The same photo of SP 74740 appeared on page 85 of the August 16, 1924 issue of Railway Review in a full page ad for The Ralston Steel Car Company, Columbus, Ohio. That suggests, to me at least, that R

I got my start in model railroading with Varney plastic kits. Sometime in the early 1950s KIX cereal offered Varney kits with a box top and some token amount of money. As I recall now, I started with

Sixty inch gauge is Russia and Spain but where is 66" in use or was in use?

Jeff, I agree. Company, battery or troop movement would be rate. Battalion or higher more likely. It is, just as you say, necessary to have a huge number of military models and flat cars for a battali

USA reporting marks were used in Germany and Korea. That I saw first-hand. USAX was used in CONUS. Gene Green

A lot of the Studebakers were sent to Russia, so many, in fact, that "Studebaker" entered their vocabulary. I watch lots of Russian movies about World War Two (the Great Patriotic War for them) and se

I took a jillion slides of US military equipment in Germany. Later I donated all those slides to a German modeling magazine. I regretted that decision ever since. Gene Green

For a Army unit move, one might include Pullmans and flats in the same train, maybe with some gondolas. In the Army, at least during the time I served and prior including WWII [1960-1987] tactical uni

Aha! Dan Mitchell knows the correct terminology! Good info to have, Dan. Thanks. Gene Green

The Mini-Movers [sic?] were, among other machines, models of a Caterpillar scraper. I have three different versions. I don't if the different Cat scraper versions were all available at the same time o

Thank you, Dave. New and useful information which will be added to my database. Always happy to get additional information. Now I must look at the USRA hopper photos more critically. Gene Green

At the risk of seeming dogmatic (again), while the hand brakes on the USRA hoppers might be referred to as "Blackall style," they were, in fact, The Perfection ratchet hand brake manufactured by Railw

Ah, but which Klasing hand brake? Gene Green

Bud, I think we need to see the photo to answer your question. Gene Green

Lester, thanks for the information on your experience reconstituting Floquil. I have a stash of about 80 bottles so you provided information I can potentially use. Gene Green Out in the west Texas tow

I'd like to know more about the hand brake on the flat car. Anybody? Gene Green

Dan, and anyone else interested, I have a copy directly from the Miner organization of one of the 24" hand wheels. If anyone, or any manufacturer, would like a copy, I would be happy to oblige. Gene G

The hand brake itself is a variation of Miner's 3290/3290-X/3290-XL or one of the predecessor Miner worm gear hand brakes. The hand wheel may be an early Miner 24" diameter wheel. If it is the Miner 2

Mark, Ajax vertical wheel hand brake was introduced in 1926. Gene Green

Your dissatisfaction with the color aside, you've done awfully nice work. The model looks very good to me. Gene Green