Not a PS1 expert either, but I believe this is a second-hand 10'-0" height car, possibly from New Haven. And definitely acquired by Rio Grande after the end of this list. Ron Merrick

Off-topic, but illustrative of the point. I bought, off that same infamous site, a Sunshine stock car kit, probably one where the picture only showed the box end. Most of the time, that's good enough

Not a photo, but here is the MP diagram sheet for this car. Basically, a pretty standard drop-shaft handbrake, which probably means the shaft was square. I don't have a good end photo here of any of t

Confirming my assumptions. Thanks. Ron Merrick

Quick question on these cars, built by Mt. Vernon 1951 -- Was the brake reservoir mounted longitudinal or transverse? It's not clearly obvious from the photos I have here. I suspect longitudinal, beca

Perfect. This answers my questions. Thanks for the quick response. Ron Merrick

Can anyone shed light on a Branchline car I picked up? It's labeled as a project of the Illinois Central Historical Society, but the society's web page doesn't seem to have a company store currently.

The only ones I have photos of are late ones. A Needham Packing car, restenciled WCLX 2042, and a 50' plug door RS, WCLX 5141, lettered Wilson Car Lines but with no logo. Both May 1973, on the Rock Is

While we're on the subject of Frisco, I have noticed that early offset-side twin hoppers and covered hoppers, when new, were black. Later ones were that Frisco red. The Frisco gons of the 'Greenville'

Advice from somebody who can't see reds very well -- I have four Sunshine Frisco cars that will soon be ready to paint. The Sunshine instructions (based on Floquil) suggest a color similar to oxide re

There was a big Cabot plant just west of Pampa, Texas, served by Santa Fe. Probably other carbon black plants nearby, since there was plenty of gas. One other plant that used natural gas as a feedstoc

This model is famous in its own right, as I recall, as one of the first models made in resin. As an O scale model, it was a good show piece, and I recall it being exhibited at Naperville in fairly rec

If anybody's interested, I have several boxcars of varying descriptions and 10 Santa Fe reefers, unbuilt. Off-list, at mopacfirst at gmail dot com. Ron Merrick

That's a partial top chord reinforcement. This type of reinforcement, using a piece of angle, was pretty common. It only needed to be partial, not end-to-end, as a rule, because in the center part of

When I looked closer at the 100-ton Buckeye, it's apparent that the cast brackets for the clasp brake hangers are actually separate castings. They appear to be fastened to the truck frames by the bolt

I have used some MDC trucks that had a very arched or rounded top chord, which looked like some trucks I had seen on cars from the 20s, when I modeled older cars. Perhaps they were in the 50' single-s

These are 50'0" over "flooring and end sills", as the diagram calls out. Bethlehem 1942, lot DF45. These 50, plus MP 8100-8199, started out as general service flatcars. They had 15 stake pockets. They

It looks to me that it is indeed possible to load both levels at once. The lower level looks like there's a right-angle turn in it, to align with the door. In fact, with this car which does not appear

Thanks for the insight, this at least gives me an idea of why these cars were created. I noticed also that a number of these cars were built as one lot for a number of railroads, lot 8160 -A through a

Thanks for the advice. Mine are still in the box, and I hope I can keep this in mind for the next couple of months until they have a layout to run on. Ron Merrick