Bob Chaparro wrote: PFE reefers with wood roofs did not have ice hatch platforms, as you see here. Platforms were for outside metal roofs. Tony Thompson tony@...

mel perry wrote: In later years, yes. In the 1950s, no. Tony Thompson tony@...

Marty Cooper wrote: There was at least one brass version which had turned aluminum tanks. Tony Thompson tony@...

Richard Wilkens wrote: Cars like that, with those removable tanks, were normally chlorine cars, but other compressed gasses could certainly be shipped that way. The tanks, known as "one-ton tanks," pr

The kit number and class are indeed R-40-2, but that class had grab-iron rows, not ladders, so as presented the model is incorrect. Tony Thompson tony@...

ken akerboom wrote: You are right, Ken, it was a short-lived Harriman Lines design feature. A few years later, cars no longer were built that way. Tony Thompson tony@...

Doug Harding wrote: Yes, but two points: first, this photo is years before those cars, and the car, PFE 9092, was just a plain reefer. I was once told that a significant traffic category for meat pack

Ted Schnepf wrote: I'm always amused at model railroads where the owner has modeled four men carrying a length of rail with rail tongs. Tony Thompson tony@...

Armand Premo wrote: Yes, in the early days. When they realized it clogged the drains in the reefers, the use was discontinued. Tony Thompson tony@...

Richard Townsend wrote: Full agreement, it's a superb museum. Well worth the visit. Tony Thompson tony@...

Thanks for these, Garth. The bunk cars are really interesting, and your shots are very clear and definitive. Did you by any chance see the opposite sides? were they the same? Tony Thompson tony@signat

I'm pretty sure the buyer specified what they wanted for all such features, rather than GATC doing "what they liked to do." Tony Thompson tony@...

Ah yes, corn syrup, a familiar ingredient in A-B brewing products . . . Tony Thompson tony@...

Roger Huber wrote: Good point, Roger. I recall the retired PFE Chief Mechanical Officer telling me about the PFE representatives at manufacturing plants, who had to decide, on the basis of color drift

otto kroutil wrote: Richard did not believe the Santa Fe changed its Mineral Brown color in 1945, though he freely acknowledged that shop applications varied. Tony Thompson tony@...

Tim O'Connor wrote: Kadee does recycle sprues etc. into virgin styrene, but only ONCE. The excess from THAT batch is all scrapped. Then excess from the following virgin batch can be recycled once, and

Bill Welch wrote: This results from excessive recycling of scrap styrene moldings. Dennis can tell us much more about this if he wishes. My own approach might be to try and fill and smooth the cracks

Just use a Sharpy to add a shadow and it looks better. Of course YMMV. Tony Thompson

Bob Chaparro wrote: This builder photo is in my Volume 3 of the series, _Southern Pacific Freight Cars_ for anyone who may have the book. Tony Thompson tony@...

"Some produce didn’t need icing-just air flow. Potatoes, and I believe onions among the produce were so shipped." This comment is misleading. Every type of produce had a preferred shipping temperature