Not the State Belt this far down. I would say most likely SP. Tony Thompson tony@...

Actually, Richard very much disliked the nickname “Dick” and really argued with the then-editor of PM, to no avail, as the editor wanted the authors to seem “accessible.” Tony Thompson tony@signaturep

Jason’s article is indeed interesting, and produced reasonable stand-ins for some of these cars. My own problem is that Classes G-50-3 and -6 were greatly reduced by 1940 and entirely gone soon after

Not sure whose tooling this was originally, maybe LifeLike, but it ain’t an SP gondola. It’s an 8-panel car, numbered for SP Class G-50-2, but those were 14-panel cars, with two of the panels wider th

These are the 40 cars CDLX bought from PFE during 1933-35, cars of Class R-30-6. All had roofs removed, six glass-lined steel tanks installed, and roofs replaced. Also, ice bunkers and hatches were re

Um, no. Sand is commonly mostly made up of silicon oxide or silica, not aluminum oxide, though there are numerous minerals that contain aluminum, and thus can be present in sand. Tony Thompson tony@si

Many people would say the same, Ray, a legacy from our friends at Athearn, who called their version of a pressure car a “chemical” car. But in fact the platform has NOTHING to do with whatever content

Bob Chaparro wrote: Three-course construction, if I understand your question. There are two top sheets and a bottom sheet, thus three rivet courses. Tony Thompson tony@...

Great photo of the Westerfield kit! First one I ever built. Tony Thompson tony@...

Dan Smith wrote: Yes, the PFE book will show you data that as late as 1960, most cars were still wood-sheathed. I don’t know the date of this photo, but it is very obviously after PFE stopped washing

I like the model, Clark, good weathering touches. Glad you shared it. Tony Thompson tony@...

Bill Jolitz wrote: And it's darn good paint. I use several of their colors a lot. Tony Thompson tony@...

Kenneth Montero wrote: A number of the Athearn cars were so analyzed by Richard Hendrickson, in a group of article in MRJ, but never collected in one place, AFAIK. Tony Thompson tony@...

Tim O'Connor wrote: But the box car is an oddball height -- and I assume we are neglecting the horribly clunky door claws and too-short doors -- sigh, okay, I'm not going down the whole list. Tony Tho

Note that it’s an ACR side, with the light angles between the main posts. The assembled car at left is too. Tony Thompson tony@...

Todd Sullivan wrote: Very well said, Todd. My thoughts exactly. Tony Thompson tony@...

Practice, practice, practice. Tony Thompson tony@...

Very good-looking car! Are these going to be available when you get the bugs out? Tony Thompson

Please, let's not rehash old grudges from years ago. Did all that, got the T-shirt. Tony Thompson tony@...

I changed long ago from Squadron to Tamiya, better qualities all around. I once made up a batch of the "styrene putty" from sprues, worked okay, wasn't wonderful. Maybe I need more experience to recom