Well spotted, Tim! They were indeed. Wabash's Emergency boxcars 87000-87224 were built by Decatur shops in 1944. The in-house design differed from most other WE boxcars, in that the side sill was an

Some have asked, off-list, for a citation of the SP video I mentioned. I don't have a link and don't know if it's on-line or not. But I did write a blog post on the topic of wheel production in SP's

Some SP wheels... -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

Ron Cool 8-) NJI&I 4233 appears to be a rebuilt War Emergency box car! When was this done? I say that because of the 8 panel sides and 5/5 ends, which

Ed Mims wrote: No argument. I just maintain that cranes were by no means always used or available. Small jacks, to support side frames or bolsters, were used in many of the photos I have

The Wabash did that a lot. I'm of the opinion they didn't want the open door to obscure their name. That was the stated reason for the ARA recommending the reporting mark and number go to the left of

I’m all set on the trailers but realize I may not have been very clear on the Rapido GARX reefer I’m seeking: I am looking for the road name Wimp. The single car was 121047 and the 4-pack was

Ron Christensen's photo of NJI&I #4233 brought back a question re a NJI&I boxcar project I posted a while back -- anyone know why the prototype went with "wrong side" reporting marks on the

I'm getting impatient waiting to see if these will ever come up on ebay or the hoswap group, hoping perhaps these may be floating around on someone's shelf looking for a good home. Sunshine Models:

Magnifique!!! -- Michael Gross Pasadena, CA

One more comment: In my experience it was not uncommon for car repair tracks to have a small gasoline powered mobile crane ( about 1-1 1/2 ton capacity)on solid rubber tires to handle heavy material.

GeneI I went to your blog and viewed the outstanding model. Also enjoyed the build of running board post. Thanks for sharing. Lester Breuer

I can assure you that Richard Webster's description of a wheel change in a railroad shop or car repair track is accurate. You can not remove or apply a solid bearing wheel set without first removing

A couple of pictures of cars the 40 foot NJI&I boxcar was in Rantoul IL. in the 1960s The Wabash 49114 is in North Judson IN. The stencil reads "when empty return to NJI&I RR South Bend Ind" Ron

Gene Deimling blog: https://myp48.wordpress.com/

Richard Webster wrote: As experienced riggers and workmen will tell you, when there's no crane, you use the tools the Egyptians built the pyramids with: wedges, levers and rollers. There is a

Here is the best I can offer. All have a small pulley outside the car door, which routes the pulling cable. Doug Harding www.iowacentralrr.org

Unless that one man is superman, he couldn't lift those side frames or wheels by himself let alone line everything up. I will grant you there is no crane, but those wheels are close to 2000 lbs. so

Cool photo. I need to model a boxcar with the door open. Scott McDonald

The top photo the truck is either already back together or it's being taken apart. The bottom photo is a disability waiting to happen with both wheel setout out of the truck and the side frames barely