I guess I don't understand the car service rules. Let us suppose that our little branch in Kansas has two industries: Acme and Zeldas. Acme regularly receives shipments from California. Zelda

Jeff I agree with what Bruce wrote, but it's also true that in the 1950's when most box cars were basic 40' XM's, it probably was a lot harder to recognize a train by the cars in the consist, than it

Aley, Jeff A wrote: You're right that in some situations, say a branch that serves a bunch of industries that all get loads from all over, or ship loads all over, because then a crew couldn't

Guys, Some time ago a magazine published an article on 50' mill gons, like the latest offering from F&C. Can anyone direct me to said article? I had a copy and now it's missing. Thanks, Pierre Oliver

Jeff, How many industries on the branch receive shipments in random XMs? It may only be a couple and the brakeman knows that industry 1 gets cars on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Industry 2 gets

Sorry, I didn't trim Tony's msg, so my question was unclear. I am referring specifically to the assertion that, "the crew on a local could look down the train (or the switchlist) and be pretty sure

I honestly don't understand. Let's say there's a PRR X29 that arrives on a small SP branch, or at a small town in Iowa. How would the local crew [on the prototype] know where it is going? I can

I had a couple UP crewman stop over the other day and they said the same thing. Heck, when I was railfanning I noticed the difference between trains round here and the ones running up and down along

Clark Propst wrote: And of course for cars in assigned service, this is exactly what DID happen, for many tank cars and the like. My friend Jerry Stewart, who worked for years in

Al Kresse wrote: Yes, phosphorus is the "Achilles heel" of the Bessemer process, as P is not effectively removed in that process. It's not a matter of "slow," it's a matter of the kind of

Bob Witt wrote: I meant really the decade after 1910. Let's be clear: copper- bearing steels for corrosion resistance were NOT new in 1910 or 1920 but date to the late 19th century. HOWEVER,

I bet that happened on the prototype on rare occaisions. Some switchman would say to himself "I know where that car is going"

Nope . . . sorry.  They are different steels.  Copper bearing steel is not alloyed like Cor-Ten steel . . . . which are high-strength, low alloy (HSLA) steels.  Copper bearing steels are close to

Jeff, That N&W info would be very interesting to see.  My best info was that they studied the use of both copper bearing, and later, Cor-Ten (from the C& O's shared tear-down test data) steels .

I once impressed a railfan out in western Massachusetts watching an eastbound Conrail manifest climbing to Washington Summit -- I looked and said it must be SEFR (Selkirk-Framingham) based on the cars

I remember a layout at a train show many, many years ago that was nothing more than plywood topped tables, painted green, and a couple loops of track. They would run a specific train from a train

Copper bearing steel is known by trade names Cor-Ten (USS) and Marai (Bethlehem, named for a place in Africa where the iron ore is naturally mixed with copper). It was not the answer to corrosion that

I don't have the data with me at the moment but the N&W also started using copper bearing steel in the 1920's for gondolas & hoppers in coal service. Jeff Coleman

On the roof, you could also get a Sylvan Hutchins roof.   Rich Christie

Tony Thompson wrote: Tony, Which do you mean, a decade after WWI or after 1915? In my reply to the original inquiry I listed the seminal article published in 1923 by J. J. Tatum Superintendent Car