Their groups.io site is still active, and there is discussion over there including about possible substitutes. Apparently someone named Eric is trying to produce lost-wax brass versions of some modern

The Santa Fe also had quite a number of horse cars. They were long with 3 doors on each side plus a large door in one end. I don't know the interior arrangement, but I remember seeing them frequently

The dictionary definition of "tankage" says it was used to make fertilizer. - Tom E.

I've used the same bending jig as Dennis for years except that mine is brass since I thought it would be more durable. I also use a length of appropriate thickness material (strip wood or styrene) to

Doug, Could those all be massive piles of sugar beets on the ground everywhere in the Mason City photo? If so, that's an awful lot of sugar beets & not a single beet car (steam-era or otherwise) anywh

Stinky is in the nose of the beholder, Scott. I happen to really like the sweet/pungent smell of cooking sugar beets. Do you know which 2 plants are still operating in Colorado and who is operating th

Oh-Oh! You guys bring up more memories. My parents started me out with Lionel, and it all came from Corr's, but when my tastes changed, around the corner to Keene's I went. Arlington Hobby Crafters wa

Ha-Ha! Speaking of living in the past, anyone else remember Clark Kean's on G Place? It was the place to go when I was growing up there. Tom E.

Actually, Dennis, "back in the day" Northeastern scribed siding did have v-grooves. For many years I was able, by carefully* sanding it down, to get reasonably accurate groove width almost indistingui

I looked again. There are cars of this type at the Cumbres & Toltec & at the Colorado Railroad Museum, BUT they have new & wider frames, so are considerably different from what they originally were. T

Charles, I seem to remember that there might be some of these cars in Colorado (perhaps at the Cumbres & Toltec, perhaps elsewhere) converted to narrow gauge so with different trucks, but otherwise pr

What a cool truck! A boiler A locomotive air compressor. A spraying rig like the ones I've seen on later such trucks. And a tank of tar. Tom E.

So Bruce, let me paraphrase what you are saying & see if I've got it right: CAPY is just a handy way of classifying cars & can be ignored when actually loading a car. Ld. Lmt. indicates the actual wei

Umm - perhaps I'm just dense or something, but I've looked back a bit to see if I can find the original discussion to which these posts refer, but I've been unsuccessful. Could one of you perhaps supp

Claus, This photo is from the Library of Congress Detroit Publishing Co. collection, and there are many more. Look here: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=solvay&co=det Tom

If you download the image & enlarge it a lot, you'll see the colored starch grains mentioned in the linked descriptions of the Autochrome process. I was doubtful at first, but I think that this proves

Great model, Bob - well worth the work & frustration. I do wonder, however, whether the strapping alone would be sufficient to prevent sideways movement of the load? (The Devil made me say it!!) Tom

Very interesting old side-dump car in the background. Anyone have any information on that? Tom E.

That board seems to have marks indicating that it once supported a trolley pole that has since been removed. The bell also hints that the car was designed to lead. So, was it a former motor since de-m

There was a great wooden above-ground penstock outside of Marshfield VT providing water for a small hydro-electric plant in the valley from a pond up on the hill some distance away. It was quite large