That was my take on it as well. There is a large circular object under each end of the bolster with a "band" of some substance passing beneath and connecting to the cylinders. It is almost as if they

Central Valley also had a ventilated boxcar wood kit. Rich Orr

Tim, While the industry standard is 40% off msrp to dealers, your comments regarding BLI are not accurate. BLI sells Blueline to dealers at 50% off. Pargon2 and Hybrids are short discounted at 30%. Ka

No. All tooling, parts and remaining inventory went to Atlas. They will keep making the laser cut structures and return to their roots as a distributor. Branchline began life as Hobby Store Distributo

Robert, According to the staff at my local post office the regulations changed January 4th. Merchandise cannot be sent 1st class mail. So unless you lie on the customs form which is a Federal offense

Get use to it. The USPS changed their regulations. Cars can no longer be legally sent as 1st class mail. They are merchandise not a letter. They must be sent parcel post ( 2 - 3 months deliver time) o

Dave, Depending on where it is mailed from that may be a legit cost. Priority mail rates went up on January 4th for anything beyond one postal zone. If the seller is using the Ebay calculator and adds

The reporting marks PCCX were first used 10/57 and according to the NRHS were in captive service from 10/57 through 10/66. Rich Orr

Richard, You omitted that Chris Clune announced his retirement at the ripe old age of 35 as Exactrail CEO this past week. Rich Orr

As the recovery of SO2 in the form of sulfuric acid resulted primarily from the institution of air pollution regulations, it is doubtful that much was occurring in 1948. The firs air pollution regulat

From Branchline's weekly flyer to dealers: "The owners of Branchline Trains, Marilyn and Sam Krutt, announce effective Monday, January 24, 2011 Branchline Blueprint and Yardmaster rolling stock, inven

Armand, Seems you have a wrong number somewhere. In 1953 the total number of tanks cars was 172301. Hard to believe that 164,000 tank cars were built in 6 years. Rich Orr

Armand, I think that is a misconception based on a regional bias. I have compiled the data for 1953. While tank cars only compose 0.6% of the cars owned by railroads, they also compose 55.4% of the pr

The Armour plant that was in Pittsburgh used every part of every hog either on site or shipped off-site for processing. You really don't want to know what goes into some luncheon meats. Same was true

I had no intention of implying that the hides were shipped in tank cars. Clark was listing the by-products of the hog packing plant and did not include hides and hair. Yes, those hides were shipped in

Clark, Don't forget the hides. You need to ship those off for processing into leather. Even hog hides. Also the hair was used in a number of produces ranging from brushes to fly tying material. Rich O

For what it is worth, the cost of assembling a RTR car is extremely small. A story related by one account rep the manufacturer for whom he works inquired about the cost of sending their tooling to Chi

Denny, Crescent Lines is the fictional railroad of the Crescent City Model Railroad club. The line runs from N.O. to K.C. Rich Orr

Ok, I totally misread the original posting when I posted the military loads list. Could say it was because I had military tanks on the mind but that would be an excuse not a reason. My bad. Rich Orr

As luck would have it, I recently received this from a friend who is a military modeler in answer to my question "What were the common Korean War US military vehicles?" Below is his list. I wanted thi