Ron, IC open top cars were black until 1947. In 1947 they began painting them red. In 1955 they went back to black. In1955 they began replacing the wood sides with steel sides in the war emergency hop

Ron, I have a prototype photo of that exact car. 26000-26099 were built at the IC Centralia shops in 1956 and had 9 belt DF loading devices and a 1 3/4 inch wood deck floor. Hope this helps. Jeff Whit

The post office finally got around to delivering my copy today. I look forward to reading the article tonight. Jeff White Alma IL

Just a test, earthlink had some difficulties overnight and bounced my email from about 3am till 1045.

Many thanks to both of you. Jeff White Alma IL

I just received a Trix IC 40 ft double door boxcar. I turned it over to look at the coupler boxes and discovered there are srpings in the underframe. I've never seen this before. They don't seem to ha

Dan, I just finished a 3D printed kit of an Illinois Central 500 Series Cistern (auxiliary tender). It wasn't a bad kit. I posted a review on MRH, I didn't post it here because it's not a freight car.

Salem, IL, a town of about 7500 in South Central Illinois replaced their wooden water mains in the late 80s/early 90s in a multiyear public works project. Some of those mains were in service for 100 y

Thanks Bill. There are single 4 axle trucks under the car. It's 81 scale feet long. Jeff White Alma, IL

I bought this car on eBay because it looked like something I could kitbash into a usable car in the era covered by the list. All metal European prototype. Someone already removed the buffers and added

I agree with Chuck. One of my additional duties in the Army made me the facility manager for an armory building that was a WPA project in 1936. It was heated by a boiler that looked just like that mod

According to Charlie Duckworth's excellent book on the Missouri-Illinois Railroad in 1906 the MP bought 39 foot composite gondolas from AC&F that were rebuilt by having the wood sides removed and the

That will be great! A correct IC steel boxcar! Jeff White Alma, IL

Tim, The diagram for the IC cars shows the IH at 10' 4 7/8" at the sides. So the difference is 1 1/8". Jeff White Alma, IL

I'm patiently waiting....... Jeff White Alma, IL

Last night I was going through the bound 1947 set of Illinois Central employee magazines that I picked up on eBay a couple weeks back. In the November issue I found an article on ABLC brakes that the

Matt, It could be a 7 and not a Y behind the IC. That would put it in the 79000 series which were covered hoppers. The IC bought covered hoppers in 1940 and 1941. Built by G.A.T.C. they list Spec No:

Charlie, Did they move on the M&I? That would be a neat addition to my M&I trains. Jeff White Alma IL

Ron, IC 5100 is on display at McComb MS. It was the only car built and the only one in the natural aluminum finish. It was built in 1946. Jeff White Alma, IL

The IC car is a 55 ton open hopper. Built in 1949 by Pullman Standard. From the car diagram it looks like the Alternate Standard Offset Hopper that the IC had thousands of. Jeff White Alma, IL