Are the Kadee 40ft pre-1950 PS-1s molded with separate roof castings, by any chance? And might an undec kit version be available any time soon? I ask because these would be ideal for modeling a series

I can't speak to changes in sugar shipping economics between the 1940s and 1960s, but I can offer evidence that in 1969, from a study of conductors wheel reports, the NP was shipping plenty of loads o

Todd: "E.g., where did all that sugar in NP boxcars come from?" Pretty sure the answer to this is Great Western Sugar's central sugar beet processing plant in Billings, Montana. Chris Frissell Polson,

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15878835/cheswick-and-harmar-railroad/ Looks like there was a mine on the line. Interesting little road. Chris Frissell Polson, MT

Thanks. You helped at the time with a photo and some thoughts as i recall, TIm. It has a few little boogers, but turned out nice enough I've got another one in the lineup to do. Chris Frissell Polson,

Apologies, that was me. Though I prefer to think of myself as medium well. ;-) Chris Frissell Polson, MT

UTLX 103W Red Caboose tank car with Plano walkways. Steve Hile decals, outer edges of main deck walkways reinforced with 0.010" styrene strip. I should have reinforced the dome access walkways that wa

As I recall, on of my models I slightly increased the visible depth of the walkways (from side view) with a narrow styrene strip laminated to the outside and inside underside edges of the etchings. Ch

Bill: It's way easier than it looks. I've done two of the Plano conversions. It's fairly quick and painless. More difficult than the walkway is relocating the brake equipment to the correct side of th

That's the paint scheme the early NP's Airslides had in service. Chris Frissell Polson, MT

This has worked for me on numerous occasions with decals produced by MicroScale, and some custom-printed decals from an Alps printer. Best is one of those jumbo Sharpies that really saturates the pape

I would be interested in decals. However, only one or two sets, as I think the car other than the ends is a mostly scratch-building proposition. I believe these, along with one contemporary 50ft NPMX

Yes, with exceedingly rare exceptions these cars kept the original trucks well into the 1960s and 1970s, by which time most were renumbered and operating in company service. I agonized a while over th

Modelers should be advised, not all the NP 40 ft combination door boxcars with this car side arrangement had the PS-1 ends that appear in Tim's photos of NP 3309. NP 3000-3399 were Pullman-Standard bu

Mark: Matt Herson and I published a roster and brief account of the several series of boxcars that A.A. Morrison and subsidiaries rebuilt or refurbished and leased to the NP during the 1960s. The arti

Missed my sign-off, apologies. Chris Frissell Polson, MT

To put a finer point on the history of the DT&-I 50-ft round roof cars leased to NP, A.A. Morrison acquired 110 of them about 1960, and rebuilt them to NP specifications for lumber service, and leased

Just to reiterate a point Jim Dick made, and Aaron hinted at, the NP was in general watched over by a hierarchy of engaged sticklers. While not completely unheard of, it was unusual for equipment to s

To tie up a loose end per the earlier mention of Tahoe Model Works trucks, according to their maker they were tooled for and as a rule have been supplied with InterMountain Ry wheel sets. Chris Frisse

I neglected to mention the ex-N&W 50-foot round roof cars leased to the NP were rostered as NP series 39610-39759. Chris Frissell Polson, MT leakinmywaders@...