Hello Gary, these cars are indeed former VGN battleship gons because of their 6-wheel trucks (and their height and other proportions). The C&IM gons were much lower and rode on 4-wheel trucks (as

Friends, I'm surprised nobody has commented that the left hand "Battleship" gondola is lettered USN. I suppose it's appropriate letter on a battleship. (Ewwww!) I'm supposing that these cars were

Yes, and not one of them is 100% prototipical... Asked Kadee several times , but was ignored as usual. Fred Jansz

The War Emergency 2-Bay hoppers were also Timesavers. The brake detailing and underframe was assembled with the body. Rob Manley "Better modeling through personal embarrassment"

B&O cars were modified specifically for "gypsum wallboard" loading in the 1950's when a large gypsum deposit was discovered near Shoals Indiana. Note that the Intermountain model has "Return to B&O

And the steel weight is separate and securely taped to the bottom of the box. It gets glued to the top of the floor / underframe assembly. Todd Sullivan

Hi Dennis, To answer your question with one kit as an example ... I just received a P2K ATSF Fe-24 50ft auto boxcar kit that is a Time-Saver kit. The main parts are the body shell and floor /

If a standard flat car is about 9’ wide, then the boilers in the prototype photo are smaller boilers. They are more like 6’ wide. J. Stephen Sandifer

Standard procedure at freight houses. J. Stephen Sandifer

I have a bunch of Proto 2000 models that have become surplus to my needs, that are going on e-Bay this weekend. Some are fully assembled, some are kits, and some are Time-Saver kits. I seem to recall

Claus Thanks for this link but I think it may be too old for some members. Box car 26519 was built by Wells & French in 1891 (26503-26753), while 26259 behind it (if that is the correct number) was

There is an interesting feature about this. Unlike box cars which had sliding doors, Reefers had double leaf swing doors needed to seal the car air tight. That is why the doors were only 4’ wide.

I spent 2 summers in the big CPR freight sheds in Lambton Yard in Toronto. The bridge plates were used on a lot of the cars. The shed was long and cars were always beside each other on adjacent tracks

Rumor is that it’s makeup – same stuff that is used in cosmetics. What that stuff is, is an off-topic exercise for the reader😊 Regards, -Jeff

Bob Chaparro wrote: Ah, yes, the famous silver "feather" cars. There must be several thousand models in existence for every car that was on the prototype. Tony Thompson tony@...

Los Angles Produce Terminal arrangement, but their 12 tracks were at an angle. Reefers could be unloaded 3 at a time using bridge plates between far 2. There was always one against a dock, 36 cars

More likely C&IM gondolas that were akin to the VGN types. Gary Laakso Northwest of Mike Brock

Judging by the appearance of those cars and the date of the picture, they could very well be Virginian “battleship gons” that were sold by the railroad and used as storage bins or scrapped. The

Photo: Pullman Company Boxcar PLM X2023 A 1940 builder's photo from the Illinois Digital Archives: http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/pshs/id/19536/rec/72 There are additional

Photos: WP Boxcar 20807 1951 builder's photos from the Illinois Digital Archives: http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/pshs/id/21885/rec/170 There is an additional photo