There was an ARA committee working toward a “recommended standard” box car, from 1915 to 1917. The USRA Car Committee simply took over their work and made a few tweaks. Tony Thompson tony@signaturepre

Sure. Written when most railroad CMOs still believed in double sheathing, and at the dawn of the time when nearly everyone changed their mind. And NP, of course, was a late holdout on this topic, alon

Sure. But the railroads were returned from Federal to private ownership on March 1, 1920, ending the Federal stewardship and control. That was certainly the end of MEANINGFUL work by the USRA. Tony Th

Ken is right about this description of the USRA double-sheathed car; it most certainly did NOT have an insulating layer. I would also disagree with the statement that the double-sheathed car was “more

Thanks to Tony Wagner and Tim O’Connor for nice photos, even though most are of the express cars, which I am not going to do. But plenty of lettering info for these cars. I have some Richard Hendricks

Builder photos were taken when convenient. Sometimes it would be the first car built, often a car somewhere in the middle, and sometimes a car near the end of a number series. Also, you need to be awa

I was thinking of modeling one of the CMO cars in the 20000-22414 series and thought I had a photo for the lettering. But my photo is for one of the rebuilt cars. Does anyone have a photo to show lett

Years ago, a small module done this way was exhibited at an NMRA regional contest, and maybe at the National the same year. I can’t remember the modeler or the year. Maybe someone on the list will rem

Jason P (not signing his full name) wrote: Certainly looks like a World War II “War Emergency” box car, several models available. The InterMountain one is very nice. Tony Thompson

Very nice-looking model, Bob. Well done light weathering, too, and I like the brownish trucks. Tony Thompson tony@...

Mine comes from a long wrestle with crystallography, where you really have to think clearly about rotations etc. And you don’t mix up the terms. Tony Thompson tony@...

Dave Wetterstroem wrote: I”d say concave. And BTW, to me, the word “inverted” means “upside down,” that is, rotated around a horizontal axis. This present case I would interpret as rotated around a ve

Those Maine folks may be right, locally, but the entire remainder of the world knows the B&A as the Boston & Albany. Tony Thompson tony@...

Not my list, it’s Ed Mines list from the Mainline Modeler article. Tony

Ed Mines wrote: I am attaching the roster from Ed Mines’ article in the November 1986 _Mainline Modeler_ issue. This is certainly “a list” but clearly was never proof-read by anyone who knew anything

You guys obviously have forgotten Richard Hendrickson’s kitbashes of the Athearn gondola, reported in a two-part article in Prototype Modeler magazine (“Mill gondolas and how to model them,” Part 2, V

I’m somewhat agog that my memory reaches back 35 years . . . but thanks much, Al. Just what I needed. Tony Thompson tony@...

Paul, my understanding is that Mike’s widow, Georgia, is not in a mental state that would appreciate cards. I don’t think we should go in that direction. Tony Thompson tony@...

I was thinking through some planned car projects, and remembered (or thought I did) that sometime back there was developed here a list of all the box cars that got the “corrugated” Viking roofs. But I

Thanks for the comments, Dennis. I remember when I worked at the Vernon plant of Alcoa during college, helping out in the metallurgical lab, I was told that the most skilled and valued people in the p