Mike Bradley and Jim Six had an article on building B&LE two-bay hoppers using the Athearn offset side hopper and MDC trucks. It was in the July 1990 Model Railroading.

Hi Steffan, Thanks. Did the mineral red trucks, running board and under body apply on both the Empire Builder and later billboard Great Northern lettering schemes? Thanks for your help. Bill McCoy

RF&P 16 was one of series 11-18, conversions of the series 7001-7062 70-ton twin hoppers RF&P bought secondhand from B&LE in 1972 to replace its steam-era hopper fleet. David Thompson

It seems to me that Utah Pacific once made these in brass, but not cored. - Tom

Yes a really nice job Lester. Paul Doggett. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Great work, Lester! That's a neat tip on casting a tank car dome. Thanks for sharing! Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN

I have a project that has a need for joining .012 wire in a "T". some time back there were plastic pipe joints but I can't remember who made them. MY LHS thinks it was Utah Pacific but there's nothing

The photo of GN18108 on Fallen Flags shows remains of vermilion paint on the roof. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=473114 Staffan Ehnbom

Vermilion GN cars had mineral red trucks and underbody. Staffan Ehnbom

Friends, I would like to offer two photos of a most unusual RF&P covered hopper for your approval and commentary. The car is RF&P 14, apparently used in company sand service. While numbered in the

Gary and All, There is a very thorough breakdown of these cars and there were two separate doner cars from WP inventory on the Shake N Take site if you're signed up. Greg Martin

I have upgraded Santa Fe tank car 100801 with a resin cast dome and other details. If you are interested as to why and how, photos and writeup of the upgrade process including paint and weathering

I am not sure that I am completely following the discussion here, but it is a topic that has come up before. At the risk of repeating myself, the "standard" MCB/ARA/AAR Roman letter diagram dates to

Charlie Vlk wrote: For those who may not have seen it, I provide below a link to the blog post that Charlie cites in his

All- I happened to run across Tony Thompson's blog "Prototype Lettering, Part 2". In comparing the figures that are presented as "AAR" vs. the CB&Q ARA ST'D LETTER set originally drawn Chicago

Not only was it repainted (sometime between 1949 and 1961), but the car also has had its wooden running board and laterals replaced with Morton. This photo is the first documented evidence that this

What I remember from having some of these kits is there's a grab iron that's suppose to run across the end of the car, there are holes in the ends that need filling. This is for later versions without

A freshly repainted 1932 ARA design box car! -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

John, Thanks for adding this to the knowledge base. I always thought the X cars were captive only between Proviso and Chicago. I wonder if they extended to other major terminals such as the Twin

We've discussed these cars in the past, but several of Jack Delano's photo captions at the Library of Congress add depth to the story. I just hope that they did a good job of tying down the loaded