Subject: I would not be the least bit suspicious of the writings of John White. He is one of the most careful and scholarly railroad car historians yet around- a real role model for anyone attempting

I have one of Quality Crafts's 40' welded-side boxcars fabricated entirely of wood and apparently produced as a kit for Bev-Bel c. 1980. It is beautifully built (not by me!) and the applied details ar

Tim Gilbert's analysis of the 1947-50 Florida citrus Reefer traffic is extremely interesting. I can add nothing to it but some clarification of California vs. Florida citrus industries- to a great ext

Good Tony Thompson comments re: SN flat car #32 at CSRM-- Wha-a-at?? Say again? Tony, what are you talking about? Denny

Quoting Tony Thompson- Well, I had just looked at the car just before the post, and I did see marking "dishing" of the T&G decking, something that will occur if the unpainted decking- especially if no

Don Valentine fesses up- After a week's diligent work (I was on vacation) in painting four complicated brass models, I placed them in the oven to bake at about 150º F. I left the room out one door, wh

Tim O writes- All too true. For those building fine models (or fine wood boats), they learn all too soon that it takes only 10% of the time to build 90% of the model, while it takes 90% of the time to

Tim O'Connor writes- Heat guns can be a great help, but if used casually they can also be lethal. It is pretty important to understand that one of the most important tasks for which heat guns are desi

Tom Madden writes- [Tom!...but I will...restrain myself] I surely do, and I have quite a few trucks with them still in place. They do look quite good. They have the advantage of effectively hiding the

A fair amount of my railroad-observing lifetime has been spent over the year around freight trains with stock cars filled with livestock. Although if the train was stopped, one's attention might be dr

Stan is just about the nicest guy you will ever come across, and when you ask him about computers and eMail, he just gives you a broad smile (and changing seamlessly to a new subject perhaps ask if "Y

Bruce Smith writes- Reportedly the MDC model was a Milwaukee prototype. Does anyone know for certain what purpose the Milwaukee purchased these cars? It does comes to mind that hauling heavy naval gun

By far the best glue to use for this proposed purpose is a contact cement, either Goo or Barge Cement. There is none better. The bond is elastic, gap-filling, and if properly and adequately applied la

I recently inquired of Mike Faletti on the Milwaukee List about the Milwaukee Road 30' gun flats. Mike is a recognized authority on Milwaukee freight equipment. The MDC HO model is reputedly based upo

Mea Culpa! Ben, you are absolutely right. I did not make the distinction. Contact cement would be fatal for that purpose. White glue would not. (I need to take a cold shower in the morning before addr

I would intend to agree with Ben Hom that heavy gun work would have been performed at Mare Island, surely then one of the most sophisticated of Naval Ship Yards (Battleships had been built built there

Gene Moser writes- Fair enough, but of course WWII started in 1941. However, when no longer used, the guns then had to be removed and transported somewhere and somehow, if they were not just cut up on

Speaking of gun flats and guns, does anyone know of model sources for gun barrels or rifles suitable for these short flats? Denny

Mal Houck on this list put me onto the following supplier of scale gun barrels- The Scale Shipyard <http://members.aol.com/ssycatalog/index.html>http://members.aol.com/ssycatalog/index.html. When I in

This flatcar was originally one of several immovable and moribund SN wood MOW cars disposed of by the SN near Concord, CA (prior to building BART). I recall being asked personally to look at the cars