A fine picture indeed - and a welded Milwaukee hopper just behind the CB&Q hoppers http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/utils/ajaxhelper/?CISOROOT=nby_rrlife&CISOPTR=764&action=2&DMSCALE=100&DMWIDTH=

My notes say ACF Type 25, but it's close enough I guess. :-)

Nice! May be St Johnsbury or perhaps White River Jct.

Just FYI the EBAX tetraethyl lead tank cars were still in revenue service into the 1990's. I photographed one, a 3,000 gallon size car, in Tacoma in 1992.

Having observed truck performance for over 50 years I think the NMRA recommended weights give the best long term results for tracking, rolling resistance, wear & tear, coupling inertia (ever couple in

Yes, really. I can think of unworkable routes without even trying. I'm shipping from Chicago to Buffalo. PRR Chicago to Pittsburgh. B&O Pittsburgh to St Louis. NKP St Louis to Buffalo. Now why can't I

Oversimplification, Tony - the shipper could choose AMONG routes that were available in a published TARIFF. Once a tariff (rate and cargo between points A & B) was in place, anyone in a position to fu

5714 is an Fe-12 rebuild from 1938 and again in 1953. (Fe-12 pre-1953 series 63651-63750) The Fe-13 (attached) had a similar massive underframe. At least one of these DT&I ex-ATSF cars ended up on the

Tony Cars with roof insulation (some 40 foot PS-1 box cars for example received 6" of roof insulation) were repainted in aluminum [or silver] paint while other specialized cars received light gray pai

Or you could use clear acrylic (e.g. Future) as an initial 'adhesive' that will harden (and self level) over 24 hrs and then touch the edges with MEK for capillary action that fixes it permanently in

Andy Cool! I'd never heard of this before. I see 5" x 36" sheets for sale for $2.99 - from an actual hobby shop! :-D https://www.centralhobbies.com/cat4.php?cat=2&subcat=13&sub2cat=7

Method #5 - plastic self adhesive tape from an electronic label maker - easier to apply than the bare metal foil and can be stretched a little if necessary. Easily cut into shapes (gusset plates etc)

With a little help from PHOTOSHOP and a left-right merge tool - not a perfect splice but pretty close.

Clark, I always thought that photo was MOST notable for the presence of the D&H Seley hopper car! :-)

The X31 cars had the same design flaw as the ARA/X29's eventually requiring patches to be applied to the lower sides. When did the patches begin to appear and will Rapido do these?

Thanks Joe!

speaking of nice tools... Are there any good 2-56 tap drills out there for tapping steel? I've broken my second Kadee 2-56 tap drill and with shipping buying a replacement set (includes other drill bi

Is there documentation for the "inset" vs "flush" roof feature on the X31/X32 cars ? All of the NP cars I've seen had the "flush" roofs.

The run by of the freight with C&IM gondolas looks like the Santa Fe in Illinois - where I'd expect to see those cars.

Reasonably inexpensive TUNGSTEN "grit" is available online - I bought some on Amazon. This is poured into center sills or under the floor and it's denser than lead, not dangerous, etc.