Recent content by wjstix

  1. W

    Any cell (prisoner) cars in H0?

    Actually it was pretty common. Here in Minnesota Stillwater State Prison had it's own spur going into the prison, and was the top shipper on that railroad's (the NP I think) branch line. The prisoners worked under contract making farm machinery. Also many prisons rec'd coal by rail to fuel...
  2. W

    Athearn Short out!

    Since you had the trouble with the body on, could it be some wires or metal tabs are coming into contact because of the body being in place?? Could be when the trucks move "just right" something inside the engine is coming in contact with something causing a short. Maybe without the body in...
  3. W

    Need 2 ID's, Old Mantuas or Bashing ?

    They could both be Mantua. The couplers certainly are, but then before Kadees came along, Mantua couplers probably were the most popular HO couplers so many cars from the forties-fifties would have them.
  4. W

    The old 32 to 40 foot wood and steel reefers

    Well...sorta. The real issue was company A refused to ship their products in a reefer lettered for their competitor, company B. Plus there were other issues regarding leasing fees and such - some companies apparently just leased a car or two and lettered it for their company so they could get...
  5. W

    RPO pick-up

    FWIW, unless your two trains are going to two different cities, you'd be more likely to see two RPO's one one train than one on each train. For example on the old Great Northern the Empire Builder and Western Star went over the same route, but only the Western Star carried the mail...often quite...
  6. W

    Frustrations with KATO grab irons

    I just use a sharp X-acto knife. Stick the point in the hole and rotate it 360 degrees a time or two. It usually does the trick, allows you to put the handrail in place but leaves the hole small enough that the handrail stays in place without needing to be glued in.
  7. W

    Analogue power questions...

    The "stop and go" set up you talk about has been around for a while, take a look in the Walthers catalogue or their website. I believe a couple of manufacturers make products that would work.
  8. W

    The old 32 to 40 foot wood and steel reefers

    Both cars are correct. I think you're confused because you're assuming the woodsided car is older than the steel one, but it isn't!! The Athearn car is based on a woodsided car built in the early-mid 1940's. By the mid-late thirties the the norm for new boxcar's height was 10'-6" like the...
  9. W

    F units and diaphragms.

    Andy was pointing out that only passenger cars used full-width diaphragms where the diaphragms were as side as the car body (and then only for a short period in the streamliner era). F and E units used narrower diaphragms which were just a touch wider than the doors between the units - like the...
  10. W

    The old 32 to 40 foot wood and steel reefers

    It's amazing how this myth continues on that the railroads leased out advertising space on their cars. wall1 It basically comes from a misunderstanding of how cars were owned or leased. 100+ years ago the cars were owned by the railroad, and leased to the company that wanted to use it. That's...
  11. W

    Minimum Radius Required?

    I have 16" wide shelfs and used a Kato Unitrack 31" R curve at the corner with plenty of room to spare. I'm sure I could fit in a second track with no problem. On straight shelf sections you should have room to put in industries even if you use double track, but you might have to be creative -...
  12. W

    Any CN GP9 with a short high hood ?

    Just to clarify a little: CN was one of many railroads that ran their early road diesels long hood forward...but this was their choice. The first GP-7 demonstrators in 1949 were set up to run short-hood forward, and railroads buying GP's (or most other road diesels) could choose which end they...
  13. W

    ?? about bay window caboose's.

    Not necessarily. I suspect long before railroads built bay window cabooses (or had built for them), they had converted conventional cabooses to something like a bay-window caboose, or added some type of bay window to a non-cupola caboose like a transfer caboose. I believe Minneapolis & St. Louis...
  14. W

    CODE 100 or CODE 83 TRACK

    If you're new to the hobby, I would suggest looking at one of the "track with roadbeds" available now. They're much easier than trying to use cork roadbed :evil: and flex or sectional track etc... Kato Unitrack uses code 83 with a very realistic profile and is very reliable. I'm using it on my...
  15. W

    Who could have guessed this would happen?!?!?!?

    I believe every new transit system that's opened in the US in the last twenty years, or at least maybe all but one, have found ridership to be much higher than anticipated. Right now the Twin City light rail line is having cars build for them so they can increase the length of their trains to...
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