Larry (he of manifold experiences) Jackman writes:

Do not depend on any caliper including the Starrett for an
accurate measurement. But for what we do in modeling they are OK.

Um, why not?

SGL

"Jack Burgess" wrote a very useful and informative post.
Two items especially rang a bell:
"an extremely fine pair of Vigor jeweler's tweezers. AND: "
Dial calipers - Mine is a 30-year-old Craftsman model. You'll
be surprised how many drill bits are in the wrong space after
checking them with a set of calipers."

DON'T SCRIMP ON TWEEZERS! You can easily guess how I know!
The little machine shop - www.littlemachineshop.com has a
very nice electronic dial caliper, LMS part number 1758 for
$19.95 It measures both millimeters and inches at the push
of a button. Not starrett quality but I have found it very useful.
Lynn Finch

I have several pairs of tweezers, including to the amazement of several on this list, two pair of
self-closing tweezers, which I like because they provide a handle which allows me to place the
object very carefully. If I use conventional tweezers, my hand gets shaky, and now that I'm used to
the self-closing ones, I sometimes end up squeezing HARDER on the part when I'm trying to let go!

But as to calipers, I concur heartily that they are VERY useful. I too seldom use a scale rule
because I have taken the chart that (used to be, anyway) on the back cover of the Kadee catalog,
which gives the decimal inch equivalent of prototype dimensions in HO scale, half-sized it, and
laminated it. It's on my workbench all the time, as are the calipers

The scale rule is only for gross, approximate measurements.

SGL

It seems I'm emailing myself here. I found the photocopy I made from a friends Train Shed magazine of a builders photo of a CGW 90000 series box car. I can only make out one spoke of the brake wheel in the photocopy. It does appear to match the Klasing brake wheels pictured in RP Cyc 10. I think I'll try an Equipco wheel and try to place a disc over the center section.
Clark Propst

I just thought I'd pass along some highlights from this
Morning Sun book that might interest freight car fans:

- pp. 16-17 1956 views of a C&NW piggyback car & trailer
- p.23 1957 photo of 3 CB&Q piggyback cars & trailers
- p.29 partial view of a WARREN tank car w/ gray/black tank
- p.51 1956 photo of 3 MKT piggyback cars & trailers
- p.56 undated photo shows
-- an SLSF refrigerator car !!!
-- a black SP Overnight box car
-- a D&RGW AAR flat car loaded with Farmall tractors
- p.80 1955 photo of a spliced RI rebuilt flat w/ a PCC car load
- p.90 1955 photo has a nice view of NYC 210030 auto box car (?)
- p.91 1957 photo shows yellow SLSF flat w/ wrecked B&O box car load
- p.117 1956 photo of new Ann Arbor PS-1 w/ black ends, unpainted roof

And for SP/SSW fans, page 96 has a terrific 1956 overhead view of
SSW 306, the Cotton Belt's only Daylight painted FP7.

Tim O.

On Dec 11, 2005, at 11:47 AM, Lynn Finch wrote:

"Jack Burgess" wrote a very useful and informative post. Two items
especially rang a bell:
"an extremely fine pair of Vigor jeweler's tweezers. AND: " Dial calipers -
Mine is a 30-year-old Craftsman model. You'll be surprised how many drill
bits are in the wrong space after checking them with a set of calipers."

I would bet they are still in the wrong holes if you used a dial calipers to check their size. The only way to measure them correctly is with a drill gauge.

DON'T SCRIMP ON TWEEZERS! You can easily guess how I know!
The little machine shop - www.littlemachineshop.com has a very nice
electronical dial caliper, LMS part number 1758 for $19.95 It measures both
millimeters and inches at the push of a button. Not starrett quality but I
have found it very useful.

Do not depend on any caliper including the Starrett for an accurate measurement. But for what we do in modeling they are OK.

Lynn Finch

Thank you
Larry Jackman
ljack70117@...

ed_mines wrote:

Tony, they're what I'd describe as smoke jacks.
There's a lot of white "smoke" in the picture, coming from both the
locomotive and those pipes, whatever they are.

In that case the cars are mechanical refrigerators, or cars (probably Canadian, as they had lots of them) with underslung heaters, not bunker heaters of the kind I was describing.

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

Were the sides of 40 ft. single sheathed box cars made of 17 ft. long
planks or could shorter, less expensive planks be used?

Yes.

When the cars were painted would a rotten portion of a plank be
replaced?

Yes.

Anthony Thompson
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937;
e-mail: thompsonmarytony@...

Tom Olsen wrote:

PFE heaters were marked with their name on the heater jacket. I have a
buddy who has a PFE heater in his basement and it is clearly marked as
such. The one that he has is about three feet high and about 1.5 feet
in diameter. Not exactly something that would walk off on it's own!

This would be a charcoal heater; see pages 347 and 412 in the PFE book, 2nd edition for photos. The alcohol heaters which replaced them were much smaller. Naturally PFE marked them, but I bet there was a steady "leakage" rate.

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

Were the sides of 40 ft. single sheathed box cars made of 17 ft. long
planks or could shorter, less expensive planks be used?

When the cars were painted would a rotten portion of a plank be
replaced?

Ed

--- In STMFC@..., Tony Thompson <thompsonmarytony@s...>
asked: "Stacks? What stacks? Tall stacks sound like vents, not
heaters." in reply to my comment "I'm surprised at how tall the stacks
are, a couple feet above the tops of the cars

Tony, they're what I'd describe as smoke jacks.

There's a lot of white "smoke" in the picture, coming from both the
locomotive and those pipes, whatever they are.

Ed

Two of the most useful items I have on my bench are the fine and extra fine
sprue cutters by PBL. Yes, they are high cost items, but they are way
superior to the $5.00 knock-offs I picked up a train show.

Another Item I use all the time is the Micro-Mark Touch-n-flow applicator
for Ambroid plastic cement.

As for my workbench it is a 4' x 3' drafting table laid flat with a large
self healing mat in the main work area.

Brian J Carlson P.E.
Cheektowaga NY

I have been told be two sources that the CGW 90000 series box cars had 'Vermillion Klasing' hand brakes. Both the photos I have (haven't found the third one yet) were taken for the A end.

Does anyone have any idea what this brake wheel looked like? And, what could we use on our models?

Thanks,
Clark Propst

"Jack Burgess" wrote a very useful and informative post. Two items
especially rang a bell:
"an extremely fine pair of Vigor jeweler's tweezers. AND: " Dial calipers -
Mine is a 30-year-old Craftsman model. You'll be surprised how many drill
bits are in the wrong space after checking them with a set of calipers."

DON'T SCRIMP ON TWEEZERS! You can easily guess how I know!
The little machine shop - www.littlemachineshop.com has a very nice
electronical dial caliper, LMS part number 1758 for $19.95 It measures both
millimeters and inches at the push of a button. Not starrett quality but I
have found it very useful.
Lynn Finch

George,The 4000 series had the following dimensions: inside L 38' E 8'6"
H3'4"Outside:L 41'2" 4500 series inside same as 4000 except IH 4'2".Hope
this helps.Armand Premo

George,I believe the boards were 10".I'll check my ORER.Armand Premo

--- In STMFC@..., "armand premo" <armprem@s...> wrote:

George,The Rutland had several different classes of wood sided
gondolas.Are you looking for the 4000 series or the 4500 series?

Armand Premo

Armand,
The CDS lettering set is for the 4000 series. I'll have to
scratchbuild the wood part (S scale) and was wondering as to
dimensions or a guess from a photo.
Thanks,
George

I didn't have the chance to look into empty hoppers until the late
60s, but many cars from that era interiors were unpainted.

Up here in the frozen tundra the coal (contents) freezes in the
cars. Removal is buy whatever means is available. Sometimes torches
are places against the hoppers to thaw the coal (contents). At a
mininum this burns the paint off the hoppers leaving them with
grayish, yellowish, orangeish colored hoppers.

I was told it once took 4 men 6 days to unload a car of iron ore.

Clark Propst
Mason City Iowa

Don Worthy wrote:

This is a part of railroading that I've never known anything about. Is it possible to have a photo or a drawing of a heater posted. I'd love to see one.
This, also, makes me wonder if the Boston & Maine used these heaters. I believe that I'd heard that potatoes had to be heated during shipping.

They may have been used on the B&M, but most of that road's potato traffic originated on the Bangor & Aroostook (BAR).

Tim Gilbert

Jared,

Would be leaving on the 5th and returning on the 9th?

Don Barnes

This is a part of railroading that I've never known anything about. Is it possible to have a photo or a drawing of a heater posted. I'd love to see one.
This, also, makes me wonder if the Boston & Maine used these heaters. I believe that I'd heard that potatoes had to be heated during shipping.
Don W

"Thomas M. Olsen" <tmolsen@...> wrote:
Tony,

PFE heaters were marked with their name on the heater jacket. I have a
buddy who has a PFE heater in his basement and it is clearly marked as
such. The one that he has is about three feet high and about 1.5 feet
in diameter. Not exactly something that would walk off on it's own!

Tom Olsen
7 Boundary Road, West Branch
Newark, Delaware, 19711-7479
(302) 738-4292
tmolsen@...


Tony Thompson wrote:

Larry Jackman wrote:

Do not the heaters belong to the company furnishing the car to the
shipper? PFE would be one. When I was a clerk on the Un Pac at Salina
Ks, when I had to remove one it was turned over to the PFE Rep.

Yep, Larry has it exactly right, for cases where the car
owner had such equipment. How it worked for URTX or GARX or other
straight leasing companies, I don't know.

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





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