On Nov 8, 2005, at 1:24 PM, lnbill wrote:

Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

Bill:

It can be used as part of the Athearn kitbash to create a GATC Type 30 as written up by Richard in RMJ several years ago.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

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

It is most enlightening...and entertaining...to read about Naperville. Although I fully intended to attend, while you that were there were fighting each other to get to the head of the line in the Sunshine Room, I was watching a fairly competent roofing company replace and repair a section of roof over the train room. Most concerning. For those not living in hurricane highway [ as opposed to tornado alley ], there is about one roofing company for every 100 roofs needing repair. One odd aspect of hurricanes is that, unlike tornados or earthquakes, one see's them coming. Only problem is...you can't do a damned thing about it. I mean...bomb a hurricane?

As far as hotels go...it is very true that the key to the cost of meeting rooms is the number of sleeping rooms one sells. However, what some might not realize is that you should write your contract in terms of room-nights AND you should be sure to get credit for every room-night including those before and after the event. My favorite attendees are those that come early and leave late.

Unlike Martin, I AM on the internet...rather exposed actually...and welcome comments about Prototype Rails...Cocoa Beach. Incidentally, Martin has an open offer to come down and sell anything he has left. The comments about chairs and Bob's Photos got my attention and so...we'll have chairs for Bob and Mainline Photos as well. However, I don't really like the idea of putting them in their room somewhere, so Bob will be very assessable in his usual location with Mainline across from him.

So...I usually don't like to promote Cocoa Beach prior to another event...like Naperville...but it's now time. Here's the latest flyer:

PROTOTYPE RAILS

COCOA BEACH, FL, JAN 6-8, 2006

A PROTOTYPE MODELING MEET FEATURING
MODULAR LAYOUTS IN O, HO AND N SCALE

OVER 400 MODELS ON DISPLAY, 7 PROTOTYPE BASED LAYOUTS
PLEASE BRING MODELS

CLINICIANS

Mike Rose John Roberts Bruce Smith John Golden Chad Hewitt

Robert Hundman Bill Darnaby Tom Bisset Larry Kline Ben Hom Ed DeRouin

Andy Sperandeo Tim Frederick Andy Harman Richard Hendrickson

Scott Chatfield Clark Propst Ken Edmier Stan Rydarowicz Jim Singer

Steve Orth Brian Nolan Jeff Cauthen Tom Wilson Bill Schaumburg Ted Culotta

Greg Martin Mont Switzer Jon Cagle Tony Thompson Tom Madden

Keith Williams Bill Welch Joe Oates John Wilkes George Eichelberger

David Marquis Al Westerfield Roger Hinman Jim Singer Stephen Funaro

Lance Mindheim Bob Webber Gail Komar Mike Brock

Manufacturers/Dealers: Branchline, Walthers, Westerfield, F & C, Bob's Photos, Mainline Photos, Southern Car & Foundry

HILTON HOTEL, COCOA BEACH, FL, 1-800-526-2609 or 321-799-0003. $97 Room Rate. Refer to Prototype Rails. Preregistration $30, payable to Prototype Rails, to Marty Megregian, 480 Gails Way, Merritt Island, FL 32953.

Jan 6, 10 AM -Midnight, Jan 7, 9 AM-Midnight, Jan 8, Layout Visits.
5 prototype based layouts will be open for visits locally on Sunday, Jan 8. Ken Farnham's FEC [ 1970s ], Lou Ullian's On3 Logging [ 1930s ], John Shankland's O scale 3 rail CB&Q, Tom Wilson's HO scale P&WV [ phone # 863-424-7343 ], and Mike Brock's HO scale UP [ 1954 ].
There will be two op sessions available on Thursday Jan 5 at Tom Wilson's and Mike Brock's layouts. Those wishing to join in a session should indicate their choices in preregistration and contact the host. Selection will be on a first come basis.
A special dinner on Saturday, Jan 7, for Prototype Rails attendees only will be available for $16/person. Tickets are required and must be purchased no later than Saturday morning. Tickets may be purchased and reserved in advance and included with the cost of registration. Registration plus dinner is $46/person. Spouses not attending presentations do not have to register. FOR INFORMATION: Contact Mike Brock at: brockm@... or 321-453-4140.

Pat, what I hate about that Holiday Inn is that you can't get a simple
cup of coffee (GOOD coffee) at any time of the day. Ridiculous! I once
stayed at the Chicago Hilton for $50 a night (it was Aug 2001) (that's
the hotel where they filmed The Fugitive) and it was 1st class. I'd be
very happy if we moved the meet over there... and it's only a short
taxi ride from Union Station and around the corner from Starbucks. :-)

Tim O'Connor

Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

Bill Welch

Hi All,

Just a few comments and thoughts in response to what has been said about all the
fun we had in Napierville. I am not hoping to initiate a long discussion or
worse a disagreement about the meeting, just a few sentences on my experience.
This was my second Napierville meet but my first as a clinician and I had a
great time (except for the fire alarm incident). I am in agreement with what
John Golden said about handouts as I too understood that it would be preferred
if we brought 120 copies of something along for audience participation,
although this was not an ironclad rule. As such, I was pleasantly surprised how
generous the Sunshine folks were in compensating those of us lucky enough to
give clinics. Thus I was a bit taken a back when I was asked at one clinic to
pay for the handout (with an option to pay more for a much larger and more
detailed handout from an earlier clinic) although I did pony up my dollar. To
each his own I suppose. I have to say Martin seems to have a much better
appreciation of clinicians than I have seen with the NMRA (but that is an
argument for another listserve!). Not knowing when we are presenting is a bit
odd if you are coming from a great distance but I understand Martin's
scheduling is due to cancellations. And I guess this year there was only one.

I was also a bit surprised about the time the Sunshine room opened but I suppose
I will never know what I missed. I was looking for southeastern prototypes which
did not seem to be available in large numbers (not a surprise in Chicago)
although I picked up a number of ACL gondolas. Tony Koester walked past me with
the new Ted Cullota book and calender (which I suggest everyone buy right now as
they are great!!) which was the first I even knew there were other vendors at
the hotel so I left that clinic and rushed over. It was a tight fit and some of
the offerings were not exactly what I was expecting but I picked up a few things
from Ted Cullotta and the Central of Georgia Historical Society.

As a professional historian I found the slide show on the Depression a bit
underwhelming/problematic but I had a wonderful talk with the author later
which was very interesting. If nothing else, I certainly applaud Martin's
choice in subject matter for the talk that night following dinner.

The sighting of diesel era models, many of which won prizes, was to me the most
inriguing apsect of the meeting. I know this website deals with a specific time
period but I suppose the meeting is about "prototype modeling" which is a bit
larger chronological category. I am still thinking about the corn modeled on
the N-scale module that took a prize. Great stuff and not I think (?) the brass
corn you can purchase from Bernie K.

Let me close by saying that Napierville (and from what I have heard-- but
haven't attended Cocoa Beach and the new St. Louis meet-- are quite similar) is
just a wonderful model railroading experience, a bit like a series of graduate
school seminars where the modeling and clinics are absolutely first rate (my
clinic might have been an exception) and there were no soft spots in the
schedule. Even with clinics being given twice you can still miss things. I sat
through Bill Darnaby's talk twice and am hopeful I now understand the Muamee
much better.

All in all a great way to meet the best modelers in the country and learn a
great deal about many different facets of the hobby. I only hope I can clear my
fall schedule and go again next year...

Gerry

Dr. Gerard J. Fitzgerald
Department of Histpry and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania

I have an image from the Gerstley collection of late
50's color slides which is of a Nickle Plate "PS-0"
40' boxcar. Though not a Kodachrome, it is a nice
photo. I believe I have offered it before to this
list's members, but if there is anyone out there
reading this post, I will send you a scan of the photo
if you email me directly (off-list) and put NKP PS-0
in the subject line. Thanks,
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA <midcentury@...>

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:42 PM, Ted Culotta wrote:

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:32 PM, buchwaldfam wrote:

Yup,
Good article. The CGW car is really a 10 foot IH 1937 AAR car with
the PS-Zero ends. Ted Culotta's web site has a list of 1937 cars and
this CGW series is listed there.
The RMJ article also shows similar 40 foot cars for other roads,
one shot of a SAL round roof car, as well as CGW and KCS 50 foot cars
with those ends.
The kitbash is pretty straightforward. Just remove the old ends
and graft on the new ones. I made replacement ends by sawing and
gnawing off the cast-on ladder a brake details from a set of old MDC
round roof car ends. The resin ends are a better way to go if you can
get them: it took me the better part of a saturday to get rid of all
the unwanted ladder details! Then I still had to add a rivet strip
between the top and bottom panel. But it did work.

These cars also had flat riveted roof.

WRONG. Scratch this comment about the roof. They were not the flat riveted type.

Ted Culotta

By the way, these ends are not
"PS-0" ends. They are simply Pullman-Standard proprietary ends.
Similar ones were also used on the WLE, TC and B&O cars. On the CGW
cars, the ribs terminated before the radius of the end that wraps
around the corner post. On the WLE/TC/B&O cars the ends of the ribs
actually and terminate on the portion of the end that can be seen from
the side of the car.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

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





Yahoo! Groups Links

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

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:32 PM, buchwaldfam wrote:

Yup,
Good article. The CGW car is really a 10 foot IH 1937 AAR car with
the PS-Zero ends. Ted Culotta's web site has a list of 1937 cars and
this CGW series is listed there.
The RMJ article also shows similar 40 foot cars for other roads,
one shot of a SAL round roof car, as well as CGW and KCS 50 foot cars
with those ends.
The kitbash is pretty straightforward. Just remove the old ends
and graft on the new ones. I made replacement ends by sawing and
gnawing off the cast-on ladder a brake details from a set of old MDC
round roof car ends. The resin ends are a better way to go if you can
get them: it took me the better part of a saturday to get rid of all
the unwanted ladder details! Then I still had to add a rivet strip
between the top and bottom panel. But it did work.

These cars also had flat riveted roof. By the way, these ends are not "PS-0" ends. They are simply Pullman-Standard proprietary ends. Similar ones were also used on the WLE, TC and B&O cars. On the CGW cars, the ribs terminated before the radius of the end that wraps around the corner post. On the WLE/TC/B&O cars the ends of the ribs actually and terminate on the portion of the end that can be seen from the side of the car.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

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

--- In STMFC@..., Bob Webber <no17@c...> wrote:
I have some knowledge of his business, but even at that it is a
scrape in the barrel.

Bob-
I spoke to Bob for a couple of hours on the telephone and received 3
orders from him through the mail, ordering prints from a master list
(made by several members of this group including Richard Hendrickson).

From the many backordered prints there were Bob must have had problems
locating the prints I ordered or they were out of stock. Photos not in
the books are probably stored as stock for books A, B or C etc.

Bob used to own a photo supply store and it was my understanding that
an automated machine was used to make multiple prints. I thought he
owned that machine but I may be wrong.

They use a similar machine at a one hour photo place. The machine pops
out 100s of prints an hour. 30 years ago when I worked at Kodak a
friend ran a similar machine.

Maybe Bob's getting tired of all that driving. Bob told me that he had
problems getting the albums to and from the shows when he traveled by
air. He told me he once went to an NMRA convention in Florida by air.

Ed

--- In STMFC@..., Tony Thompson <thompsonmarytony@s...> wrote:

John, it's NOT "required" at all, as Martin will tell you, though
of course it is very welcome. Not every presentation lends itself to a
handout. When I have done talks which so lend themselves, I am happy to
make the effort; other times, a handout doesn't make sense.

Tony, I agree that not all presentations lend themselves to handouts but if a presentation
has any significant amount of information worth retaining, a handout is desirable at the
very least.

I fear all of the musings about the Naperville meet will fall on deaf ears since Martin is not
"connected" and will not read any of them. So next year will be just like the last but a bit
more expensive.

I have a few musings of my own:

1. How about a change of scenery? I'm getting tired of that dumpy Holiday Inn.
2. If not, could they please turn up the A/C - ventilation in those stuffy clinic rooms?
Bigger rooms would also be a plus since they were often jammed.
3. How about softer chairs? After three days of clinics I fear I was starting to get bedsores
on my backside.
4. Note: I stayed at the Excel Inn 2 blocks away, saved about $20 a night, and didn't hear
the fire alarm. They also have a free continental breakfast and after 12 stays you get
number 13 for free. The rooms are very nice. On a nice day you can walk to the meet and
the exercise will do most of us good. The savings allowed me to buy a couple more of
Martin's "clay" kits for my basement hobby shop.
5. Did you notice the new "gate guard" this year? We all had to pay his extra salary through
Martin's higher fee. The reason is a few skunks were crashing the meet, attending the
clinics, and not "paying at the door." It seems a few always ruin it for the many. Martin said
it was getting out of control.
6. In order to encourage more PowerPoint presentations, Martin should supply presenters
with one or more loaned laptop computers with a CD/DVD optical drive and PowerPoint
software. Or he should rent them from the motel. I gave up my Boeing-supplied laptop a
couple of weeks ago and all I have now is one mongo MAC G5 at home to do my books.
It's too heavy to carry <g> and I really don't need a new laptop.
7. Of course, PowerPoint presentations lend themselves to more than just handouts. Last
year, I had several requests for a digital copy of my presentation on Pullman heavyweight
sleeping cars. I handed out my primary and my backup CDs after I was finished. I was
hoping for a bidding war to start but it didn't happen.
8. OK, so you all didn't get the 40' sliding flush door reefers at the meet. Boo hoo. Put in
your order and Martin will be happy to make more. Just like potato chips. As I noted once
before, life is tough. Note: smiley face follows: (-:

Pat Wider

We're likely treading on the good graces of our fearsome moderator....

Having returned from Gaithersburg, I can attest that a three day (well, 2.5 days) of selling can really burn out vendors. Bob's choice is to do it from his room and that seems to work for him as he can lounge and his security is pretty good - though I do fault him for not taking that extra effort of saving his collection when the fire alarm sounded. I fully expected to see all those priceless photos in the parking lot....

The way the clinics are set up leaves precious little free time to go hobby shopping or vendor shopping as is. I don't have the former issue, living nearby, but the other issue does come into play. I liked the two day availability. I also liked the "buyer regret" aspect of that second day where, if an item were still available, you could go back the next morning and purchase that photo or other item that you had decided against the day before.

I will write a letter to Martin, after all, I don't need a reply, and there *is* a little time between if one is warranted. If for no other reason than to show some appreciation for having the show and gathering the experts as he has done in the past years. No other experience quite like it and too often such things go unremarked upon. His family's unfailing good cheer in the admin part of it should also be remarked upon.

At 10:41 AM 11/8/2005, you wrote:

I agree, a VENDOR room (no sales) and a PHOTO ROOM & LOUNGE
would be just peachy. And open Fri & Sat all day too.

Bob Webber

Yup,
Good article. The CGW car is really a 10 foot IH 1937 AAR car with
the PS-Zero ends. Ted Culotta's web site has a list of 1937 cars and
this CGW series is listed there.
The RMJ article also shows similar 40 foot cars for other roads,
one shot of a SAL round roof car, as well as CGW and KCS 50 foot cars
with those ends.
The kitbash is pretty straightforward. Just remove the old ends
and graft on the new ones. I made replacement ends by sawing and
gnawing off the cast-on ladder a brake details from a set of old MDC
round roof car ends. The resin ends are a better way to go if you can
get them: it took me the better part of a saturday to get rid of all
the unwanted ladder details! Then I still had to add a rivet strip
between the top and bottom panel. But it did work.

Regards,
Phil Buchwald

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:22 PM, dh30973 wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., John Golden <golden1014@y...> wrote:

I was quite surprised to see the number of
diesel (disease-el, as one of my buddies says) era
models in the display room. They're slowly taking over
the meet. Plus, most of the award winners in the model
room were disease-el era models.

John, as someone who puts on a meet, you should know that the models on
display are what are brought and you have no control over what shows
up. I don't think Martin has "limited" the display to a specific era.

While I have little interest in modern stuff in general, good modeling is still good modeling and I always appreciate seeing it in any format.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

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

I'm in the process of upgrading a few Bowser H21 and H22 hoppers and
have hit a wall in finding details on the original brake system. I know
many of these cars used KD brakes until upgraded in the 1940's, but I'm
unable to find a diagram or clear image of the original component
layout. Here's where I have checked:

** STMFC archives
** Teichmoeller's "PRR Steel Open Hopper Cars" - covers the AB system
well!
** 1919 Train Shed Cyc reprints
** Robert Schoenberg's on-line PRR equipment diagrams
** H21 builders photo from Keith Retterer


I have found a decent image of the KD brake system on a PRR GLa hopper.
Would I be correct in assuming the H21 and H22 cars used a similar
layout of components?

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

Eric Hansmann
Morgantown, W. Va.

--- In STMFC@..., John Golden <golden1014@y...> wrote:

I was quite surprised to see the number of
diesel (disease-el, as one of my buddies says) era
models in the display room. They're slowly taking over
the meet. Plus, most of the award winners in the model
room were disease-el era models.

John

John Golden
O'Fallon, IL

John, as someone who puts on a meet, you should know that the models on
display are what are brought and you have no control over what shows
up. I don't think Martin has "limited" the display to a specific era.

As for what got awards, those choices were made by his chosen "judges".

Dave Hussey

--- In STMFC@..., timboconnor@c... wrote:

Ed, I would not presume to tell Bob how to run his business, but
I think his inventory problem is a lot more complex than you have
imagined -- I'm sure he has well over 100,000 images and often
sells over a thousand prints at a single show or meet. He could
create a web site etc etc but it would be a big investment and

might

end up driving the prices up even higher. If you've been to

Springfield,

Bob has about 20 tables and a dozen or more people working there,
and literally hundreds of binders of photos. It's a mob scene! If

he

implemented careful inventory tracking it would bog down the works.

Tim,
My suggestion is that he catalogs the prints as they made, not all
of the prints at once. Someone refills the books after each show and
must go to Bob and say "we ran out of or getting low on prints abc,
xyz etc." Bob then either orders more abcs and xyzs or orders
something else to take up the space when the abcs and xzys run out.
My suggestion is that whatever new prints are ordered get listed,
particularly the photos that Bob prints for the first time.

A list of these new photos being printed is alrady made. I doubt it
would take much or cost much for a high schooler to set up and
update a web site or have a retired person pick and ship the orders.

I expect Bob sells more than 1000 prints per show at even the
smallest shows. It wouldn't surprise me if he selld 20,000 prints at
Springfield.

The way he's buying up negatives Bob must be make a lot of money.
He earns it though. Think how long it must take to drive to
Naperville from Connecticut. He's literally away from home for a
week.

When I spoke to Bob on the phone he told me he doesn't go to sme
shows (like the ones near where I live)due to marginal sales at
previous shows. Bad weather has caused some disappointing trps for
him too.

Ed

ed_mines wrote:

Yeah, but maybe you missed some of the ones that you wanted most
because someone else got to him before you did.

I spoke with Bob about how he determines what to print. He told me he
always invests a majority of his inventory money in making prints for the
latest stuff he bought while for replenishment of old stock he simply grabs
about 100 negatives **at random** from whatever has no prints left and does
new prints of those. He said he understands that means some things might
not get picked for a long time before reprinting but given the large number
of negatives that he owns he'd go nuts trying to put any logic into the
selection process.

Dave Nelson

Bob Webber wrote:

At *most* hotels and meetings, the meeting rooms are free based on a
guaranteed number of hotel rooms used. That isn't always the case,
but it is one reason most conventions are really pushing you to use
"their" room rate at the convention hotel. I'm not sure if this is
the way this particular meet is run.

Pretty much the case. Martin said the turnout was large enough this year to
qualify next year's meet for extra space.... IIRC both ballrooms, which
would double the space available for the vendor sales area. Whether it
comes to that or not will have to wait until next year.

Dave Nelson

--- In STMFC@..., timboconnor@c... wrote:

Dennis, if Bob's entire McCoid and other collections were available

with

a simple mouse click, I'd go broke in no time at all... It's better

that I only

see him 3 or 4 times a year and am limited to how much I can carry

away

with me! (And also since I can never remember what I've already

bought,

I tend to err on the side of fewer photos.)

Yeah, but maybe you missed some of the ones that you wanted most
because someone else got to him before you did. And maybe you'd like
to cut 3 or 4 times a year down. I've heard Bob wants to cut down on
traveling.

Ed

Bob, of course Martin will listen to suggestions. But you'll have to
write him a letter, because they don't use email! :-) (At least they
are wise enough not to reveal their email address to most of us.)

I agree, a VENDOR room (no sales) and a PHOTO ROOM & LOUNGE
would be just peachy. And open Fri & Sat all day too.

Tim O.


Bob Webber wrote