The meat packing plant in El Paso shipped a carload of offal several times a week (this is in the 1950s). An SP steel GS gon was used and it was heaped above the top of the sides. I don't know where S

Dennis, I can't answer your question about why only seven type V cars were converted, but there were other standard gauge 6000 type V cars in existance. There is the one at the museum in St Louis and

I have to agree with you Richard. I looked again at a much larger enlargement (ain't computer graphics great!) and what I thought was the background showing under the tank appears now to be a portion

Mike, As one who was working in that yard in 1959, I can assure you that the L&N hopper was safely on T&NO rails. The Pacific lines did not officially start until in New Mexico due to the Texas carpet

Maybe this will help. The 3/55 issue of RMC had a SP company photo of A-50-6 number 52199 as part of a construction article. The car is freshly painted and has AB brakes with a 10-51 weight date. The

Woo0ps! Just reread the previous message and see the RMC photo is the hog fuel rebuild. So "never mind". Charlie

There are photos of Stan Schwedler's excellent model of the Illinois River Packet box car on the P48 Modeler site. www.proto48.org/p48_photos_schwedler_01.htm Charlie

Also remember the era of roof walks and decorating tops of cars was before radios to pass signals were available. Signals from yard and train crews to the engineer were all visual both day and night.

Hmmm. Don't recall a brakeman or switchman ever trying to signal me with a whistle <g>. Lantern, hands, fusee, and a large piece of cardboard seemed to be the preferred methods on the old SP/T&NO. Cha

Dennis, Thanks for the story from your Dad on drywall and boxcar shipment. I had been wondering myself about that subject relative to the plaster and drywall plant not too far from here at Acme, TX (a

The book "Decade of the Trains, the 1940s" by Don Ball Jr. and Rogers Whitaker also has a good number of WWII photos. Lots of railroader people and railroad structure interior photos and not just loco

The SP made two versions of "This Is My Railroad". The first was released in 1947 and was all steam except for some diesel switchers and the City of S.F. The later version with mostly diesels was rele

You want custom driver castings from 3-D printers --- check out Bill Brisko's webpages at www.pacificlocomotive.com Charlie

Tim, try saving the photo file to your computer. Then open it with one of your photo viewing programs and shrink or expand as necessary. Charlie

Is Vic's hobby shop still in business in Portland? They had a good sized O gauge club layout in the back when I was there a few years ago. Charlie

I also remember the practice of separating the boxcars at the freight house tracks in El Paso. I believe the reason was to allow access to the boxcar doors from the ground without climbing over or und

Ahh Yes! The switching job that did the El Paso Mission brewery (later Falstaf) was a high seniority bid job. Culls from the bottling plant were free for the taking. Charlie

I've had the same experience with this "Myth" --- at least the Goo version. I had a HO plastic flat car which took on a very "John Allen" shape due to the contact cement holding the wood lumber load t

Cured food stuffs like pickels, crackers, cured meats, flour, --- Charlie

In the days before fork lifts and such, one man could easily move a loaded barrel around by hand that if the same weight were in a crate, he would not be able to budge. Charlie