Anybody have any insight on this picture? https://www.ebay.com/itm/DUPLICATE-SLIDE-Southern-SOU-1147-Gondola-Car-BRAND-NEW-Bristol-VA-1960/372534823381 First off, a Southern Silverside, the original a

Isn't it taller than a 1932 ARA box? Looks to be about 9" taller than the box next to the pusher. And while the reporting mark does look like L&A, there's something extra on the "L" so maybe it is a w

Speaking of trucks, the B&O gon's trucks look unusual. Any thoughts? And no, I have no idea why those two panels are deeper. The car appears to have KC brakes, so it's not protecting the brake gear. H

The extra rail is a type of point guard. Must have had a problem with wheels picking those points. Not typical practice in the lifetime of almost all of us on this list. Point guards are usually casti

First, keep in mind some of these cars are 50-ton (nominal) and sone are 70-ton. At first glance these look very similar. 70-ton trucks are two inches longer and have beefier journal boxes. I think al

Um, why would a car designed to haul something that is very dangerous when wet have _windows_? Scott Chatfield

Kaolin (most commonly pronounced "kay-a-lin") is also known as China Clay. It's an alumina silicate, the product of the weathering of feldspar. Its platelet size ranges from roughly 20 to 100 microns

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ACY-Box-Car-Wood-Outside-Braced-35mm-Dup-Slide/222734320396 At first glance the C-channel diagonals make me think Mather but I don't recall any Mather boxcars with Dreadnaught

Speaking filling cracks, is this Frogtape green masking I see advertised on TV (watching the ALDS like all good Americans should) suitable for masking models? Has anyone tried it? I usually use Scotch

The Pennsy spelled out PENNSYLVANIA on many cars in leiu of PRR until the debut of Plain Keystone (circa 1960). Southern Pacific spelled out their name on cars into the mid 50s. And the Southern By Go

Are we sure that's Omaha? The nameboard on the station to the does not appear to say OMAHA or even OMAHA NEB. Which railroad's switchers are those? I love the one to the far left almost completely shr

Soo Line Storzek wrote: > The star usually means there is some other structural deficiency other than the bearing size that dictates the max. allowable load. I would like to take a friendly exception

EW = Eaves Width, width of the car at the outer edge of the roof. Important to know for routing, especially through tunnels. EXW = Extreme Width, widest part of car, and usually is over the lower door

Dennis Storzek wrote: >I don't think any of the granger roads originated enough reefer loads to really worry about it.... Hmmm, there's this liquid stuff called "beer" that was and still is made in la

>Certainly an unusual door configuration for a boxcar... https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12372018595/sizes/o/ Hmmm. I didn't know the Mopac had O-27 gauge boxcars along with regular O sc

http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/rwy/id/1395/rec/91 By my very rough calculation it is a 6500 gallon tank. Definitely not a 10000 gallon tank. Compare its height to the car

Claus Schlund asked: >What type of industry is this, at the inclined ramp, being served by steam era freight cars on the C&NW? https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12294845895/sizes/o/ I thin

I think most corn syrup shipments pre-1975 (pre-HFCS) went to large bakeries and canneries, not bottling plants. To put things in perspective, in the early '50s (I forget exactly which year) the railr

I think a UN committee came up with the numbers starting in 1975, but they didn't appear on freight cars until mid-1983. That's when I saw my first one (1203, gasoline) on a company service trailer an

>An interesting photo of a >recycled tank car taken by >Chuck Zeiler: http://tinyurl.com/y73q8tqs That is a ICC-104 or insulated 103, or if built before 1927, an ARA-IV or insulated ARA-III. It is not