There is the bright dark-ish yellow shirt with black wooden box car and lettering version that I have.  The only problem is I'm not the same size any more . . . so it is a little tight.  I use it

Tim O'Connor wrote: There are both orange and yellow shirts. The orange is pretty vivid. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705

I think that's the one -- it's more of a puke yellow than orange... :-) Tim

I just mentioned Sacramento as I will not be at Milwaukee. But Milwaukee would be fine and I would buy a shirt to help out. I idea is to prepay so someone doesn't get stuck with part of a

I don't have an orange shirt but I do have a black one and a bright yellow one. And why wait for Sacramento - we could get together for a seafood dinner (crab, perhaps?) in Milwaukee next year

I recall Richard joking about wearing shirts with PROTOTYPE POLICE printed in large letters on the back and having citation books printed... I thought it was a good idea, although it would probably

To expand on Tony's answer a bit more, a "repack" consisted of pushing the old waste down, inspecting the axle end by dragging a hooked brass rod along it's underside to feel for any roughness or

Is it possible we could do a dinner (pizza??) at the National in Sacramento? Possibly a new shirt and a pay in advance to make sure we don't have a repeat of that problem! Jon Miller AT&SF For me

Rod Miller wrote: Rod, oiling journals and packing journals are two entirely different things. The packing refers to the cotton waste or equivalent material which was supposed to wick the oil

Bill Williams wrote: The FOTFC shirts were orange and said "Friends of the Freight Car." If there were also "Freight Car Mafia" shirts at that convention, I missed them. Tony Thompson

Larry, After looking at the excellent data that John Hile provided, I think an obvious question arises. Did grain need to be shipped (via the UP between Laramie and Rawlins, WY) to

We are all familiar with the photo of the man squirting oil into journal boxes as the car rolled down the hump. Is that how journals were maintained towards the end of the steam era? If so, then that

I attended the 1990 Pittsburg convention. I remember seeing Richard walking with GN guru Staffan Einhbom (sp?) who I knew, wearing mineral brown shirts that said "Freight Car Mafia" on them.

Hi, Don't forget to factor in the effect of grain elevators. Grain is often harvested and stored in relatively local elevators and then shipped to the users (such as bread companies) "as needed".

Larry, The "grain rush" varies depending on the type of crop grown. On the Great Northern, which served a territory that produces a lot of spring wheat and durum, the grain rush runs from August

Larry, I have the following from the 1954 World Book Encyclopedia regarding wheat and wheat harvesting... Arizona, southern California - May South of about 40-degrees north latitude - June Northern

Greetings, I'm starting to build an HO scale F&C Reading GHc/GHd gondola and am not sure if the decals are appropriate for 1926. Here's the finished image from the F&C

Hi Tony, It's been a long time since I bought any brass freight cars, but the two screws on either side of the coupler pocket were usually 1.4mm, the same as on locomotives and passenger cars. See

Larry; Your data straddles the grain rush nicely. Having once lived in Laramie also, wasn't the vast majority of grain grown east (well east) of Laramie? And didn't most grain grown in the mid-west

Tony, Does that mean there will be a Naperville next year?? Has someone or a group come forward to continue this? Rich Orr