I just received in this afternoon's mail several samples of Kadee's
new HO scale HGC trucks. They are even better than they appear in
the photos, which is saying a lot.

We can rejoice that the wimpy "working" springs and largely vacant
spaces in the side frames below the bolsters are gone; springs are
now molded into the side frames, giving a much more realistic
appearance, and the "working" springs never really worked anyway.

The new HGC material produces sharp, precisely molded side frames and
bolsters, and an ingenious split-bolster design provides slight
equalization - ample to handle any reasonable track irregularities -
without excessive slop. Equally novel is the mounting arrangement;
the trucks come with precision centering sleeves and mounting
screws. They rotate freely around the mounting screws when the car
is on the track but, when the car is picked up, the trucks center,
automatically lining up with the rails and thus rendering re-railing
cars a fumble-free no-brainer. Mounting instructions call for the
removal of truck centering protrusions on the bolsters, where
present; these have often been a problem in the past when changing
trucks because, depending on the manufacturer of the car model, they
have often varied in diameter and height. The Kadee trucks are
intended to be mounted on bolster surfaces which are smooth and flat,
with clearances between the bolster, centering sleeve, and mounting
screw precisely controlled. Brake rigging is completely modeled, and
the brake shoes line up properly with the wheel treads.

All the trucks come with Kadee's familiar 110 contour cast metal
wheels on nylon axles, which provide very good rolling qualities
(though perhaps not quite as good as machined metal wheels on
machined metal axles). Those of us who have adopted code 88 semi-
scale wheels as a personal standard should urge Kadee to produce code
88 wheels as a better looking and closer-to-scale alternative.

The 70 ton Barber S-2-B solid bearing trucks are new (Kadee calls
them "friction bearing" trucks, an error for which I'll forgive them,
though only barely). They have appropriately larger journal boxes
and the correct 5'8" wheelbase (in contrast to the 5'6" wheelbase
common to most 50 ton trucks), and three springs per side are nicely
represented, as well as the Barber stabilizing wedges inside the
bolster ends. This is probably the truck that serious steam and
transition era freight car modelers have needed most, and it is a
welcome addition to the Kadee line.

The other trucks are replacements for HO scale trucks that Kadee has
produced for decades, and that used to be regarded as state of the
art. They include Arch Bar trucks with ribbed-back wheel sets and
ASF A-3 and "Bettendorf" trucks with both ribbed-back and smooth-back
wheel sets. In each case, the side frames are essentially the same
as on the former trucks, and are accurately represented. I could
wish Kadee had dropped the inaccurate "Bettendorf" label for what are
more accurately described as AAR double truss self-aligning spring-
plankless trucks, but since they have sold the older version as
"Bettendorf" for so many years, one can understand a reluctance to
confuse customers who aren't especially knowledgeable about prototype
trucks. Presumably, if these new trucks are as well received as they
should be, similar replacements for Kadee's cast metal Andrews,
Bettendorf T-section, Vulcan, and Pennsylvania 2D-F8 will follow. I
certainly hope so, as the early L-section Andrews and Vulcan trucks,
especially, aren't available from any other source.

These new trucks from Kadee are truly revolutionary and, along with
the fine HO scale trucks we've been getting recently from Brian
Leppert at Tahoe Model Works, are a major step forward in both
prototype accuracy and performance.

Richard Hendrickson

We're wandering well off topic, but some misconceptions need to be cleared up right off:

WTF did you get "super-cruisers"? They, along with ealier SOUTH DAKOTA and NORTH CAROLINA-class battleships, were commonly referred to as "fast battleships".

"Two uncompleted Iowas - Illinois and Kentucky - were laid down in Norfolk, IIRC."

Not quite true. ILLINOIS (BB 65) was a Philadelphia ship; KENTUCKY (BB 66) was a Norfolk ship.


"A colossal project. The railroads had to be intimately involved. Mustn't there have been marshaling yards for the big east coast building docks? Logistics must have been pretty carefully orchestrated, wouldn't you think?"

Yes. The Pennsy ran a wartime ad "A Carrier Travels by Rail before it Goes to Sea" showing a painting of an aerial view of a rail yard filled with cars carrying ship components.


"In Iowa's and Missouri's case, I'd guess much of the material arrived in New Jersey ports and were shipped to the NY Navy Yard?

Not necessarily. Remember that New York City was served by an extensive carfloat operation. Freight arriving in New Jersey could be ferried across the harbor via car float to the Navy Yard, and the Navy Yard was serviced by an extensive railway:
http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/milrr/bny.html

"For some time I've thought that the story of building these ships would be interesting. Anyone have thoughts or information to offer?"

For more information, I recommend Norman Friedman's U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History (Naval Institute Press, ISBN-13 978-0870217159).

Ben Hom