Bill is correct, just ask you dentist. I asked my dentist and he gave me a hand full of various picks he no longer used. I was afraid to ask how he managed to break the ends off of a couple of them. Y

Didn't RMC just add a person to the staff charged with, among other things. writing for RMC? Didn'tmake sense to me. Mont Switzer

I'm not sure what the notches in the sides of the converted gondola were for, but they were not for releasing the fifth pin from the car mounted hitch. The fifth pin would have been released by a man

Schuyler, They look like 1959 Cadillac's which would date the photo late 1958 or the first half of 1959. Mont Switzer

John, The Muncie & Western (MWR) is a railroad of local interest to those of use in central Indiana. Because the cars were painted bright yellow and had the Ball canning jar painted on each door so th

Bill, Would it help to glue the .020 x .020 stock to the .005 styrene sheet? Then cut the 3 inch side strips? Might make it all easier to handle. Mont Switzer

This is correct. The small U channel diagonals are the ones I prefer to remove or copy from the LL Proto model than build them up per the SS instructions. SS wants you to stand either .010 x .020 or .

Todd, Yes, the MWR cars were known for bringing inbound raw materials for glass making. There was a rumor floating around that some cars were equipped with roof hatches for sand loading, but lets not

Bruce, This isn’t the answer you are looking for but it might start you in the correct direction. Steel cable reels were alive and well in the 1970’s when I hauled them. What I saw ranged from 6,000 t

Schuyler, I was talking about REELS capable of handling either steel cable or wire like used in communications. Both are quite heavy. Mont Montford L. Switzer President Switzer Tank Lines, Inc. Fall C

Bruce, There is your answer. Note the wood used inside the reel to protect what was.probably electrical cable. Wire rope needed no such mlm protection. Mont Switzer Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galax

Schuyler, You are thinking of Quaker Square in Akron, OH. It was originally turned into a hotel with railroad theme added. Lots of steam era railroadiana, milling machinery, shipping records and other

I can offer no scientific evidence that bathroom fans are safe or not, but I’ve been painting in a homemade spray booth equipped with a bathroom fan for over 40 years, using lacquer based paints, so I

John, Unless the HM regulations were different back then the placards have to remain on the car whether loaded or empty to cover the residue. However, there may have been a slightly different placard

Handling chlorine cylinders (called "tons") is nasty business. One reason for so many of these miniature pressure vessels is should there be a leak (chlorine gas) you are only dealing with 2000 lbs of

Garth and all, Many (most?) coaling towers also had provisions for storing and dispensing sand. That function kept some coaling towers in use well beyond their time. The two that I am most familiar wi

Bob and Tony, I doubt the display portion of hazardous materials placarding regulations have changed all that much over the years. You could get away with covering a hazardous placard over, but if no

Tony, This has been a favorite topic as I have been adding placards and car routing cards where appropriate as part of my final detailing process. Even on cars that have neither, I like at add residue

As long as everyone is weighing in on the transportation of various types of sand here goes. The Monon had lot of sand on line near Lake Michigan at Michigan City, IN, known as the Indiana Sand Dunes.

Well Dennis, you got me there. That will teach me to be a wise guy. Mont Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone