Thanks for passing along this information and reference. I am reading
it right now. Agree with Rob's suggestion that all might want to take
a look. Go to http://www.burlingtonroute.com/ then click on Modelers
(sic) Depot

--- In STMFC@..., <robev1630@s...> wrote:

Gene,
I recently contributed to a similar project spearheaded by Al Hoffman

of the Burlington Route Historical Society. On The BRHS's website is a
guide which shows the model and lists the car's class. Al also has
posted his criteria for qualifying the models and thier makeup is
plastic or resin, no brass.

<snip>>
I invite you and all the members of the STMFC group to visit the site

and build models of my favorite road.

<snip>
Sincerly,
Rob Manley
Midwest Mod-U-Trak

On Dec 2, 2005, at 7:42 AM, Kurt Johnson wrote:

Hi,
I've decided to ease into the prototypical end of model railroading
beginning with Tichy's 50 ton Single Sheathed USRA boxcar. Can anyone
offer any suggestions, as far as improvements or corrections? Any
imput at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

Kurt

Kurt,

What Ted didn't add was that we are working on the USRA SS boxcar on Virtual Modelers, an on-line modeling Yehaw group Ted started. You can join at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualmodelers/

I am building three Tichy kits for this, including two rebuilt USRA cars and one "original" wood sheathed car. This latter car will be a model of a Milwaukee Road car, as they had one of the largest fleets and did very little modification (and the decals can be had through Westerfield).

Ted also covered the USRA SS boxcar in his series in RMC (Essential freight cars: 14
Railroad Model Craftsman, July 2004 page 88) where he did the Milwaukee car from a Westerfield kit along with a number of other cars.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
|/_____________________________&#92;|_|________________________________|
| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

Hi

I had the preproduction cars runing on the Coon Creek last weekend the two
cars are the
tank car and a carter bros box car. The production molds are done and Jon
says both cars
will be on sale at the Cocoa Bch. meet in Jan. They look great.

Lou Ullian

Richard,

A penchant for accuracy has always been my assumption with re to P2K.
That's why I listed a failure in this regards as only the last option.

I appreciate Tim's suggestion of three commodities which oil companies
would ship insulated. I will have to add some of these kits to my
shopping list.


regards,

Andy Miller

On Dec 2, 2005, at 8:50 AM, Ted Culotta wrote:

On Dec 2, 2005, at 8:42 AM, Kurt Johnson wrote:

Hi,
I've decided to ease into the prototypical end of model railroading
beginning with Tichy's 50 ton Single Sheathed USRA boxcar. Can anyone
offer any suggestions, as far as improvements or corrections? Any
imput at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello Kurt,

I think that the first thing you need to do is determine which
prototype to model. I would recommend visiting Westerfield's web site.
It won't block access even though you are using a Tichy kit instead of
Westerfield :-) That shows what most of the prototypes looked like.
Once you make your decision, you need to determine when the model of
the car existed. The details changed over time on many cars and if you
are modeling a car as it existed later in life, the Tichy car may not
get you where you need to be without a great deal of work.

The link would have helped:

http://www.westerfield.biz/

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@...
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

On Dec 2, 2005, at 8:42 AM, Kurt Johnson wrote:

Hi,
I've decided to ease into the prototypical end of model railroading
beginning with Tichy's 50 ton Single Sheathed USRA boxcar. Can anyone
offer any suggestions, as far as improvements or corrections? Any
imput at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello Kurt,

I think that the first thing you need to do is determine which prototype to model. I would recommend visiting Westerfield's web site. It won't block access even though you are using a Tichy kit instead of Westerfield :-) That shows what most of the prototypes looked like. Once you make your decision, you need to determine when the model of the car existed. The details changed over time on many cars and if you are modeling a car as it existed later in life, the Tichy car may not get you where you need to be without a great deal of work.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@...
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

Hi,
I've decided to ease into the prototypical end of model railroading
beginning with Tichy's 50 ton Single Sheathed USRA boxcar. Can anyone
offer any suggestions, as far as improvements or corrections? Any
imput at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

Kurt

Jack,
Try the Walthers Solvaset, I used on a Southern car and worked.
Marcelo Lordeiro

I have just uploaded a picture to the STMFC Photo site in the "Files"
section of an ATSF reefer I shot in Hereford, TX this past July. The file
name is "ATSF Reefer1.jpg"
--
Thanks!

Brian Ehni

Jack,

I have successfully removed BLT lettering by scraping followed by media
blasting to smooth things up. Their lettering is tougher than their
paint and media blasting alone removes the paint before all of the
lettering is gone. It does make a nice weathering effect, though.

I had tried removing part of the lettering from my car. Because the
process took the car paint also I had to try to repaint these areas. I
could not get a satisfactory paint match and ended up removing the
remainder of the lettering (and paint). I then had to repaint the car.
Makes an undec sound like a pretty good deal.

I've found (accidently) that lacquer thinner will cut the lettering on
about the second pass with a brush loaded with it, but it also gets the
paint. Nice bleeding lettering effect, though.

Hope this is of some help. Mont Switzer

Below are some images of Santa Fe reefers from the `net which I also
posted on my Citrus Industry Modeling Group site. To view them be
sure to paste the ENTIRE web address into your browser.

All images are copyrighted so please treat them accordingly.

Bob Chaparro
Moderator
Citrus Industry Modeling Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/citrusmodeling/

====================================

http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/ref21335/r21335-1.jpg

http://freight.railfan.ca/atsf/sfrd11286.jpg

http://www.azrymuseum.org/roster/sf16811.jpg

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=195573

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=195572

------------------
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=203807

(Detail shots of this same reefer)

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=203809

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=204275

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=204269

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=204271


-------------

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=90282

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=134767

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=101614

http://www.geocities.com/oldlahistory/sfrd33055.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/oldlahistory/sfrd4206.jpg

This last image is of a couple of St. Luis Central reefers stored on
the Milwaukee. According to Richard Hendrickson these were former
Santa Fe/Railway Express Agency express reefers, series REX 4050-
4099, built at the Santa Fe's Topeka shops in 1953. REA returned
them to the Santa Fe when the mail contracts were lost in 1969 and
they were repainted as SFRD refrigerator cars. However, they lasted
only briefly in this role, as the Santa Fe had little use for ice
bunker reefers by that time, and several of them were sold to the
San Luis Central.

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/rolling-stock/Propst's-photos/slc425-
7904-mcity,ia-sdm.jpg

Richard wrote:

By the way, I'm puzzled by Schuyler's statement that the
paint and lettering on the E-L model aren't correct, as they
are based on a prototype photo in my collection and are
accurate right down to the Greenville builder's bug.

Oh, I didn't mean anything was wrong with the P/L. That was advised by one of the foremost experts
on EL lettering there is, and yes, it's bang-on right. But the car itself doesn't perfectly match
up with the prototype. The number of panels in the tapered section, and in the middle section
between the tapers, is not the same as the prototype, or at least the EL car which comes closest.
IIRC, the link I sent included a link to a George Elwood Fallen Flags site photo of that prototype.
All that said, it DOES match up VERY well, particulary compared to the next best thing. (there
isn't one.)

My only disappointment is that the lettering is EL, not ERIE, and therefore not yet in existence per
the rules of this list . . .

SGL

OK...guys...funs over. No more comparisons between various tornados, hurricanes, forest fires, swamps, blizzards [ whatever they are ], earthquakes, floods or whatever. If you need such, I'll be glad to form such a group. Also...comparisons of places in the US...Florida, Cal, Mass, Mich, or even Mecca [ Cheyenne ] is also out of scope. Back to frt cars please. Please heed the warning. I might note that the jailhouse food still aint too good.

Thanks.

Mike Brock
STMFC Owner

Gene,
I recently contributed to a similar project spearheaded by Al Hoffman of the Burlington Route Historical Society. On The BRHS's website is a guide which shows the model and lists the car's class. Al also has posted his criteria for qualifying the models and thier makeup is plastic or resin, no brass.

This began as a tabletop display at one of our spring Mini-meets and featured models built or partialy built by members of the society. Jim Miller, Al Hoffman, Tony Doyce (late) and myself were some of the contributors. More models were photographed by Matt Kosic at the Napervile RPM 2005 meet that are soon to be added. It was quite a revelation to see how many models have been produced that are accurate for the CB&Q. Incedentaly these were mostly freight, a few waycars and the converted Pullman Kitchen car /express baggage.

I invite you and all the members of the STMFC group to visit the site and build models of my favorite road.

Sincerly,
Rob Manley
Midwest Mod-U-Trak
"Ah, Sal, if you could sit with me high in the Basque contry with a cool bottle of PoignonDix-neuf, then you'd know there are other things besides boxcars."
"I know that. It's just that I love boxcars and I love to read the names on them like Missouri Pacific, Great Northern, Rock Island Line"
On the Road----Jack Kerouac

Which just goes to show what people know about one of the real pleasures about Florida - No See Ums. For good reason.

And isn't it odd that there are always apologists for there? If it were truly a desirable place, the plan would be to run it down and complain about it. By trying to extol the virtues, you all sound like a bunch of swamp sales people. And people who have never been in an earthquake should not pretend to know what one is like - or the differences between a Hurricane and an Earthquake. Provided you follow all of the building codes, an earthquake is not that bad to ride out - assuming you take care with your decorating. Note that in the 1989 quake houses within a mile of the epicenter were just fine - but those were the ones built by Habitat for humanity. others, built to less stringent codes, or older ones, didn't fare as well. I rode it out in San Francisco on the 48th floor. It was a lot of fun, and a lot better than hurricanes I've been through - or tornadoes. Getting home wasn't as much fun. BTW, that 400' high point isn't a natural feature, it is a garbage dump. or was about 20 years ago (the highest "land" feature for a few years was a garbage pile). And, you might just ask the folks in South Carolina about those funny bolts and washers sticking out of their walls and why they're called earthquake bolts. They HAVE been known to hit there, quite hard too. Just as they have been known to hit the New Madrid faults. So please, let's stop all this nonsense. Last time the people were complaining about going to a show in the frigid northeast in January when it was nice and warm in (A) Florida (B) Texas (C) Southern California), Katrina hit shortly thereafter (yes, you can check the dates in the archives), then Rita hit, then there were large fires in LA basin. I'm not saying there is a connection, but someone might be reading the list and getting peeved to keep hearing such stuff. And he has allegedly white robes instead of the black ones.



At 08:37 PM 12/1/2005, you wrote:

and Richard Hendrickson wrote:

Yeah, but I hear that locusts are coming in droves to the SE states.
Better take bug spray to Cocoa Beach.

= = =

My guess is the bugs won't begin arriving to plague Mike until about Jan. 5.
The nits will be there already, waiting to be picked.

Peter Weiglin

Bob Webber

Tony Thompson wrote:

We can all offer three cheers of relief to Mike Brock on the
end of hurricane season . . . for this year, anyway . . . see you in
January, Mike.

and Richard Hendrickson wrote:

Yeah, but I hear that locusts are coming in droves to the SE states.
Better take bug spray to Cocoa Beach.

= = =

My guess is the bugs won't begin arriving to plague Mike until about Jan. 5.
The nits will be there already, waiting to be picked.

Peter Weiglin

The map is very old. Alice Furnace was gone by 1930, IIRC. I apologize for the tardiness, but I am in digest mode and only have tiem every few days to read mail.

I've just moved to Birmingham, and I have been compiling lots of material on the iron, steel, and coal industries here and the incredible spectrum of railroad operations here and in the rest of Alabama.

Try this web site
http://www.bhamrails.info/

Also, try:
http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/

HABS/HAER has tons of information on-line for the Birmingham area including railroads and industries.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/

All the major industries here are covered in exquisite detail and a lot of minor ones as well. You'll need a fast connection.

The city is covered in high-resolution color photography that can be accessed through Google Earth. Using the freeware USAPhotomaps from J.M. Cox you can build black and white images (georeferenced) or topos off the Terraserver site very easily.

Since I do GIS at work, I have a B&W photomosaic of Birmingham and a corresponding topo base.

Montgomery, a similarly cool cross-roads of numerous roads, has high-res color on the Terraserver site, so it may be a short time before Birmingham also is available from Terraserver. The output is MUCH better than Google Earth.

Hope this helps, and enjoy.

Charles Tapper

Hi All,

As you have seen from my email links all of the production cars are here.
Most of them are painted. We received the first printing of the Railway
Express and Circle Keystone decals in late July. Parts of this set were
fuzzy and were promptly rejected. We received the rerun set in October which
had yet another set of quality control issues. We are using pieces from both
sets to speed the completion as much as possible. We did not want to further
delay the process by waiting for a third printing of the decals. This is by
no means a compromise in our quality control. All of the decals used are
crisp and correct in size. The Railway Express cars are being decaled now.
All of the B&O cars are completed and many have been shipped.

The artwork for the Shadow Keystone and Merchandise Service sheet is being
worked on now. This sheet also has the G26 decals on it as well. We hope to
have this sheet printed by February.

As you can see while we have been quiet since the convention we are still
moving forward. NO one wants to get his project completed more then Dan and
I. Look for a website update in December. I will post when that is
completed. Dan and I would like to thank all of our customers for their
patience, and wish you all Happy Holidays.

Thank You,
Bill Lane

Modeling the Mighty Pennsy in S Scale in 1957

See my finished models at:
http://www.lanestrains.com

Importing a Brass S Scale PRR X29 & G26
http://www.pennsysmodels.com

ALL of the production X29 have arrived as of 6-30-05
Replacement PRR decals arrived 10-5-05

***Join the PRR T&HS***
The other members are not ALL like me!
http://www.prrths.com

I neglected to mention that the Wabash car was filmed in about 1958,
being pulled by a steam era steam locomotive. Maybe a little later.
but I think steam was gone from the C&S by 1960 except for the
Leadville-Climax line.

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@o...>
wrote:

On Nov 30, 2005, at 10:27 PM, Chet French wrote:

The Wabash 11300-11999 series cars were purchased from the CNJ in
1962. The Wabash painted the cars freight car red with the large

33"

WABASH and a small flag. All Wabash steel gons had been painted
black prior to these cars. Cars were built by Bethlehem in 1944.

Thanks, Chet. I have a good photo of one but didn't know their

history.

Richard Hendrickson

Does anyone have a good method to remove factory lettering on Branchline
cars? (I need to removal the letterboard lettering from their Pullmans but
would assume that any solution for freight cars would also work on the
Pullmans.)

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com