What do those letters mean? The "C" and "QL" etc.? TIA! Take Care, Brian R. Termunde Murray, Utah

Hide cars were any boxcars that were unfit for most kinds of loading - grain, finished lumber, merchandise, etc. They tended to have rough interiors (worn out, interior sheathing splintered, with

Most of the hide cars I’ve seen modeled were 40 ft. steel boxcars. Was that pretty standard, or were SS boxcars also used? Nelson Moyer

Owen, hides can indeed be heavy. Sometime in the 50s packing plants switched from salting dry hides to soaking hides in a brine solution and shipping them wet. Wet hides are indeed much heavier than

Ken - Nice work on the SP&S flat. I have two of these models built, and want to letter them SP&S as well. I thought through the decal options you discussed without buying any, and decided that

After a lot of frustration with the decal situation for this car, I finally broke down and ordered the Champ set through eBay if only because it has most of the dimensional lettering I really need.

Thank you, Jeff, I can almost smell that hide car through my screen! Interesting that car IC 34861 in your photo does not match the diagram you sent for the earlier group of 50' s/s IC hide cars,

Guys; Keep in mind, neither the Walthers nor Tichy models are accurate on deck details for a F41 (no dash). See attached. There are visible longitudinal members visible in the deck that are not

Hi Tim, Thank you for adding these photos and your thoughts to the discussion. You are correct that the earlier discussion did revolve around the MDC (Roundhouse) cars as their features are better

Owen, Here is a photo of a hide car. Jeff White Alma IL

Larry You may be right, although I'm not sure how to walk on a vertical surface. 😂 -- *Tim O'Connor* *Sterling, Massachusetts*

Based on looking at many pictures of NYC composite gondolas, I would say the general practice on NYC was to leave the inside unpainted. My personal thought is that painted wood would be slippery in

Wow, that is outstanding! I will never toss another aluminum foil top! 😁 Tim O'Connor -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

So that's how the NYC got into West Virginia? Interesting. 😁 -- *Tim O'Connor* *Sterling, Massachusetts*

I think discussions revolved around using the MDC (Roundhouse) 50 foot single sheathed box cars to model the IC and other cars. But I could be mistaken. The Walthers cars have 3-3-3

Thanks Doug. Ralston as the builder makes sense given they were an online industry of the T&OC (a close relation to the K&M). This photo is the most modern lettering I’ve seen for the K&M, which

Hear hear! It would be sweet if someone would make these! Maybe beg Jason at Owl Mountain to do them, since he already offers the dome elbows for tank cars. 😁 Tim O'Connor

Here are model and prototype views of weathered plywood interiors. Tim O'Connor -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

Most "all in one" printers come with excellent software that can take any set of image files and save them as a PDF. I saw Canon scanner/printer/copiers of this kind at Walmart last week

Here is Overland's version of the GSC brake rigging. You can also turn over Exactrail or Tangent models and follow those as examples. Tim O'Connor -- *Tim O'Connor* *Sterling, Massachusetts*