Stephan - My decal set 7902 is the exact lettering for the car - I issued a new version of the kit several years ago. See the decal section of www.westerfield.biz. - Al Westerfield

... the #4 had a slot in the coupler shank that was behind the
square post that held the coupler in its pocket and there was a
spring that
fit into that slot. BUT, and what has not been stated here, is that
there was also a very small cylindrical piece of metal that fit
INSIDE that spring to provide limits to coupler travel.

I didn't mention that *&%$### subatomic-sized cylindrical filler
piece that has to be placed inside the spring sunokt because I felt I
was already pushing the envelope already in attempting to describe the
#4's venerable but unusual coupler shank centering arrangement. If
memory serves, this tiny cylinder was also a later addition by Kadee
some years following Kadee's shift to magnetic couplers, while other
aspects of the design remained unchanged. BTW, the coupler seems to
operate quite well if this cylinder is left out, i.e. as in, it has
already flown off the bench into a netherworld.

As implied, assembling the couplers with this miniscule little piece
was and still is no picnic. Once assembled, the coupler box/coupler is
treated with the highest respect.

Denny


Denny S. Anspach MD
Sacramento

I need help lettering an old Storzek door and a half kit. The one that
I have came without the lettering, sad to say. I don't know the lot
number and I'm uncertain about CAPY, LD WT, LT WT. I've seen a photo
showing 80,000, 88,000, 43,300 with T-section trucks but the
instruction sheet shows "Bettendorf" trucks and 50 ton CAPY. Any ideas
anyone? Thanks.

Stephan Parachuk
Toronto

The Harold Cox book "Surface Cars of Philadelphia" (ca 1963/4/5) has
a photo of a PTC streetcar with a "Koppers Coke - Order a ton today"
advertisement.

I don't have the book handy and I can'tt recall the car type or the
year on the photo (whic was likely pre 1960's) but it would imply
that Koppers had some type of a market for residential coke in the
Philly area and thus received coke deliveries somewhere by rail.

R. Mondichak

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "Dennis Storzek" <destorzek@...> wrote:

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, michael bishop <goldrod_1@> wrote:

Koppers Coke was the largest producer of house-heating coke. Coke

as

a home heating fuel began to diminish after World War II.

http://www.koppers.com/htm/OurCo_Heri_OldBD.html
 
MIchael Bishop

Coke shares one important trait with Anthracite (hard) coal; it

burns

with no smoke, since all the volatiles have already been distilled
out. I don't know how it priced compared to Anthracite, but in some
parts of the country it may have been competitive.

Before the entire nation was piped for natural gas, coke was the

fuel

of choice for forges and industrial ovens, especially in metal
working, where exposure to the gasses generated by burning coal

could

change the sulfur content of the metal.

When I was a kid, the neighbor boys and their dad, all very
technically minded, built a miniature crucible furnace for sand
casting aluminum and copper alloys (it didn't produce enough heat to
do ferrous alloys). Built in a 15 pound grease can lined with fire
clay, it was fired with coke and the fire blown with an old

Electrolux

vacuum cleaner with the hose on the outlet side.

They obtained their coke supply by bartering something for a half

bag

of coke from a Water Department crew that had their wagon parked on

a

repair job in the neighborhood. The Water Dept. guys used coke to

keep

their "fire can" heater going without smoking up the job site,
possibly also to keep a solder pot hot.

Lots of uses for small amounts of coke years ago, and it had to be
obtainable in less-than-carload lots somewhere.

Dennis

Could that be an "early" Hump Yard?  Looks like there might be a small elevation in the track, although I do not see any yardman handling the uncoupling.
 
Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE




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

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "Gatwood, Elden J SAD "
<elden.j.gatwood@...> wrote:

Tim;



The C&O and Clinchfield are the only two I can think of that had
those ends. There were others with extended height ends, such as
NYC and P&LE but they were not peaked.

Nice photo!

Elden Gatwood

Not so fast, please, Elden. Even the little Rutland had peaked-end
gons, purchased secondhand from the N&W, but they were not G-5's or I
would own a few.

Regards, Don Valentine

I don't think this is the coupler that Tim is talking about. It's one
of the pre-magnetic ones I think. It had a slot in the back and a
spring
was attached that applied the springing action. The spring was
behind the
center pivot post. I'm pretty sure this was one of the first Kadees
made.

Yes, this is the coupler that I am talking about; and yes, it is also
a seamless continuation of an original pre-magnetic Kadee coupler
shank design.

As an aside, I would suspect that this design has now been produced
unchanged for at least 55 or more years, surely a millennium in model
railroad hobby terms!

Denny

Tim, Denny, and all.
Just to prove (to myself) I'm not nuts (meaning really bad memory) I went to the junk box. It's an old Kadee with a straight uncoupling pin. The pivot pin and hole are just that, round (not a #4 style). Behind the pivot, on the couple shank, is a notch. The back of the couple box has a notch. A spring about 3/8" long fits in the two notches. This style of coupler has 'no' travel. I can post a picture if anyone's really interested but probably not.
As I don't have one of Jon C.'s tanks I thought that was what he had done.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, michael bishop <goldrod_1@...> wrote:

Koppers Coke was the largest producer of house-heating coke. Coke as

a home heating fuel began to diminish after World War II.

http://www.koppers.com/htm/OurCo_Heri_OldBD.html
 
MIchael Bishop

Coke shares one important trait with Anthracite (hard) coal; it burns
with no smoke, since all the volatiles have already been distilled
out. I don't know how it priced compared to Anthracite, but in some
parts of the country it may have been competitive.

Before the entire nation was piped for natural gas, coke was the fuel
of choice for forges and industrial ovens, especially in metal
working, where exposure to the gasses generated by burning coal could
change the sulfur content of the metal.

When I was a kid, the neighbor boys and their dad, all very
technically minded, built a miniature crucible furnace for sand
casting aluminum and copper alloys (it didn't produce enough heat to
do ferrous alloys). Built in a 15 pound grease can lined with fire
clay, it was fired with coke and the fire blown with an old Electrolux
vacuum cleaner with the hose on the outlet side.

They obtained their coke supply by bartering something for a half bag
of coke from a Water Department crew that had their wagon parked on a
repair job in the neighborhood. The Water Dept. guys used coke to keep
their "fire can" heater going without smoking up the job site,
possibly also to keep a solder pot hot.

Lots of uses for small amounts of coke years ago, and it had to be
obtainable in less-than-carload lots somewhere.

Dennis

.........what is the neat 50 ft., single door car with

the Murphy ends behind the support?

Regards, Don Valentine

It looks like a former door and a half Great Northern SS 50' box car with the 6/5/5 Murphy ends. These cars came in several varieties of underframes, door configuration, and both Pratt and Howe truss applications. Many were modified as to door alterations/additions-subtractions. GN rebuilt many cars with new steel carbodies, giving us very attractive 10'0" IH single door cars with diagonal panel roofs and post war Youngstown doors, but with "Ore Car spacing" deep fishbelly underframes and reuse of those same 6/5/5 Murphy ends. Some were painted in 1951 in the GN "loader" scheme of Builder Green/Orange, a very attratctive car.
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

Hello Don and others. I very much remember as a child growing up in Chelsea
MA in the late 40's and early 50's we would occasionally use coke. Money
usually was a little tight at the time but we would use coke sometimes because the
heat content was higher than coal. Coke was a little more expensive than
coal but coke was less dense than coal therefore you got more bang for the buck.
It was a lot cleaner than coal also. I recall the ashes of coke were a kind
of pinkish color as opposed to coal ash being whitish gray. I'm sure some of
our neighbors used coke judging by the ash color that was sprinkled on icy
sidewalks. I also remember getting the delivery of coal or coke. The dump truck
bed would rise up on a scissor type lift. The delivery men would use canvas
baskets to take it from the truck to the chute leading into the coal bin in
the cellar. Ah, memories. Al Campbell
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy
steps!
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%3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62)

Koppers Coke was the largest producer of house-heating coke. Coke as a home heating fuel began to diminish after World War II.

http://www.koppers.com/htm/OurCo_Heri_OldBD.html
 
MIchael Bishop

Don,

It is a Great Northern car. See Westerfield 2851.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

Donald B. Valentine wrote:

Looks like either Bridgeport or Stamford to me (my money would be on Bridgeport).

The box car looks like a GN car, see Westerfield kit #2852.

FWIW, I recall seeing a photo of a M&W car on the O&W at Summitville, so now we also know how they got to the New Haven... ;>)

Bill Schneider

Notice that the 2 CISX cars are 4 course tank cars. Maybe Bob Gould should have done this car.
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

It looks like they were in a lot of places, see http://www.koppers.com/htm/OurCo_Heri_Main.html

Don Burn

Sounds like the ex-Train Miniature x29/ARA car. If so, it's going to be
a pretty low height car and I'm not sure correct as that number equates
to a 10'6" IH car in my 1950 ORER

Jerry Glow

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@...> wrote:

Is this a dealer that sells coke (for homes? business?)
or a producer of coke? (in which case those coal cars
would be arriving with ordinary coal I guess)
http://tbn0.google.com/hosted/images/c?q=e67ae0d61d79f076_large

I suspect most of us think of coke as a fuel used only by heavy
industry, primarily in steel making. That said, this certainly looks
more like a dealer in coke, with no coking furnaces showing. Years
ago someone indicated to me that coke was sometimes used to heat
residential housing, though that seems a stretch to me. But the
amount of green in the photo leads me to think the area in which it
was taken was not a "heavily industrial area". Do you know where the
photo was taken or does anyone know if coke might have been used as
a residential heating fuel in some limited areas? The areas in which
Koppers distributed their products might also help pin things down if
they can be determined.

Regards, Don Valentine

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@...> wrote:

So now we know they made it to the east coast in 1950! :-)
http://tbn0.google.com/hosted/images/c?q=872ee5b6fc6c5a02_large

At least to the New Haven, judging by the catenary support. But
where on the NH and what is the neat 50 ft., single door car with
the Murphy ends behind the support?

Regards, Don Valentine

He don't look like Charlie Sheen!!!!!  Dennis