Ted Culotta writes: Are you thinking of the B-40 classes built on both SP and T&NO in 1917-1922? These did survive a long time (they had steel draft sills and cast steel body bolsters), but were

Ed: I would venture to say quite uncommon. The sway back effect, unless very minimal (and probably not very noticeable), would be a sign that the structural integrity of the car might be in

Ed Mines asked: As this condition represented damage and the risk of car failure, I would guess it was rare and fixed when detected. That said, having one such car in a fleet (of appropriate era)

Dean: Off the top of my head, I would recommend the following truss rod cars: GN cars (referenced in your original post) http://www.steamfreightcars.com/gallery/boxauto/gn9731main.html NP 40' -

Ed Mines asked: The first edition of 3000 copies sold out in about three years. The second edition has already sold over 1200 books. True, though Donald Duke's messing with the GYF book has made

I have a couple of photos of sway backed wooden freight cars from various sources. How common was this? Has anyone built a model of this recently? I remember that there was a John Allen article on

I have a couple of photos of sway backed wooden freight cars from various sources. How common was this? Has anyone built a model of this recently? I remember that there was a John Allen article on

Joe Collias has some good photos of common freight cars with truss rods in the '30s - Southern and Milwaukee box cars come to mind. NYC stock car & NP reefer too. Joe's list shows build dates & date

http://www.steamfreightcars.com/gallery/tank/tcx7197main.html It has four bands like a 21, but has 3 courses like a 27. Tim O'Connor <timoconnor@...> Sterling, Massachusetts

Dean, I don't remember when all-wooden underframes were banned in interchange (Maybe 1927? Guy Wilber has posted this recently), but composite underframe cars with truss rods were still being built

I've decided I have too high a percentage of steel cars for my 1930's era. Of course I have several wood reefers and some USRA DS box cars, and am going to start on some of my resin kits (SS boxes,

Dave Nelson asks about discussion about the ATSF reefer book, historical societies etc.: Yes. To be sure, information about historical societies in general, books about frt cars and related issues

I have a copy of the ATSF reefer book. As a member of the Santa Fe Railroad Historic and Modelers Society, I was offered a pre-publication members price and I ordered the book. Which translates into

Ned Carey wrote: Can anyone confirm or deny that USRA cars had galvanized roofs? Would this have varied by road or builder? I haven't been able to turn up anything to confirm or deny that. Wonder

Guys I don't want to alienate anyone here or put anyone's noses out of joint but I have been a member of the Santa Fe Modelling and Historical Society now for some time. I too had great difficulty

Can anyone confirm or deny that USRA cars had galvanized roofs? Would this have varied by road or builder? I am painting a GN DS car with an older paint scheme/ heavily weathered car. I would like to

Schuyler G Larrabee wrote: I am a screaming supporter. Glossy finish to accept decals, VERY "thin" paint (as in "goes on thin") and by the time you finish painting the second side of the model, the

Just out of curiosity how many PFE books have been printed or sold? I think anyone who would buy that book is interested in the SFRD book. Ditto for the "Great Yellow Fleet".