I replaced the brass trucks on my W&R NP single sheathed box car
with Tahoe trucks -- a HUGE improvement in rolling performance!

Tim O'Connor

P.S. You get flyers from W&R? How do you get on the mailing list?

Does anyone know the answer to the following question?

Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA
===================
A friend found SFRD 14970, an Rr-34, on the ground in western New Mexico recently with the lettering mostly still legible (the black was mostly worn off, but the orange underneath had faired better than the orange that hadn't been protected by black). The car has a paint date stencil PTD 10-58 WC, as well as a CONDEMNED WI 9-71 stencil by the number. Anybody have a list of maintenance location codes they can point me to? I have a hunch WC is West Wichita and WI is Winslow, but I'd like to make sure.

The car also has a couple of other interesting stencils: "Miller Lubrs. applied -58, do not add waste. If defective notify test department" and below it, "Atlas Lubrs. RPKD (illegible) SB (illegible)." Were these different types of lubricator pads used in lieu of cotton waste for wicking oil to the bearings in the plain bearing trucks?

Evan Werkema

W&R, the brass importer, will be using Tahoe Model Works Dalman Trucks on its brass Northern Pacific 8000-8199 4 door auto boxcars that are scheduled to arrive in 4 versions in November of this year. The flyer from W&R includes this comment: "They look and roll better than any Korean truck. I am sure you will like this improvement. If you have not seen the Tahoe Model Works complete line of trucks at your hobby ship, take a look, the die work is superb."


gary laakso
south of Mike Brock
vasa0vasa@earthlink.net

Brian-
Same basic format, reprints from the Locomotive and Carbuilder's Cyclopedias; some photos, some plans.
Charlie Vlk

Charlie,

Wonderful resource you linked, I enjoyed perusing all 292 pages. Thank you much for presenting it here.

I have Lucas's "100 Year of Classic Steam Locomotives" but do not know about the other two Lucas titles you mentioned. Would you characterize them, please? Do they contain drawings?

Thanks much,

Brian

Brian Chapman
Evansdale, Iowa

>
.

There is the bright dark-ish yellow shirt with black wooden box car and lettering version that I have.  The only problem is I'm not the same size any more . . . so it is a little tight.  I use it almost every year at the C&O conferences for FC presentations and have also used it at Naperville.



Al Kresse

Tim O'Connor wrote:

I think that's the one -- it's more of a puke yellow than orange... :-)

There are both orange and yellow shirts. The orange is pretty vivid.

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, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history

I think that's the one -- it's more of a puke yellow than orange... :-)

Tim

And why wait for Sacramento - we could get together for a seafood dinner (crab, perhaps?) in Milwaukee next year ... <

I just mentioned Sacramento as I will not be at Milwaukee. But Milwaukee would be fine and I would buy a shirt to help out.
I idea is to prepay so someone doesn't get stuck with part of a bill.

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

I don't have an orange shirt but I do have a black one and a bright yellow one.

And why wait for Sacramento - we could get together for a seafood dinner (crab, perhaps?) in Milwaukee next year ...

Marty

I recall Richard joking about wearing shirts with
PROTOTYPE POLICE printed in large letters on the back
and having citation books printed... I thought it was
a good idea, although it would probably get us lynched
at most train shows. :-)

Tim O'Connor

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, Anthony Thompson <thompson@...> wrote:

Rod Miller wrote:

We are all familiar with the photo of the man squirting oil into
journal boxes . . . However, if in the above time frame, there was a
formal process for packing journal . . .

Rod, oiling journals and packing journals are two entirely
different things. The packing refers to the cotton waste or equivalent
material which was supposed to wick the oil onto the journal surface,
and was usually done with a tool. Some journal cellars were equipped
with formed metal frames which supported the waste. That process did
result in a stenciled record. But adding oil did NOT result in any
stenciling, and was done as needed.

Tony Thompson

To expand on Tony's answer a bit more, a "repack" consisted of pushing the old waste down, inspecting the axle end by dragging a hooked brass rod along it's underside to feel for any roughness or scoring, then fluffing the waste up so it touched the axle, adding / replacing waste as needed, and topping off the oil. The car was then stenciled with the date / location the work was done. The ARA / AAR mandated journal repacks at a certain interval (eighteen months? Someone help me out)and whatever road the car was presently on when the time expired was responcsible for doing the work.

If a defective journal was found, or a condemable wheelset, then that wheelset needed to be replaced and both journals cleaned and repacked. This was still preformed at the location discovered, whether the car was loaded or empty, and the work was charged back to the car owner at a standard rate set by the AAR. That's why refferance books like the Official Railway Equipment Register have a "Send all repair bills to..." line in each listing.

Dennis

Is it possible we could do a dinner (pizza??) at the National in Sacramento? Possibly a new shirt and a pay in advance to make sure we don't have a repeat of that problem!

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

Rod Miller wrote:

We are all familiar with the photo of the man squirting oil into journal boxes . . . However, if in the above time frame, there was a formal process for packing journal . . .

Rod, oiling journals and packing journals are two entirely different things. The packing refers to the cotton waste or equivalent material which was supposed to wick the oil onto the journal surface, and was usually done with a tool. Some journal cellars were equipped with formed metal frames which supported the waste. That process did result in a stenciled record. But adding oil did NOT result in any stenciling, and was done as needed.

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, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history

Bill Williams wrote:

I attended the 1990 Pittsburg convention. I remember seeing Richard walking with GN guru Staffan Einhbom (sp?) who I knew, wearing mineral brown shirts that said "Freight Car Mafia" on them. Impressive!

The FOTFC shirts were orange and said "Friends of the Freight Car." If there were also "Freight Car Mafia" shirts at that convention, I missed them.

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, thompson@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history

Larry,

After looking at the excellent data that John Hile provided, I think an obvious question arises. Did grain need to be shipped (via the UP between Laramie and Rawlins, WY) to get from the farm to the [flour] mill?

I think the answer is "no", but I don't have the ICC data to prove it. I suspect that KS and NE wheat was milled in KC, Omaha, or possibly Minneapolis. WA, OR, and ID wheat was probably milled in Seattle, Portland, or Minneapolis, or exported from Seattle or Portland. In none of those cases would (much of) the wheat travel over Sherman Hill.

Regards,

-Jeff


From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of john66h
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 7:33 AM
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Re: When is the grain rush?

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com<mailto:STMFC%40yahoogroups.com>, "laramielarry" <larryostresh@...> wrote:

Hi Folks

When is the grain rush?

Larry,

I have the following from the 1954 World Book Encyclopedia regarding wheat and wheat harvesting...

Average Production in Twelve Leading States over a Period of Ten Years:

State - Bushels
Kansas - 126,060,000
N. Dakota - 75,820,000
Oklahoma - 48,419,000
Washington - 48,198,000
Montana - 42,550,000
Ohio - 42,003,000
Nebraska - 41,085,000
Illinois - 34,580,000
Texas - 28,195,000
Indiana - 28,154,000
Missouri - 26,875,000
Idaho - 24,194,000

Named for when planted, there is "Spring-Wheat" (planted in spring, harvested in summer) and "Winter-Wheat" (planed in fall, harvested following summer)...

Spring-Wheat Region: N. Dakota, Montana, S. Dakota, Minnesota
Winter Wheat Region: Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico.
Spring and Winter Varieties: Columbia River Basin, including the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and Washington.
"Soft Grain" Varieties grown "in rotation with other crops": Ohio, Illinois, Indiana

We are all familiar with the photo of the
man squirting oil into journal boxes as the
car rolled down the hump. Is that how
journals were maintained towards the end
of the steam era? If so, then that process
(squirting oil) would seem to cover all cars
regardless of ownership.

However, if in the above time frame, there was
a formal process for packing journals that
resulted in a lettering "record" being applied
to the car, how was that done for private owner
cars?

One thought is that the owner could contract
with (most likely) a railroad to have their
facilities pack the journals when the owner
wanted it done.

Apologies in advance if this has already been
discussed. I didn't look at more than a few of
the 1700 messages a search of the message
archive produced, and a google search didn't
turn up anything in the first few pages of
results.

Thanks

Rod

Tim is quite right. The FFC had its beginnings at a back yard BBQ at
Tony Thompson's home during the 1990 Pittsburgh NMRA convention. We
all got shirts at that event, and other shirts of different colors
were produced at intervals in the 1990s, but there were no dues,
officers, or organizational paraphernalia of any kind (intentionally

I attended the 1990 Pittsburg convention. I remember seeing Richard walking with GN guru Staffan Einhbom (sp?) who I knew, wearing mineral brown shirts that said "Freight Car Mafia" on them. Impressive!
Bill Williams

Hi,

Don't forget to factor in the effect of grain elevators. Grain is often harvested and stored
in relatively local elevators and then shipped to the users (such as bread companies) "as
needed". This allows the shipments to be spread out and reduces the need for truly huge
local storage. Yes, there was a grain rush - that used up extra cars such as box cars with
paper doors, etc. But there was/is also a lot of 'store now and ship later'.
If you think about it there are very few "grain products" that have a seasonal nature to
their demand - and many of those bubbles are still "exchanges" rather than actual increase
in demand. The amount of grain shipped/consumed is more directly related to the size of
the local population than to the season - and even when population has fluctuations (such
as Florida/Arizona in the Winter) it is still an "exchange" (e.g. grain usage in Florida goes up
while grain use in the NorthEast goes down). This is true for most food products, not just
grain.
During the era appropriate for this list the local users (such as bread companies) were
smaller and more spread out than today - but the basic principle of "how many people
are we selling product to? -this week/month-" still applied.
- Jim

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "laramielarry" <larryostresh@...> wrote:

Hi Folks

When is the grain rush? The reason I ask is that for the next Union Pacific Freight Conductors' Train Book I transcribe I would like to choose a report that includes the grain rush. My Train Books are all for the U.P. mainline between Laramie and Rawlins, Wyoming, and are primarily from 1937 to 1939.

Two of the books I already transcribed cover mid-September to the 3rd week in October, and there is not a hint of a grain rush. For example, in Fitz's report there are only 20 cars (of 2,362) that appear to be carrying grain of any sort.

I assume that Sept-Oct is too early or too late for the grain rush. Or perhaps the grain rush did not manifest itself on the U.P. transcontinental route during the Depression?

Thanks,
Larry Ostresh
Laramie, Wyoming

Larry,
The "grain rush" varies depending on the type of crop grown. On the Great Northern, which served a territory that produces a lot of spring wheat and durum, the grain rush runs from August through September, with prepositioning of cars starting in July. There would still be significant wheat traffic into the early winter months, but the "rush" was typically winding down by early November. Farmers try to hold onto their grain and sell when the prices are highest, but a lot of them need to sell most of their crop right away, as the bankers needed to be paid, not to mention the seed, fertilizer, and fuel jobbers.

Further south, more winter wheat is grown, IIRC, and the harvest starts earlier in the year. I would look at a June, July, or August book if I were you. Of course, your books are from Wyoming, not Kansas, so I don't know how much wheat was grown in that area at the time.

Sincerely,
Bob Heninger
Iowa City, IA

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "laramielarry" <larryostresh@...> wrote:

Hi Folks

When is the grain rush?

Larry,

I have the following from the 1954 World Book Encyclopedia regarding wheat and wheat harvesting...

Arizona, southern California - May
South of about 40-degrees north latitude - June
Northern US - July, August

Re: 1930's...

"At the end of the war (WW1 - jfh) European nations increased their production even above what it had been...so they would not have to depend so much on imports. The world supply of wheat increased and prices declined. The resulting distress of wheat farmers and other agricultural producers was one of the causes of the world-wide depression of the early 1930's."

"In 1933 the Agricultural Adjustment Act attacked overproduction and low income through co-operative acreage reduction and benefit payments."

"Before the acreage-reduction program could prove its effectiveness, severe droughts in 1934 and 1936, and rust (fungi - jfh) in 1935 and 1937, struck the wheat regions and wiped out the surplus."

Re: Rust... "It is estimated that in 1935 it reduced the production of wheat in North Dakota alone 59,000,000 bushels."

Average Production in Twelve Leading States over a Period of Ten Years:

State - Bushels
Kansas - 126,060,000
N. Dakota - 75,820,000
Oklahoma - 48,419,000
Washington - 48,198,000
Montana - 42,550,000
Ohio - 42,003,000
Nebraska - 41,085,000
Illinois - 34,580,000
Texas - 28,195,000
Indiana - 28,154,000
Missouri - 26,875,000
Idaho - 24,194,000

Named for when planted, there is "Spring-Wheat" (planted in spring, harvested in summer) and "Winter-Wheat" (planed in fall, harvested following summer)...

Spring-Wheat Region: N. Dakota, Montana, S. Dakota, Minnesota
Winter Wheat Region: Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico.
Spring and Winter Varieties: Columbia River Basin, including the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and Washington.
"Soft Grain" Varieties grown "in rotation with other crops": Ohio, Illinois, Indiana


When I was a kid, summer vacations were often to visit family in western Kansas and western Nebraska. It was a treat for a "city" kid to ride in a grain truck, or in the cab of the combine during the wheat harvest. IIRC, they all grew winter wheat.

Hope this is helpful,

John Hile