If I recall Correctly (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) Gould did the 40' flatcar, USRA tankcar, steam wrecker, and most of the PFE reefer, which was not finished when Tichy purchase

Sam Clarke's comments on Kadee reminded me of another way North American model railroad manufacturers were organized. When Tichy Train Group was building big tools, complete car kits and the coaling t

As far as Accurail is concerned, all our molding is still right here in Elburn, IL, USA. We did send some assembly work to China in the first decade of this century (anyone remember Accuready?) but st

Accurail keeps their kits very simple for a reason; beyond a certain level of complexity there is very little market. A story. Back in the early days of production in China, LifeLike brought their P-S

We had a very extensive discussion about the "billboard reefer ban" back in 2014. View it here: https://realstmfc.groups.io/g/main/topic/17252367#124611 The first thing to understand is it wasn't abou

Andy, None of that makes any difference.The problem is, those companies we think of as manufacturers, really aren't; they contract all their manufacturing out. As such, they have no direct control ove

And a Soo Line car! Wonders never cease. The car further away is a Soo Line "sawtooth" boxcar in its original lettering. Dennis Storzek

Plus, it has the hooks under the frame for hanging the "Keely cans" for nursing a hotbox that the Q was fond of. Dennis Storzek

Plastic injection moldings have a LOT of unrelieved stress frozen in place, and if you soften the entire molding, it likely will turn into a cross between a strip of bacon and a croissant. Possibly a

Accurail trucks are SUPPOSED to work with axles up to and including 1.015" long, but that is the max, unless you twirl "the Tool" in the journals and make the cone break out of the sides of the boxes

Shouldn't be any mystery here. Retired, as someone said above, means removed from revenue service, but doesn't say anything about final disposition. It could be stripped of parts and the body used as

From the definition in the 1879 CBD I would suspect this later became the "roping staple". Dennis Storzek

Not unless it has been adulterated with something. The red lead primer I'm familiar with has a bright orange color. The iron workers at the transit authority used it a lot for priming the overlapping

And a photo: Dennis Storzek

It's a Miner product made for passenger cars. It was available with both inside and outside operating handles if needed: I'm not sure anyone makes thia exact part; when I did some etched brass Soo Lin

If someone has a pic of one of these with a clear number or readable data, check the IH. As I recall, they were 8'-7" as opposed to the 9'-0" of the original USRA cars. Dennis Storzek

I didn't realize that "beehive oven" was a term of the art, thinking it was more a historian / modeler's term. I stand corrected. Dennis Storzek

I think we're having a failure to communicate... Try this. Dennis

Ray, that's backwards. The bin in the background is the source of the coal. It is distributed via manual push cars on a narrow gauge track on top of the battery of ovens; you can just barely see the e

You've never seen a man wearing coveralls before? Dennis Storzek