Anybody know who makes the ladders in the photo? Think they came out of a Speedwitch kit but not sure. Thanks, Scott McDonald

I should add to my earlier note that outside the gondola car body tarp attachment could have been a safety hazard if came loose and covered any mandatory safety appliances. The possibility of loose

Using Google conversions, 88000 pounds of asphalt would be about 607 cubic feet which converts to about 4540 gallons. So, a fairly small tank car. Steve Hile

Thank you Dennis It would not be a problem but for the unreliability of the supplies of HO metal wheelsets from any given manufacturer due to extended supply chains. This supply chain unreliability

Jeff, Group; I decided to spend enough time with mine to know what I was talking about, so here goes: The cars most accurately (and do they!), represent the final and largest group of F30A

The NMRA RP-24, like most NMRA recommendations, bears no relationship to the prototype and, while revised in 1982, was already generally ignored by the time I did a survey of available freight trucks

Larry, Can you share the reporting marks and car number? The capacity sounds odd but the reporting marks and car number may be used to cross check in an ORER. Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN

I’ve got 5 decal projects going right now, and this is at the bottom of the stack. I’ll post photos of the final result, I think the weathering will help make it pop, but this is what I’ve got

Thanks guys. Very interesting. There were certainly enough boxcars around to load stuff like barrels and sacks or such things that would be best tarped if put in a gondola. Ken, if not a burden I'd

In 1933, the East Broad Top received its first standard gauge car in interchange at the Timber Transfer where they exchanged standard trucks for narrow gauge trucks. In a recent article in the FEBT

Mike, As you know, this is an important modification for these cars in their later years. Would you mind posting a photo of how that looks? -- Chris Barkan (still in Deerfield, MA)

Nice job, Brian! I really like the roof treatment. Group; I am especially pleased with these cars. Here is where the work pays off. Bill Schneider, in particular, is great to work with. Rapido

Group; To add: PRR had a convoluted history with tie-downs and stake pockets, with use of collapsible interior stake pockets (ex: class GS and G26) popular until the late forties, when many were

A correction. The flat car is an FM class, not an F22. Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN

Neat shot. I agree on the PRR F22 flat car number. I’d say most of the gondolas in that string could be PRR gons Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN

Photo: PRR Flat Car With San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Section Photo from the San Francisco Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/mr3afxfv Photo can be enlarged. Car number possibly is 925112.

Photo: SP Freight Cars In State Belt Ry. Train (1940) Photo from the San Francisco Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/3psdkzh4 Photo can be enlarged. Bob Chaparro Hemet, CA

In the steam era (up to 1957-8) which this group confines itself to, it may have been North American practice to build gondolas with tarp tie downs inside. Coal and other mineral loads were left open.

While NMRA does have standards for most parts of a wheelset (Standard S-4.1, S-4.2, and S-4.3, go to https://www.nmra.org/index-nmra-standards-and-recommended-practices ), those standards do

Bruce, Brian, I only said the Moloco 1.005" length axel wheels worked in the Tichy Andrews trucks. I realize there is no common standard let alone a recommended practice for axel length amongst maker