and Mind-Like-A-Steel-Trap Thompson wrote: And I tracked down the AAR Field Guides to Interchange Rules for 1941 and 1942, and after several deferments the final date was August 1941.

Thanks, this is all very interesting. So where were the StLB&M express reefers out of the Rio Grande Valley handed over to passenger trains? Or did passenger trains stop and pick them up directly,

Has anyone applied these ends to the Accurail USRA DS box car? I'm curious if it matches the dimensions of that kit... Might be useful as an upgrade. Tim O'Connor

My statement was a response to another post, and in that context it was specifically about the late steam/early diesel era. For that era, my "sweeping statement" was entirely correct. I have no

Hello Lived in San Antonio as a kid(when pres K was shot), what is the weather like down there? We have 3" of snow with 25 degrees and wind from the north. Missed the trains down there but remember

Tim - In the limited example of shipping of grapefruit baskets from the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas to the New York area at Christmas, the express reefers were loaded at dedicated produce

Gary - The car you mentioned is a B&O Class M-53, but is totally devoid of its underframe. It has been on the ground in Macdona for at least 35 years. If you search this list, there have been

Gene, It's not one that I have seen or am aware of. Car looks like a Tyco or maybe Mehano or such. Cast grabs etc. Chuck Hladik

Thanks, Chris. That's very helpful, as I have now been offered an older but little used Aztek for free. I'm obviously going to have to learn some somewhat different procedures than with my

This was a well established routine at the beginning of the strawberry season, and I saw it done in the late 1940s. A local freight would spot the cars, already iced, on the Fullerton house track

Many local passenger trains lifted and set off express cars behind the coaches. It's easier to move the markers back and do up an air hose than to disconnect and re-connect steam pipe and air signal

I spoke with Morning Sun Books today about the book. It is primarily a photo essay on the industry from the 1960s-1980s with emphasis on the 70s. The main subject is motive power, but there is a lot

Jerry Glow wrote: "NOT TRUE if you get the right ones. Bill Gould made the 5-5-5 ends for a DS car long before the SS car came around. The ends ARE different." Good point; however, it would have

NOT TRUE if you get the right ones. Bill Gould made the 5-5-5 ends for a DS car long before the SS car came around. The ends ARE different. Jerry Glow

From the Santa Fe Society website: Express Special East, 8/29/52, Amarillo Contributed by Richard Stephey Engine 2900 REX 1581 ExpReef ExpReef 1200-1899 Broadway Ltd LCL Perishable Chicago

Riley K (didn't sign full name) asked: "I have a C&WC car I bought in 1967 and never built. The bug bit me again and I am back building HO models. I'm trying to update it with some current parts. Have

Back in May, I had uploaded a bit of paperwork I had found that might help with how some of these loads are consolidated. It is in the files section here listed as "Fruit and Vegetable Transit in PNW

I have been told by some older Santa Fe men (and this was thirty years ago) that the East bound Grand Canyon would pick up two or three REA reefers in Fullerton, Ca during the Strawberry season for

Tim O'Connor wrote: Good point. I'd guess it would depend on the local circumstances, for example how easy a pickup by a passenger train would be. Certainly no one is going to park a passenger

For unloading, that makes sense. What about loading? I've seen photos/videos of trains with many express reefers. Were they handled by local passenger trains like the cream/butter business, or by