec 13, 11:06pm, Mike Brock wrote:

Subject: Re: [STMFC] Freight Cars vs Glue

There is, in fact, a
newly developed glue that apparently will, for the first time, allow

details

such as those produced by Detail Associates to be easily attached to
styrene.

And has Mike Rose revealed to the world the name of his so-called miracle
adhesive? Until he does, I can only assume that it's made by Wrigleys.

I have, by the way, tried using "Poly-Zap", which is supposed to be able
to bond "space-age" plastics. [When did the space age start? 40 years
ago?] I attempted to glue two Athearn 33" freight car wheels
face-to-face. As a control, I also glued two more wheels with ordinary
Zap CA. I did not notice any difference between the strength of the Zap
bond vs the Polly Zap bond when I broke the wheels apart [by hand, so I
don't have numerical data].

Regards,

-Jeff

--
Jeff Aley, Development Engineer jaley@pcocd2.intel.com
Graphics Components Division
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA
(916) 356-3533

On Dec 14, 1:37am, byronrose@juno.com wrote:

Subject: [STMFC] Complaint

What size were the knot holes in the decks of USRA flat cars still in
service in the 40s?

They ranged from 1.25 to 2.5 inches. Larger knot holes would have caused
the wood to be a different grade and thus unsuitable for flat car decks.
[*].

Coincidentally, for those who model in HO scale, basswood exhibits knots
that are exactly to scale for this application. Therefore we see that (as
usual) wood is the best material to use if one wants to model wood. [**]

Regards,

-Jeff

[*]: Not really. I made this up.
[**]: I am reminded of the sport of "bear baiting"...

--
Jeff Aley, Development Engineer jaley@pcocd2.intel.com
Graphics Components Division
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA
(916) 356-3533

Jon Miller writes:

Might be a good time for Mike to state whether Way cars, er Cabooses,
are within our freight car topics. Also are we going to include Drover
cars? Some heavy questions for the moderator to decide!

Alas, the poor caboose. Usually...but not always assigned to the rear of a
train, it has no real home in the various lists. It isn't really a frt car,
nor can it be considered a passenger car [ assuming passengers are not RR
employees ]. I doubt we could really call it part of MOW nor would many
consider it a steam locomotive...although it often burned coal. Some
contemporary modelers probably think it's a diesel [ whatever that is ], but
few real railroaders would conclude that. So, given the fact that it usually
carried way bills for the frt cars in a train [ a cargo of sorts ], I'm
going to allow discussions about cabeese to be included....unless, of
course, there is strong opposition. Yeh, let's include drovers. Can't
imagine them being considered as people...ooops, passengers.

Mike Brock
STMFC moderator....when do I get to talk about frt cars?

Jeff English writes:

Since I'm not sure if this list is being kept secret from the FCL,

Guys, given part of the stated objective of this list...."Emphasis is to be
placed on the study of the prototype with a goal of producing models of them
with as great a degree of accuracy as possible", I see no reason why anyone
on the FCL [ as I am ] should be upset or concerned with the existence of
this group. In fact, it may reduce conflicts that might arise on the FCL due
to posters [ I am not aware that posters on the FCL have any requirement
that FCL discussions relate to modeling with the intent to be as accurate as
possible { that, BTW, doesn't imply great accuracy...just an ATTEMPT to
achieve accuracy }] having different objectives. Therefore, secrecy is not a
need...at least as far as I am concerned. This group is likewise not meant
to insult or demean the FCL in any way.

Mike Brock
STMFC moderator