You can't unload doughnuts frpm an Airslide. The hole in the middle prevents the airflow from doing any good. Now maybe unglazed jelly doughnuts...... Scott Chatfield

There was an annual publication titled "Official Railway Clearances Guide" from the same folks that printed the ORG and the ORER. its purpose was to show the vertical and horizontal clearances of each

From the ends of the tank body and the end sills I believe this is a UTLX pressure tank, a late model X-5 built in the early '50s. Similar to the ACF cars Atlas and Kadee but with detail differences.

Archer rivets and their clones have changed the way many of us approach kitbashing and scratchbuilding. But while looking at some prototype photos for current projects I noticed that what I really nee

Everybody loves a good mystery, right? I'm holding an old MDC rib-side 3-bay (HO) with the longitudinal ballast gates. The crossdump version was long ago superseded by the Atlas 9-panel 3-bay (has the

Can anyone point me to a picture of the B-end of one of these? Kitbashing one for a friend. And those outlets are very odd. Scott Chatfield

To measure the Tichy tank's volume I took this thingie called a "scale ruler" and measured the model. Using the HO scale side, of course. Since a tank car is not a simple cylinder, a little estimation

I know much has been written about this so-called USRA tank car, but I have a question. What was the gallonage of said USRA design? The reason I ask is I am decaling said Tichy tank car to represent a

Calling the BLI hermaphrodite a proper NW2 is not to be done in polite company. I am sure the Walthers model will be a great improvement. And hopefully the beginning of a line of several phases of NW2

So now that Tangent has just announced their Bethlehem gon in WAG, how long before they do their GATC Type 17 in WAG?..... Scott Chatfield

>What is SREM improved? a typo? SREM is Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, later nicknamed Stanray. The several Dreadnaught ends were their product. Scott Chatfield

Bruce Smith wrote: >While many have called the 3 panel door on the X29 a “CRECo” door, in reality it is not a product of the Chicago Railway Equipment Co and is more correctly called a "car builder's

If your backs and feet and knees hurt too much you could go full-prototype and abandon the line. Pull up the rails, cover the roadbed with weeds, let the local volunteer fire department burn a depot o

Corey Bonsall wrote: >The Monarch branch had 300 of the offset 70000 series gondolas renumbered to the 80000 series in 1956 for the standard gauge conversion, and had the "Monarch rock service only" s

Anybody have any insight on this picture? https://www.ebay.com/itm/DUPLICATE-SLIDE-Southern-SOU-1147-Gondola-Car-BRAND-NEW-Bristol-VA-1960/372534823381 First off, a Southern Silverside, the original a

Isn't it taller than a 1932 ARA box? Looks to be about 9" taller than the box next to the pusher. And while the reporting mark does look like L&A, there's something extra on the "L" so maybe it is a w

Speaking of trucks, the B&O gon's trucks look unusual. Any thoughts? And no, I have no idea why those two panels are deeper. The car appears to have KC brakes, so it's not protecting the brake gear. H

The extra rail is a type of point guard. Must have had a problem with wheels picking those points. Not typical practice in the lifetime of almost all of us on this list. Point guards are usually casti

First, keep in mind some of these cars are 50-ton (nominal) and sone are 70-ton. At first glance these look very similar. 70-ton trucks are two inches longer and have beefier journal boxes. I think al

Um, why would a car designed to haul something that is very dangerous when wet have _windows_? Scott Chatfield