On the Early Rail Group Brad Smith commented: "I wrote the Model Railroader article. I was employed by the Milwaukee Road and at that time, no one knew I was a railfan. I was a mechanical engineer in

Ed; Yes, they were! I know what was going into/coming out of every tank car on my modeled portion of the PRR. Elden Gatwood

Elden, all the tank cars you mentioned could be dedicated to one particular load. Just think of how difficult it is to clean out even the smallest tank car. What would you do with the cleaning

Jim; There most certainly was, in many cases. For my area of interest, certain industries, utilities and RRs got their tank cars from specific suppliers. There were Stauffer tanks going to

Todd, That was a major navy depot and naval barrels were stored there. I beleive that the logic was to keep vital materials away from the coasts so that they would not be targets for carrier

Bruce, That's really interesting. Why Pocatello,ID? Todd Sullivan.

Hi, I don't remember ever hearing anyone comment on this topic. Were/are there any 'links' between a facility receiving a tank car and a specific tank car line(s)? For example, if you have a

Ah yes, the famous 3,000 mm mortar barrel ! Could launch an entire platoon of infantry over the walls of a fort. :-) -- Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts

They were used in naval gun barrel service to Bremerton, Washington. The PRR also had such flat cars. Barrels would be mounted on swivels to go around curves. AMB makes

I have spent hours viewing just the start of this on-line collection of freight cars. None are dated or located. Water marks are quite visible but the web site offers photos for purchase. Enjoy only

2nd sending; seems first never arrived. -AC Look familiar? Date and location not noted. -Andy Carlson Ojai CA

Robert, I will add that the Milwaukee Road flats were built specifically for hauling large naval gun barrels. Immediately following their construction, they were leased to the Union Pacific and were

For same reason the PRR F22 and F23 were called gun flats (gun trucks in ancient usage). See for example http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=F22.gif&sel=flat&sz=lg Little short

Jason, Don't forget bent lock rods and wheels on plug door cars. I've heard that an overzealous forklift operator can push a plug door completely off the door tracks and off the

I've noticed similar roof bulges in modern boxcars that are currently in service. As Jim said it was likely due to an errant forklift maneuver at some point. At a weathering clinic many years ago, a

Can anyone tell me why the MLW cars are referred to as gun flats? Thanks in advance!

Glad it's coming together for you now. These DL&W billboard cars are a hit when seen in a train. Chris R.

The W&LE gon has an April 1905 weigh date stencil. It can’t be a 1925 photo. There were only five wood gons in the 43000-43999 series on the 1926 W&LE roster. I doubt they looked this nice. Eric

Just an note for those of you who like to use acrylics instead of more toxic solvent based paints. I just reverified with new color tests (for test, brushed not sprayed) that Vallejo 70.814 Burnt Red

Of equal interest to those building yards and sidings are the different types of track bumpers: the two in front with manufactured cast steel/iron parts and apparently a pyramidal style concrete rear