No, they are door guides/rollers from Union Metal Products Co. also marketed under the National Box Car Door name. Note the rollers have grooves that giude a flange on the bottom of the door, but it l

Indeed. The hollow brass body is acting as a sounding board, amplifying the vibrations caused by the wheels on the rails, the same as the hollow body of a stringed instrument amplifies the vibrations

I have always wondered if it wasn't an issue with the paints in use during different periods. During the era before WWI and 'tween the wars, the common freightcar paint was some sort of cheap pigment

We forget, in this day and age, how common tramways were in the past. One shouldn't automatically assume that rails mean railroad. The motive power for this operation appears to be that team of mules,

Proving once again that time travel is possible. The simple explanation is when you dropped the etching, it bounced into the future, and you just had to wait to catch up with it. Dennis Storzek

These are most definitely NOT Dreadnaught, and have no association with the Standard Railway Equipment Co., owner of the Dreadnaught name. Near as I can tell this was a proprietary design developed by

Far, far in antiquity, before Photoshop, before scanners, heck, before digital imaging altogether good art for railroad heralds (logos, monograms) was really, really hard to come by. There was a print

Yes. Those are the Union Metal Products replacement sides with integral stakes. You'll notice that each stake looks like an I beam; they are actually the edge of the pressed panel bent outward with a

I assume you are asking about the term "pool car" and not the building? I suspect it refers to the practice of a shipper loading freight for multiple customers on the same car, which was consigned to

I also agree. While most of the panel form systems for residential work were plywood, or plywood on a steel frame, A lot of the really big panel forms meant to be set in place with a crane were steel

The crane looks new; the track it runs on certainly looks like it was just installed. The flatcar appears to be loaded with something, maybe flat steel plate. I'd hazard a guess that this is the test

I vote for a retouched photo. While the web image resolution isn't very high, we should be able to see the shadow of the door locking bar where it crosses the M, and I sure don't. Dennis Storzek

I've seen this question kicked around before. Pertinent points: 1) The railroad rule books call this "Inspection and Repair Protection". Nothing about loading and unloading. 2) It is only defined in t

I've lived in the Chicago area all my life, grew up in the city. IIRC the area with the IC yard and freight house was known as South Water Street Market, while the area north of the river that the C&N

Yes Dennis Storzek

What a great photo of a wood underframe. Note how dainty the body bolster is (at least it's metal, might be wrought iron) and how the draft gear is fitted between DRAFT SILLS that are bolted to the un

There was... the size of their motive power. Freight cars of this era were fine with those tight curves, and the Harlem Transfer used a boxcab diesel with trucks that were hardly any longer wheelbase.

Solid bearing journal boxes don't really have seals... the rear opening was closed by a "dust guard" which in the period of this photo would have been wood.. The oil level was maintained below the lev

I agree with Bruce Smith; chain was very uncommon for load tie down during the steam era, the AAR loading diagrams most often specify cable, or just solid wire twisted into cable. The reason is, I thi

I discovered that plant two years ago when I spent a week in Holland, MI with the grand kids, and the track was still in at that time, and looked active. That line runs between the street and a big pu