I would guess the simple explanation is that he was paid by the hour. Chuck Peck

Every sort of manufacturing has to deal with tolerances. The tighter the tolerance, the higher the cost. Those last few percent from perfection can raise cost by a factor of 10 or 100 times. At some p

Sources of magnet wire in small quantities include: Motors with the magic smoke escaped. That switch machine that just quit working. Any kind of electric coil at the bottom of your junk box. Most of t

When I was working at the Kentucky Railway Museum, I met an old carman. He told me he had just started on the railroad the only time he had to deal with truss rods. He said they tightened trussrods by

I believe that "hogging" would be exactly the correct usage. I have worked on paddlewheel steamboats that had what were called "hog chains" for exactly that same purpose, to take out the sag. If an em

If I were doing that painting, there would likely be both overspray and underspray as I would be in a hurry to get back to a warm crew shack. Note the snow on the ground. Chuck Peck

I note that the year of the photo is 1943. The wartime years of 1942 through 1945 saw a lot of exceptions to normal peacetime practices. Chuck Peck

The why? Those stockyards had to get rid of it somehow and it was cheap fertilizer on the farm. Chuck Peck

If one just really wants a small quantity of the soft variety, one could buy one of the tyvek suits. That should be enough to wrap a significant number of models. Chuck Peck

Most of mine would not recognize anything with infernal combustion. This IS the STEAM ERA group. Chuck Peck

REA was owned by the railroads. The Interstate Commerce Commission had rules about carriers competing against themselves and regulated other carriers as well. Although they did at times make exception

The REA shipments that I remember were flowers and live day old chicks. For Valentines Day lots of small town florists would be getting boxes of roses. At the REA building back behind Louisville KY Un

I would suggest removing the trucks and threading the screws back into the holes. Examine to see if the screws are in square to the bolster. It is possible that a screw has been installed crooked. Chu

It might simply be harder to get the railroad to carry your crate of stuff when there is no freight agent closer than Jacksonville or Omaha. The stations are closed, the agents are gone, the interface

Does anyone know the story behind the Soo Line car out in the street with one truck almost out and the other shoved up way under? Chuck Peck

Looking over the Intermountain announcement left me wondering. Can I assume these will be kits? RTR? Where did I overlook this detail? Chuck Peck

How does one pack 175 cars into that number series? Chuck Peck

It looks like cardboard for recycling to me. Perhaps part of the WW II war effort? Chuck Peck

Absolutely with you, Denny. When I was working for the US Navy as a machinist, we were not allowed to have digital calipers in our tool boxes. Every measuring tool we used had to be traceable back to

Nelson, I'm not an expert on the C-16, but I believe that was a passenger equipped express car. Thus, it would be reasonable to expect it to be equipped with pass-through electric in case it was betwe