Clark and all, Agreed. Cement just didn’t get shipped long distances so the cars that hauled it tended to stay close. Due to lots of cement dust it also became pretty obvious what service they were in

Should be one hell of a one day show. Mont Switzer Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

Allan and all, The NKP 18000 AAR 47 rebuilds were programmed at Frankfort. IN Car Shop just before the merger with WAB and N&W. Not an NKP expert either. Just had to figure this out when building the

Should be 1937 AAR rebuilds. Can't blame that on SPELL Chucker. Mont Switzer Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

Back when I had more time than money I built my own spray painting booth. That was over 40 years ago. I took an end from a wooden wire reel abut 24 inches in diameter and cut it in half so I had a sem

All Monon steel gondolas, built in the late 1940's, were painted a freight car red color with white lettering EXCEPT a few 40 ft. gondolas which received black paint and yellow lettering about 1958. M

Bud, I don’t think there was any specific pattern that was required for loading tractors or implements. I suppose the various manufacturers may have developed diagrams to help their loaders get the ma

The narrow front axle arrangement were called “row crop” axles. The wider axles were just wide axles according to the John Deere service rep in this area. Mont Montford L. Switzer President Switzer Ta

John, The Monon had 100 of them, built by GATX in the late 1940's. I believe as built the trucks were black. Generally, when repainting freight cars the Monon did not repaint the trucks. They were ste

Many years ago I learned a hard lesson about baking brass models. In conjunction with that lesson I also got to learn how to re-assemble some brass models. After that I still used Mrs. Switzer's oven,

John, Oh yeah, it was well-done alright. It was wondering what that sound was coming from the kitchen, the tink, tink, tink, which turned out to be turned brass air tanks from several Alco C-420 frame

Before anyone gets any ideas, a friend once tried the following with his microwave oven: 1. baking paint on a brass model---------almost had what seemed like an electrical fire. Lesson: no metal in th

Looks like a good plan B for when I get kicked out of the kitchen. Mont Switzer

Yellow boxcars: Muncie and Western RR (MWR) had a couple of hundred Mather boxcars painted yellow and THE BALL LINE slogan on the sides, Ball canning jar on the doors. Around 1958 they went to cars si

And of course there was the issue of the hot sun “warming” the seats on farm tractors without cabs. According to a book I read this is why John Deere wen to the yellow seats; they absorbed less heat.

I counted Greg among my friends. Even though we was 2000 miles away we did a little business together and enjoyed the hobby that brought us together. Sad, sad day, Mont Switzer

Good morning John Barry, Am I one of those guys who is supposed to tell someone (you?) that I still need the Duryea under frame for this project? I know there was a list about a week ago but with work

The individuals and/or companies offering tank wagon servcie were typically independent contractors. They owned the chassis as Dennis mentioned. However, where branding was involved (like Standard Oil

It appears that the car is being unloaded through that long pipe that extends along the side of the building. I hope it goes to a substantial storage tank or tanks. This is unusual. Most tankage is lo

Schuyler and all, RMC has some 1950's material, several articles, some even requested by former editor Stephen Priest. It appears to me the magazine has gone in a different direction. That being said