Bill, glad to know you can sing. I, for one, look forward to seeing/getting this crucial freight car. I can always use a few more meat reefers. Doug Harding www.iowacentralrr.org

Eric, here's a slightly better photo -- Tim Just 35 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1950, LNE 12666-12700. May differ from usual design. No cut-outs in side. I've never seen one except rebuilt to

12701-12800 were built by Pullman. I guess they arepretty close to the ACF design. My notes indicate cut-outs in the sidesheets. 12666-12700 are the same general design, but are about 7" lower,

Brian, here's what I know -- The main block of covered hoppers was 12101-12665, 26'3" IL x 13' 0" EXH, listed as 1790 cft The L&NE had two smaller series of covered hoppers

Just 35 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1950, LNE12666-12700. May differ from usual design. No cut-outs in side. I'venever seen one except rebuilt to ballast car by CR. Eric

Hello List, A number of years back, Intermountain offered their 1958 cu. ft. 70 ton covered hopper in Lehigh & New England. I enjoyed the article about the ACF-design hoppers in the most recent RP

It's important to note that some railroads never added the 2nd grab. I have a photos of CGW 1923 ARA cars that show no second grabs in the 50s. When building my model I had to fill in the upper

According to the booklet: "United States Safety Appliances for All Classes of Cars and Locomotives Revised to August 1, 1945" the second grab was adopted as Standard by the Mechanical Division,

Lester asked about the requirement for the additional grab iron on the leftside of cars. The information is in the archives; messages 60307, 88153and probably several others. From the Interchange

 1930 or later 1932 or earlier Maybe someone can get it closer. Not many carsbuilt those years. Eric

I can not find the year the second grab iron was added to car sides. Need the year. Thanks in advance. Lester Breuer

And also the IM kit version has 135 lines of assembly instruction! But a beautiful kit, I bought 3 of them cheap on eBay. Rich Christie

Tim, According to my Excel file on Sunshine availability, the X41's are still listed as available, but my file only goes to July 2013. That type of end door needs to be scratched. Have not seen any

Although this photo postdates the end of time (12/31/1960) I thought it might be interesting as a reference to anyone building the Sunshine kit. Only the end-door has been changed to protect the

Ed, I thought the consensus was that the Kato models were more like the GATC clones than actual ACF cars. Several builders built nearly identical 1958 cft cars. Tim O'Connor The two models are

Ed, Thanks for the info. Vince Altiere

Vince, The two models are based on the same ACF 1,958 cu. ft. 70-ton design, but the InterMountain models come with far better detailing. Among other improvements are wire grabs and locking bars on

To the Goup: Can anyone tell me if the 1958 2 bay covered hoppers are/were originally the ones produced by KATO ??? Thanks in advance for the help. Vince Altiere

Is the Swift 2700 seris reefer they offer correct? Based on past BLBP experience with Bill it is but I want to be sure. Thanks, Bill McCoy Strasburg, PA

Well, before the conspiracy theories start. .We had nothing to do with JFK, Elvis does not work for Rapido, and we did indeed receive the reefers. Really.