Yea, verily. Great book.

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.

On Oct 15, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

During this recent thread, I mulled over the many books I've read
over the
years, and I have another candidate as the best railroad book I've
read:

_Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman,
1904-1949_
by John W. Orr.

John W. Orr wasn't the engineman in question; he was the son of the
engineman, O. P. Orr. It is clear that John and his father had an
extraordinarily close relationship. I suspect also that John had
O.P.'s
notebooks, because the detail in the story he relates is
extraordinary.

I'll enthusiastically second Schuyler on this one – and I'm certainly
not a Pennsy fan. It's the best account I've even seen of a career
in engine service during the steam era, full of fascinating detail.
Like Schuyler I've read it all the way through two or three times.
It should be in everyone's personal library.


Richard Hendrickson



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

During this recent thread, I mulled over the many books I've read over the
years, and I have another candidate as the best railroad book I've read:

_Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949_
by John W. Orr.

John W. Orr wasn't the engineman in question; he was the son of the
engineman, O. P. Orr. It is clear that John and his father had an
extraordinarily close relationship. I suspect also that John had O.P.'s
notebooks, because the detail in the story he relates is extraordinary.

This is one of the few railroad history books I stayed up to 2:00 AM
reading. I could not put this book down. And I read it twice, nearly in
succession, and scanned it several times since.

Better words have been written about this book than I can write, and I will
refer you to this webpage to read them:

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02056-3.html

O.P. ran Pennsy trains for 45 years, most of them on the section of the PRR
branch to Sodus Point from Williamsport PA to Elmira NY. He did run other
trains on other parts of the PRR, most notably from Williamsport to Enola.
I happened to come across this book right after it was published, and gave
it to my good friend John Burroughs. John's a Pennsy fan, so it was a great
gift and fit his interests to perfection. As many of you know, John
travelled a great deal by car as Reboxx's principal sales rep at train
shows. After reading this book, he drove the route from Williamsport to
Elmira, several times, and I rode shotgun on one of those trips. After
reading the book, you can virtually see PRR I-10s pounding up the grades
dragging thousands of tons of coal.

One of the most memorable stories involves O.P. running a train at speed
from Enola to Williamsport, in the dark of night and in a pea-soup fog. The
RFE was aboard, and found the ride petrifying. O.P. had no trouble with the
run because he knew the track so well that he knew precisely where he was by
knowing the sequence of bridges, the culverts, stations and when to look for
signals by heart.

The RFE got off at his first opportunity, scared to death.

John Burroughs was so interested in the story of O.P. Orr that he called
John Orr's home, hoping that he might have an opportunity to visit with Mr
Orr. It was a real shock to find that John W. Orr passed away shortly after
his book about his father's career was published.

This is a great book.

SGL





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WrightTRAK will be arriving at Naperville on Thursday. Thursday evening, after the buffet at Rons, we will be having suite sales at the hotel. We do have a new product that will be there and we will be taking reservations for one that did not quite get done in time. At this time I am going to offer a tease. One is a PRR boxcar and the other is a SAL car. We hope to see all of you folks there.

Denis Blake
WrightTRAK Railroad Models
2011 Central Ohio Prototype Modelers Meet, May 5-8

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/Central-Ohio-Prototype-Modelers-Meet/326645470797

Dear Jerry:

I notice one of your sets is for the big F&C Southern Pacific 1/12 Auto car. This is one of my favorite models. I did mine stenciled for the TN&O. You might consider this variation as well. I used Microscale's SP set to realize this option.

Bill Welch

I've used Jerry's decals on two recent USRA (Tichy) boxcars I've finished used both his P&LE and his ACL sets. Both are well research, no short cuts on using computer fonts.

They are thin and go down easy. Highly recommended.

Charlie

Jerry checked them out earlier, thanks, now see a need to redo a wagontop N34!

Mark Morgan

Somebody's got to step up to the plate <g>

Jerry Glow
http://home.comcast.net/~jerryglow/decals.html

Wow Jerry. Are you trying to replace Champ?

Jim Hayes
Portland Oregon
www.sunshinekits.com


On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 9:27 AM, <jerryglow@...> wrote:

I've updated my list to show the new sets I've added recently. Look for the
"NEW" logo. Most are for F&C replacements + a few others including one for
the recently P&LE car.

Jerry Glow
http://home.comcast.net/~jerryglow/decals/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I've updated my list to show the new sets I've added recently. Look for the "NEW" logo. Most are for F&C replacements + a few others including one for the recently P&LE car.

Jerry Glow
http://home.comcast.net/~jerryglow/decals/

On Oct 15, 2010, at 12:55 AM, Frank Valoczy wrote:

On steamfreightcars.com there are some lists that have proven very
useful,
of as-built info on various freight car types like 1937 AAR boxcar,
1932
ARA boxcar, etc., listing each road and number series of the type...
I'm
wondering if such a list has been compiled of PS2 two-bay covered
hoppers?
If so, where can it be found?

Frank,
A roster of twin PS-2s was published in Dec. 2003 Railmodel Journal,
roughly the time the Kadee model was introduced.
Regards,
Ed Hawkins

Schuyler admitted:

< Never saw a need for a double action brush, but then that may be my
failing, not
<seeking one out to try.

The concept of a double action air brush can seem intimidating and, unless
you see the advantages of it, it is easy to put off ever trying one. It can
seem as difficult as patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same
time.

The frustration that I had with single action brushes is that you'd
carefully set the control for the width of the spray and just after you
started spraying, the tip would clog ever so slightly, reducing the
"pattern" to nothing. I found myself continually stopping and adjusting the
width of the spray.

A good double action brush will let you put down a line 1/16" wide which is
great for weathering, especially along dirt catchers such as bracing on
single-sheathed box cars. If you are afraid that you'll accidentally pull
the trigger back too far and spray an extra-wide line, you can screw down
the trigger to limit its travel.


Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

Thank you to all of you for your replies. It looks like this year, I may be asking Santa for some "new" stock car and reefer kits.

By the way, Armand, have you posted any of those New York State wheel reports?

Rob

Bill, do you have a link?
Clark Cone

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 5:18 PM, lnbill <fgexbill@...> wrote:

I was just re-examining the almost 300 photos of mostly boxcars from our
era on this site and think some subjects may have been added because I had
not bookmarked them and I am sure I would have the first time around.

Bill Welch

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I agree with most of what I hear, and also still use my old Pasche for
applying Floquil and other solvent-based paints, but do like my
double-actions for control. My Iwata double-action is great for applying
Modelflex, which the Pasche will not do well. I also loved my double-action
Badger 150's for applying delicate weathering, but they both wore out, and I
have not replaced them, since I am now doing much of my weathering using
washes, dry-brushing, and sanding or rubbing techniques, which to me now look
more like the real thing. Oversprays can be applied to blend using either of
the above. Unless you are doing lots of advanced weathering applications,
the simple single-action brushes do the job very well.

Elden Gatwood

Also fruit and vegetables.

Barry Bennett
Coventry, England

On steamfreightcars.com there are some lists that have proven very useful,
of as-built info on various freight car types like 1937 AAR boxcar, 1932
ARA boxcar, etc., listing each road and number series of the type... I'm
wondering if such a list has been compiled of PS2 two-bay covered hoppers?
If so, where can it be found?

Thanks,

Frank Valoczy
Vancouver, NC

Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

. . . I'd done all my modeling with a Binks Wren, and still do. Never saw a need for a double action brush, but then that may be my failing, not seeking one out to try.
I do have a double action brush, a Badger "Crescendo" model No. 175-7, which I bought at a yard sale in original packing for, IIRC, $15.00. I've never opened it.

I'll confess, now that Schuyler's broken the ice, that I do the vast majority of my airbrushing with an old Badger single action brush, which works fine for almost everything. I do have a fine Thayer & Chandler double-action brush, but don't often fire it up, partly because I'm not so confident with it, partly because it's more trouble to clean, and partly because I don't often need all that control.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

Denny, of course I remember that conversation. Mostly I remember thinking
that I'd done all my modeling with a Binks Wren, and still do. Never saw a
need for a double action brush, but then that may be my failing, not seeking
one out to try.

I do have a double action brush, a Badger "Crescendo" model No. 175-7, which
I bought at a yard sale in original packing for, IIRC, $15.00. I've never
opened it. Anybody have any comments on using this brush?

SGL


Now that I think about this conversation with the Paasche man, I
recall another denizen of this good list, SGL, was with me at the
time. If he denies it ever happened, he obviously was not paying
attention.

Denny

Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento










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Victor Baird asked:

Or, did some western roads convert cars too?

Rather late in the steam era, C&NW converted hundreds of its "USRA clone" SS boxcars in 1954-55. Reduced capital expenditure was probably important to the North Western, and several groups were sold and leased back as part of the conversion process. Presumably, even the lackluster C&NW management could read the writing on the wall well enough to know there wasn't a big future in livestock traffic.

Santa Fe converted a lot of panel-side boxcars, post WW2 IIRC, and UP S-40-10s and -11s were conversions in the '30s and '40s.

Jack