Bob, I doubt it is salt in those buckets over the reefers, more likely crushed ice. Salt would be added via scoop shovels. The overhead trolley system for moving ice was found at several meat packing

According to this obit: http://www.choctawnation.com/history/obituaries/r/clifton-l-richards-sr-/ He moved to Tulsa in 1925 and started Vendome Tank Car Co., an 800-tank car fleet that covered the Uni

Jim, Fort Dodge to Peoria is about 350 miles. Your suggestion of lumber loads on NP flats to Iowa is indeed a good one. Plus Iowa had a number of farm implement factories in the State, so flat cars we

Pete, in reading the article about moving the Erie B3 Steam Shovel, it sounds like the 30,000 counter weights were for the Inland crane responsible for lifting the Erie steam shovel on and off the fla

One reference under the Shorpy photo of the Capitol Refining Company http://www.shorpy.com/node/4310 includes this: Washington Post, Jun 2, 1913 Refiners Buy Oil Plant The Capitol Refining Company, wh

Bill I think the key is took for the ingredient, 100% clear acrylic. Here is a more complete story which covers are the variations and brand names: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Ray, last I checked (was there about a week ago) Burlington (as in the CB&Q) was still on the Iowa side of the Mississippi. Though there is a Burlington IL in the outer suburbs of Chicago. The Q did r

Thanks for the correction Ray. I was quoting from Gene’s notes on M&StL freight cars. Doug Harding www.iowacentralrr.org

Jim an interesting exercise. As one who responded off line, I see I came close, but did not take into consideration the mileage issue and thus missed a few, or more accurately got some turned around i

Dave do you have any freight cars with plastic wheels? I have found plastic wheels to be the main source of the black crud. Switch out everything to metal wheelsets. I did and it made a world of diffe

Dave, interesting. I too run DCC with sound and IM metal wheelsets, and have not experienced the need to clean track every few days. More like once or twice a year. And my layout is not in a sealed en

Not sure what Libby cars looked like, they would have been part of Libby, McNeill, Libby Co. who started out canning meat in Chicago in 1868. They had pickle salting stations in Wis & Mich as well as

I need some help deciphering the end lettering of a Cudahy Reefer. However I have a very shallow image of the end. Due to the nuances of Neo, ie I can’t post the tif file photos, I have posted the ima

Dave, the springs are an experiment with a rubber block by the Fairmont Railway Motors Co. sometime in the late 30’s. The photo comes from the Fairmont factory photo collection via my collection, and

Jeff, true, if the lettering about the springs pertained to the rubber block. But to my knowledge the rubber block was an experiment that never flew. Many of the photos in the Fairmont collection were

Richard and everyone else I thank you for your assistance. You have added to what I had. Doug Harding www.iowacentralrr.org

Dave and others who are curious about the rubber spring here is what it says in the History of Fairmont Railway Motors, INC. by Orlin Foss (a company employee) 1935 - This year also saw the introducti

Yes Jeff that was me, I did a clinic on Fairmont at Cocoa Beach (and other places). I have about 2000 images from the Fairmont Collection (there are over 10, 000 photos in the collection). Indeed lots

Jim, that is interesting. I would suggest the search of Railway Age begin in 1935, when Fairmont first offered the Tri-Sorb rubber block, or again in 1938 when Goodyear began marketing it. Doug Hardin

Would the AAR number been a reference to boxcars in exchange, knowing some cars were almost never interchanged? Doug Harding from my phone