main@RealSTMFC.groups.io

Re: C&O Flat Cars

The C&O 70 ton cars still have 15 pockets. Of course they're not AAR 70 ton cars. If they were then the IM cars would be the obvious choice.

By Dave Wetterstroem · #198685 ·

Re: C&O Flat Cars

On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 03:45 PM, Ed Hawkins wrote: 1. These GSC 70-ton flat cars came with 4 crossbearers of unequal spacing vs. three crossbearers of equal spacing for 50-ton AAR flat cars. Both

By Dennis Storzek · #198684 ·

Sunshine RR-20 Spencer Chemical instructions?

I bought a Spencer Chemical Sunshine kit, but the instructions are missing. Does anyone know where I could find them? Thanks, Phil Lee

By nyc3001 . · #198683 ·

Car designs and the USRA

Pics:

By David · #198682 ·

Car designs and the USRA

The USRA box car designs were fairly minor modifications of the three ARA sample cars built in 1917: ATSF 32001 (double-sheathed), IC 175001 (single-sheathed), and PRR 38000 (steel-sheathed). David

By David · #198681 ·

Re: Car designs and the USRA

I'm just guessing here, but couldn't the change in the railroad's thinking about which of the two designs was preferable coincide with the realization that you don't need exterior sheathing with steel

By Scott H. Haycock · #198680 ·

Car designs and the USRA

I think we've beaten the AI topic to death, so I've changed the subject line. First a word about how the decision was made as to which boxcars to build... Lane goes into this in his seminal work on

By Dennis Storzek · #198679 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

Sure. Written when most railroad CMOs still believed in double sheathing, and at the dawn of the time when nearly everyone changed their mind. And NP, of course, was a late holdout on this topic,

By Tony Thompson · #198678 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

First of all, what does a real railroad think of Single Sheathed vs Double Sheathed, read the attachments. And please note the date of the letter is right in the USRA era. At this point I'll

By np328 · #198677 ·

Re: C&O Flat Cars

Dave, Without getting too much into the weeds, the short answer is that Greenville Steel Co. (GSC) built four series of 70-ton flat cars in 1951-1953 including C&O 81000-81249 built to the same basic

By Ed Hawkins · #198676 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

lol - bingo ! and hopefully self driving cars won't be 'user programmable' :-D I wonder if ChapGPT knows timetable & train orders? could it be a trainmaster/dispatcher?

By Tim O'Connor · #198675 ·

Re: C&O Flat Cars

I don’t have the answer but I have been working on a 3d model for the 70 ton car and so I can make a few guesses about the 50 ton version. The center sill of the 70ton car is built up

By Dave Nelson · #198674 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

However it won't do one thing to motivate someone to model or pick up a paint brush. I would argue technology has created more problems in the hobby by running off modelers due to

By Kevin Macomber · #198673 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

ChatGPT is a proof-of-concept system, it a commercial or public offering on which anyone can rely, and the developers never have said otherwise. It’s a demo to gauge interest … of which there is

By Christopher J. Palermo · #198672 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 09:03 AM, Tim O'Connor wrote: Of course, this "AI" is capable of learning (i.e. adding to its knowledge base and its inferences). So having read, say, annotated criticisms of

By Dennis Storzek · #198671 ·

Re: Tank Identification help

Tichy (Gould) all around but slightly modified from the kit. On 1/28/2023 10:03 PM, Steve SANDIFER wrote: -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

By Tim O'Connor · #198670 ·

Re: New Walthers insulated tank cars

Woof. They should do well. :-D On 1/28/2023 10:53 PM, nyc3001 . wrote: -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

By Tim O'Connor · #198669 ·

Re: Joe Oates

This is indeed sad. Joe was a great railroader, modeler and a wealth of information on SAL/SCL passenger equipment. He will be sorely missed. Jax, FL

By Bill McCoy · #198668 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

Of course, this "AI" is capable of learning (i.e. adding to its knowledge base and its inferences). So having read, say, annotated criticisms of its own output, it can make

By Tim O'Connor · #198667 ·

Re: Artificial Intelligence, the hobby and the USRA

Meaningful work to whom? I’m sure the negotiation and lawsuits on reimbursement and value were meaningful to someone after control was returned to railroads by USRA. Not meaningful to modelers?

By A&Y Dave in MD · #198666 ·

Messages