Clark Propst wrote: They are called that in the railroad literature, e.g. Railway Age, and in Cycs. When they were first used on PFE cars, the PFE name was "sliding door," even though that's

Clark, One common type was termed Youngstown Sliding Flush Door. However, the term "Plug Door" was listed as a generic nomenclature in the Car Builders' Cyclopedia Dictionary of Car Terms as "A door

Don't "Plug" doors have a real name? Clark Propst

Plug doors could be easily removed from cars in Q transfer runs by opening the door enough so it was "unplugged"... the thru-girders of the viaducts between the Panhandle and Clyde were close enough

Richard Hendrickson wrote, in part: < Photographs of box cars with open doors usually show <them motionless (and sometimes obviously stored) in yards or sidings, <not in moving trains, especially in

This topic comes up periodically on the list, and the answer is always the same. The Santa Fe had essentially the same rule as the Southern Pacific, and it's reasonable to assume that other

Something that hasn't been mentioned is the article in the 11-84 issue of MM on the Alton cars. The as-built photo in the article, although b/w, sure looks like all paint applied is red. The article

Dennis Storzek wrote (referring to the frequency of open box car doors in transit): I don't have a general answer to this, but do know that SP had a rule, among the "General Rules" in the

Some on this board know that I work as a conductor and sometimes loco engineer on a certain Canadian class one railway. With the moderator's leave, I'd like to make a few points about plug

Gentlemen, Thank you for correcting my faulty memory and for the information about the lettering and dimensional data. Tom

Dear Mr. French, I should have known Ted Culotta's decals would be complete!  With my magnifier, I see the "Return to Detroit when empty".  I also see in the instructions that you provided

BC RPM British Columbia's Own Prototype Modeling Event We are proud to announce that the third annual British Columbia Railroad Prototype Modeler's meet will again be held in association with TRAINS

Tom, according to Clark's post in 2003, the M&StL cars had green lettering EXCEPT for the capacity and dimensional data, which was black. So you need Martin's decals (green) and Champ's (black)

Did they pack the wrong doors in the kit? This has happened to me with two Sunshine kits (so far). If so they may be able to send you the proper doors. Tim O'Connor

With all the back and forth about lettering color, am I the only one that has a problem with the Sunshine doors being wrong? It stopped me dead in my tracks from finishing the kit. I would have used

Tom Baker wrote: Yep, you're incorrect in part. They did not have five, all right; they had seven. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA

The discussion of RI aluminum cars reminds me that the M&StL also had 10 aluminum box cars. The photos of the cars I have seen are from their later years when at least one or two were converted as

Lou, A 12" "DK" was placed four inches above the OMO in AUTOMOBILE, and "RETURN TO DETROIT WHEN EMPTY" in 2" letters on the left door. The bottom of this lettering was 3'-0" from the bottom of

Tim O'Connor wrote: It's a little hard to tell in the RP CYC photo, but the trucks look to me like pedestal trucks. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest

Ed Hawkins wrote: Ed, how about the original B&W print used for RPCYC? It may be more dependable than the version printed, as far as detecting gray vs. black lettering. Tony Thompson