Don Smith wrote: Don, Thanks very much for pointing out Russell Crump's web site. That's one heck of an archive he's put together. Much of what I'm looking for is available to be copied; I'll be

Thanks to Tim O'Conner and Richard Hendrickson for sending me some scans of photographs of the Bx-49's from their collections all were great photos. With the information and the available drawings I

Denny, I convert my Kato ASF A-3 solid bearing trucks with the narrow 0.950 (0.960?) Reboxx wheelsets and it makes them work extremely well. But I can't do this with the rotating caps roller bearing

Hi, Copies of the subject sheets are available from Russell Crump at: http://www.ATSFRY.COM/ After you access his website one must download Adobe Reader to access the folio sheet files. The

Given the general oilyness of the trucks and underbody, and having looked at more than a few photos, I would say that rust was not the most common color... Rather, I usually dry brush some white

That too is my experience. The Kato trucks are very handsome, but compared with the rolling ability that one can attain with the Reboxx conversions, it is strictly "no contest". That said, although

wrote: But Stephen Priest actually PUBLISHES stuff...... Ron Merrick, a consumer of freight car data

Bill, Roundhouse has a closed cap roller bearing truck. It is a bit crude, but might be the only game in town. Kind regards, Garth G. Groff Bill McCoy wrote:

Central Valley used to offer a covered end cap Timken roller bearing truck that seems to have dissappeared. With the introduction of the Wright Trak FGE mechanical reefer this truck will be needed

Andy, The trucks on WP 6401-6500 had exposed rotating bearing caps, just like today. Kind regards, Garth G. Groff Andy Carlson wrote:

Since this request for A-3 roller bearing trucks came about by a request from Garth about the WP shorty 29' gondola, you might want to limit your search for covered journal roller bearing trucks, and

Neither of the Kato trucks performs very well when compared to what is possible with other model trucks equipped with correct-length Reboxx wheelsets. Kato trucks perform far better when there is no

Mike Brock: snippola An inverse example: I have a photo of the Salamanca NY coal dock on the ERIE taken, I'm guessing, about 1940 +/-. It is BLACK, dead flat black, a veritable black hole for

I'll add a few observations from viewing countless photos and videos regarding this issue. 1. As has been noted, the period late 40's through '55 saw a huge number of new box cars on the nation's

There's another reason that heavy weathering became a common thing, which I'm finding out just now. I did a lot of cars weathered for what I remember cars looking like in the 60s, which was

Jeff Aley says: Yawnnnn. Hmmm...Did someone call? Roaming hopper? Certainly...depending upon the hopper AND the location. It's my guess that UP hoppers...and those of most other western RRs...didn't

Shawn asks about Santa Fe freight car diagram books. Yes, they did produce one, it was called a Freight Car Folio. They were about the size Paul Hillman mentioned--12x16--and were grouped by car type.

Say what? My experience with these Kato trucks (both types) is that they are the absolute best rolling trucks availible... bar NONE! The only draw-back to them as far as I am concerned is that the

Tim O'Connor reveals: You SOLD it?!?!?!? You, a Freight Foamer, let go of an original AT&SF Mechanical Department document??? That's it, we're pulling your Freightcar Mafia membership... Shawn

Richard and others, Thanks for your comments. I cannot recall from the steam to early diesel era the type of rust on cars we see today. I was beginning to believe that my memory was playing tricks