Bill Welch wrote: This results from excessive recycling of scrap styrene moldings. Dennis can tell us much more about this if he wishes. My own approach might be to try and fill and smooth the cracks

Just use a Sharpy to add a shadow and it looks better. Of course YMMV. Tony Thompson

Bob Chaparro wrote: This builder photo is in my Volume 3 of the series, _Southern Pacific Freight Cars_ for anyone who may have the book. Tony Thompson tony@...

"Some produce didn’t need icing-just air flow. Potatoes, and I believe onions among the produce were so shipped." This comment is misleading. Every type of produce had a preferred shipping temperature

Ken Adams wrote (in part): A common misunderstanding. The word "automobile" on a car did NOT mean it was necessarily in that service. Until the early 1950s, the AAR defined an "automobile car" as a bo

Ian Cranstone wrote: Remember, the ORER didn't seek out anything. Each car owner sent in a report, as often as they thought necessary (some would remain unchanged, with original date, for multiple iss

I don't mean to contradict the summary by Dennis Storzek, but thought readers might like a summary of PFE practice. The earliest PFE cars, from 1906 to 1920, had outside board roofs (metal sheet sandw

Bob Chaparro wrote: Nice photos. The B-50-11 class, 800 cars, was entirely built by Ralston in the fall of 1916. The photo shown of SP 26159 exists in a much better version in the National Archives of

Nice-looking models, Bill! Glad to see some MW modeling. Tony Thompson tony@...

Ben Hom wrote: Also looks like a 5-foot door, which PFE did not build in steel cars. And I might add that the ice hatches are opened at a steeper angle than was possible on the prototype (the latch ba

Dave Parker wrote: As late as the first decade of the 20th century, posters, banners and notices of all kinds were attached to freight car sides, and I recall that those were banned (i browsed ALL of

I believe it was for moving trains. Obviously there was some slack, because often big loads had placards on them, giving the builder name if nothing else, but the routine attachment on car sides did l

A&Y Dave iwrote: Such banners were disallowed by the ICC early in the 20th century. Tony Thompson tony@...

The silver roof was as-buiilt. They got repainted within a couple of years. Tony Thompson tony@...

Tim O'Connor wrote: I think this one is black. The period of shops (wrongly) not using a black background was fairly brief. A memo (that is at CSRM) went out soon, correcting any misunderstandings. Th

Well, really for melting and casting steel. Judson had a foundry, a bridge and structural steel shop, a machine shop, and a nuts & bolts shop. Tony Thompson tony@...

Schuyler Larrabee wrote: Yes, I remember it well from my excursions into caving. Bright and dependable light. Tony Thompson tony@...

Andy Cich wrote: The PFE car I just received is the same as Andy's photo. The (rather coarse) chain attached to the brake cylinder is just glued to the center sill, no lever attachment, and the brake

Andy Carlson wrote: Nice remark, Andy. Can't remember if I ever owned (or kept, if owned) any of those brands, but hey, fun is fun. My only comment of substance, Andy, is that it took really close-up

Ben Hom wrote: Shouldn't InterMountain be on this list? Tony Thompson tony@...