On Aug 24, 2009, at 12:14 AM, SUVCWORR@... wrote:

Gene,

I answer these questions from customers all the time.? So you

should be able to ask your dealer before buying.

Rich Orr

Dealer? What dealer? I live more than 100 miles from the nearest

hobby shop that knows anything about or carries Branchline. Yes, my

local USA Hobbies will order them for me (at full price plus the 8%

local sales tax) but he doesn't give refunds based on paint schemes

or reweigh dates not being appropriate for my era. As I have noted

before, if Al Westerfield can provide an accurate timeline for each

car in an on-line web format, I'm baffled as to why others find it

apparently so difficult.

Regards

Bruce

Bruce F. Smith

Auburn, AL

http://www.vetmed. auburn.edu/ index.pl/ bruce_f._ smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."

__

/ \

__<+--+>____ _________ ___&#92;__/__ _ ____________ _________ _________ __

|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |

| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__ ||__||__| |__||__|| __||

|/__________ _________ _________ _&#92;|_|____ _________ _________ _________ _|

| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

On Aug 24, 2009, at 12:14 AM, SUVCWORR@... wrote:

Gene,

I answer these questions from customers all the time.? So you
should be able to ask your dealer before buying.

Rich Orr

Dealer? What dealer? I live more than 100 miles from the nearest
hobby shop that knows anything about or carries Branchline. Yes, my
local USA Hobbies will order them for me (at full price plus the 8%
local sales tax) but he doesn't give refunds based on paint schemes
or reweigh dates not being appropriate for my era. As I have noted
before, if Al Westerfield can provide an accurate timeline for each
car in an on-line web format, I'm baffled as to why others find it
apparently so difficult.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
|/_____________________________&#92;|_|________________________________|
| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

On Aug 24, 2009, at 12:14 AM, SUVCWORR@... wrote:

Gene,

I answer these questions from customers all the time.? So you
should be able to ask your dealer before buying.

Rich Orr

Dealer? What dealer? I live more than 100 miles from the nearest
hobby shop that knows anything about or carries Branchline. Yes, my
local USA Hobbies will order them for me (at full price plus the 8%
local sales tax) but he doesn't give refunds based on paint schemes
or reweigh dates not being appropriate for my era. As I have noted
before, if Al Westerfield can provide an accurate timeline for each
car in an on-line web format, I'm baffled as to why others find it
apparently so difficult.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
|/_____________________________&#92;|_|________________________________|
| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

Gene,

I answer these questions from customers all the time.? So you should be able to

Rich Orr

-----Original Message-----
From: bierglaeser <bierglaeser@...>
To: STMFC@...
Sent: Sun, Aug 23, 2009 8:32 pm
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Prototype info from model mfgs

Brian and Rich,
Yes, I know the information is (and has been) on the box label. I don't think

worded my message as well as I might have.

In order to get the information from the box label one must be able to hold it
in one's hand. That means, for the most part, that one must either be in a
hobby shop that has the model of interest or, as in my case, have to buy the
model through the mail or internet, wait until it arrives and then see if it is

what one wants.

Having the information in advance is a benefit for those who, like me, are far,

far away from a decent hobby shop.

Gene Green

Gene,

I answer these questions from customers all the time.? So you should be able to ask your dealer before buying.

Rich Orr

-----Original Message-----
From: bierglaeser <bierglaeser@...>
To: STMFC@...
Sent: Sun, Aug 23, 2009 8:32 pm
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Prototype info from model mfgs

Brian and Rich,
Yes, I know the information is (and has been) on the box label. I don't think I
worded my message as well as I might have.

In order to get the information from the box label one must be able to hold it
in one's hand. That means, for the most part, that one must either be in a
hobby shop that has the model of interest or, as in my case, have to buy the
model through the mail or internet, wait until it arrives and then see if it is
what one wants.

Having the information in advance is a benefit for those who, like me, are far,
far away from a decent hobby shop.

Gene Green

I can almost guarentee you a paper cutter will put a "twist" on the strips and it would probably be difficult to maintain consistant pieces. I would second on Andy's suggestion about the NWSL duplicutter.

Jerry Glow

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups. com, RUTLANDRS@ wrote:

Steve,

Don't know if you can cut as small as you would like but you might try

a paper cutter.

Chuck Hladik

In a message dated 8/20/2009 7:03:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

stevelucas3@ writes:

I want to make some scale 3 1/8" high x 5" wide "Z" stock for an HO cinder

car that I am working on. But to build this up I cannot find commercial

stock that is thin enough and sometimes of the proper width to represent the

steel stock that these were formed from.

I plan to use scale 2x2 for the centre of the Z, and want to use .005" x

.050" for the bottom. The top of the Z is .005" x .030" wide stock.

Both of the .005 thick strips need to be cut from styrene sheet. But I

have trouble replicating the .030" and .050" widths uniformly. I have used a

digital vernier to scribe a reference line on the sheet, but it's hard to

have a hand-held scalpel follow this line consistently along a steel scale

rule. My efforts so far have produced strips of varying widths.

Any thoughts on how to make these strips?

Thanks in advance,

Steve Lucas.

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

I can almost guarentee you a paper cutter will put a "twist" on the strips and it would probably be difficult to maintain consistant pieces. I would second on Andy's suggestion about the NWSL duplicutter.

Jerry Glow

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

Steve,
Don't know if you can cut as small as you would like but you might try
a paper cutter.
Chuck Hladik


In a message dated 8/20/2009 7:03:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
stevelucas3@ writes:




I want to make some scale 3 1/8" high x 5" wide "Z" stock for an HO cinder
car that I am working on. But to build this up I cannot find commercial
stock that is thin enough and sometimes of the proper width to represent the
steel stock that these were formed from.

I plan to use scale 2x2 for the centre of the Z, and want to use .005" x
.050" for the bottom. The top of the Z is .005" x .030" wide stock.

Both of the .005 thick strips need to be cut from styrene sheet. But I
have trouble replicating the .030" and .050" widths uniformly. I have used a
digital vernier to scribe a reference line on the sheet, but it's hard to
have a hand-held scalpel follow this line consistently along a steel scale
rule. My efforts so far have produced strips of varying widths.

Any thoughts on how to make these strips?

Thanks in advance,

Steve Lucas.







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

Now you are tromping in my field of expertise so perhaps I can assist. I agree with the numbers and service for the two cars cited. Eversweet was not the only company to use GPEX cars in the transport
of orange juice concentrate, however, as this was also done by both
H.P. Hood & Sons and the Whiting Milk Co., both based in Boston. In Hood's case the product was moved in 52 ft. GPEX cars of the last style constructed in 1947. These were the 8,000 gal. version of the 6,000 gal. car that InterMountain made such a mess of with their model having a totally incorrect roof slope angle and, thus, improper ends as well.
In such use these cars remained in their standard GPEX Pullman Green paint with Dulux lettering denoting whomever the car was leased to.
Hood's OJ originated in Dunedin, Fl. where Hood purchased an orange juice processing plant. I do not know where Whiting acquired theirs but know it came from Florida. You also have the Seminole Milk Co. of Jacksonville that had milk tank cars of the General American type early on that might be used to justify an actual milk car that operated in Florida. I'm sorry that I can't assist with the routing of that car or a date when the service ended but, if memory serves, the processing plant was located near a major yard in Jax. From this you can see that the cars you mentioned are not the only possibilites open to you.

Returning specifically to GPEX 969 and 977 which you refer to some additonal points need to be raised. The General American "builders photos" that I have of these two cars are in reality only photos that were taken to document the paint scheme used on these two cars in OJ seervice, both both having been built in the 1920's. The photo of 977 was taken subsequent to its November 1955 servicing at General American's East Chicago facility while that of 969 was taken subsequent to its March 1960 servicing there. As you must be aware, however, these two cars were not at all painted in the same manner. The 977 was not lettered with the usual GPEX Roman style of lettering except for its reporting marks. To the left of the door the lettering stated "Scenic Citrus Corporation" over "Lyons, Illinois-Frostproof, Florida", with both states spelled out in their entirety. To the right of the door in fanciful script was a large "Eversweet" over "100% pure orange juice" in smaller lettering of the same font used for the lessees name at the left. I presume that the body of this car was painted Pullman green but am not certain of that having no color photos or lettering diagrams for the car. The "General American - Pfaudler Corporation" on the letterboard appears to be in GPEX's standard Dulux gold color and font while the remainder of the lettering on the cars' sides appears to be in white or, possibly, aluminum color. Non-standard for GPEX in any case. The 969 is altogether different in the way it was painted, again as you are probably well aware. The bottom two feet or so of the car sides have a dark band, above which the remainder of the car side is a much lighter color. White or possibly yellow or orange, I cannot tell, though orange would certainly fit with its service. But the "Scenic Citrus Corporation" had by this time become the "Eversweet Corporation" in the same lettering font used on 977 but in a contrasting dark color.
To the right of the door the fanciful "EverSweet" lettering had been reduced considerably in size, moved to the left and had what I would describe as a 1 qt. size Excello carton pouring orange juice into a glass painted on the car. To the right of the carton were the words "Fresh squeezed orange juice" in still another different lettering font. I had not given it any thought previously but wonder if what you suggest might be correct and that this car carried 100% juice rather than concentrate.

There are two points about these cars that I wonder if you have considered in using any of the available styrene models for them. First is the fact that the 969 has an ice hatch on at least the left hand side of the "A" end of the car when facing the "A" end, though the 977 does not appear to have this feature. Such an ice hatch isn't too big a job to add for an accurate model but what on earth are you going to do about the doors??? In case you had not noticed it the reefer style doors used on both of these cars had been replaced with the more narrow, single style of replacement door, initiated with GPEX 950 in April of 1944, before they entered orange juice service. To model this door accurately would require some fairly major reworking of the car sides, though it certainly could be done.

In any event, I have copies of R. Loganecker's original "builders photos" of these cars and might be able to assist if someone could be found to print them as my darkroom is down at the moment. And to keep the SMTFC police at least partially happy it should also be noted that H.P. Hood & Sons was the last known outfit to operate GPEX cars in either milk or OJ service, with both having ended in 1972. Many such cars went to the GM&O for use as water cars in work train service, while others went to museums. By the end of milk and/or OJ service, however, the passenger steam heat and air signal lines, as well as the buffers, had been removed, relegating the cars to freight service only even if a bit later than the era of this list when this was done. They also had "push or shove to rest" lettering added at the end of their carsides when used in freight service.

For anyone seriously interested in milk car and milk train information I moderate a list for same as another Yahoo group under the NAMTA heading for North American Milk Train Association. There are two milk car groups on Yahoo, teh NAMTA group and a less serious one.

Hope this helps, Don Valentine

Marty,

Jim Mischke was involved with this kit making sure the B&O stuff was accurate, so I think it will be pretty good for B&O. It is my understanding that B&O style bulkheads will be applied to a future kit. I added B&O to the subject in hopes of getting Jim to weigh in. He can fill in the details, but if we don't hear from him I will pull out an old B&O Modeler with info about the ProtoWest kit.

I am building the Protowest kit with auto/truck frames for a 1953(?) subclass that transported frames between Philly on the Reading and Baltimore. Not too useful for many modelers, but fun to build the appliances applied to the car to hold the frames.

Regards,
Bruce D. Griffin
Summerfield, NC

--- In STMFC@..., Marty McGuirk <mjmcguirk@> wrote:

Re-lettered or renumbered  . . . or both?



While we're on the subject of the IRC flats two questions -



1. Am I the only one who thinks the New Haven lettering looks a little "heavy"?

2. How accurate are the B&O cars? I thought the B&O 70-ton flats were built after the war (1948 sticks in my head) - I'm just curious if they were the same design as the cars built during the war years.





Thanks in advance.



Marty




----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Carlson" <midcentury@>
To: "Steam Era" <stmfc@...>
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 3:17:48 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [STMFC] Intermountain HO 70 ton Santa Fe Flats

 




I got the following message from a good Santa Fe modeler:

Hi Andy,
The box arrived to day with no problems. Thanks. But
as usual Intermountain has screwed it up again. The Ft-V
flat is a 50 ton War Emergency car. So the cars will have to
be relettered. See why I prefer to buy kits.

It seems that IM must have placed the wrong paint scheme on their Santa Fe 70 flat cars which were just recently released.
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA