While we're on the subject of Frisco, I have noticed that early offset-side twin hoppers and covered hoppers, when new, were black. Later ones were that Frisco red. The Frisco gons of the 'Greenville'

Advice from somebody who can't see reds very well -- I have four Sunshine Frisco cars that will soon be ready to paint. The Sunshine instructions (based on Floquil) suggest a color similar to oxide re

There was a big Cabot plant just west of Pampa, Texas, served by Santa Fe. Probably other carbon black plants nearby, since there was plenty of gas. One other plant that used natural gas as a feedstoc

This model is famous in its own right, as I recall, as one of the first models made in resin. As an O scale model, it was a good show piece, and I recall it being exhibited at Naperville in fairly rec

If anybody's interested, I have several boxcars of varying descriptions and 10 Santa Fe reefers, unbuilt. Off-list, at mopacfirst at gmail dot com. Ron Merrick

That's a partial top chord reinforcement. This type of reinforcement, using a piece of angle, was pretty common. It only needed to be partial, not end-to-end, as a rule, because in the center part of

When I looked closer at the 100-ton Buckeye, it's apparent that the cast brackets for the clasp brake hangers are actually separate castings. They appear to be fastened to the truck frames by the bolt

I have used some MDC trucks that had a very arched or rounded top chord, which looked like some trucks I had seen on cars from the 20s, when I modeled older cars. Perhaps they were in the 50' single-s

These are 50'0" over "flooring and end sills", as the diagram calls out. Bethlehem 1942, lot DF45. These 50, plus MP 8100-8199, started out as general service flatcars. They had 15 stake pockets. They

It looks to me that it is indeed possible to load both levels at once. The lower level looks like there's a right-angle turn in it, to align with the door. In fact, with this car which does not appear

Thanks for the insight, this at least gives me an idea of why these cars were created. I noticed also that a number of these cars were built as one lot for a number of railroads, lot 8160 -A through a

Thanks for the advice. Mine are still in the box, and I hope I can keep this in mind for the next couple of months until they have a layout to run on. Ron Merrick

First, I was wrong about the number -- these cars were numbered 84000-84009, not 80000 as I stated erroneously. So that's not an issue. But I would probably need a major overhaul of the model to make

Ed: Thanks for reminding me about the Color Guide. When I get back to my other house, I'll look it up. Ron Merrick

Years ago I built one of the 10 early 40' PS-1 that were built with cushion underframe. It's on my rip track now because the roofwalk has come loose, which is not my focus for this inquiry. I think th

You learn something every day from sites like this. I'd never heard of a plow bolt before. I looked these up and it turns out there is an American standard for them, ASME B18.9. That means something t

Another thing I thought of is how they will be hitting those bolt holes in the stringers. Each board is fastened, it appears, with four bolts, probably carriage bolts. Two go into the middle stringer

I built one as-is, sometime in the early 2000s. At the time, I was happy to have a distinctive car that went together in slightly less time than an early Sunshine. It's somewhere in one of the twenty

What's really interesting is that the car to the left, with just its end visible, appears to have a tube connected to the tank's valve and running somewhere. Ron Merrick

So the three-rail track in the photo might be the former South Park main line. These views are looking northwest. Ron Merrick