QUOTE: Originally posted by soumodeler Does anybody make a 40' boxcar without the running boards, or will I have to take off some of them on mine? I don't like the thought of ripping something off of a Kadee boxcar! soumodeler
QUOTE: An article in the now defunct Kalmbach magazine "Trains Illustrated" several years ago featured the then recent grain harvest in the Pacific Norrthwest and showed a "grain train" made up of all 40 foot boxcars pressed into service because no more covered hoppers were available. To top it off the power was a lash up of A & B F units. Except for the missing "roofwalks" and yellow beacons on top the locomotives (and the BN on the locomotives) it looked like the 1950s revisited.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
QUOTE: Originally posted by West Coast S Ah.. Spacemouse, Hustle to the strobe of the Disco Ball...BTW what did you name your pet rock? Dave
QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45 Good Goobly, I enjoyed disco. In fact, back then when I was only 5ft. 9 inches tall, I dropped from a hefty 190 pounds to a slim and wiry 155 pounds from skating up a sweat at the rink to the disco music, which was very easy to dance to.
Scott - Dispatcher, Norfolk Southern
QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45 BTW: Forgot to mention. Earlier this year on t.v, one of the cable channels was running the classic 1970s "NBC Mystery Movies" series. I greatly enjoyed watching these police detective flicks as a kid. (Columbo, McMIllan & Wife, Hec Ramsey, and of course everybody's favorite cowboy: McCloud.) I saw a "McCloud" episode. (Marshall McCloud is a New Mexico detective stationed in New York City---he always manages to get in trouble, give his boss a migraine, but get the bad guys in the end). During a fight scene at a river dock, there were a number of freight cars present, including several 50ft. Boxcars. I noticed that they had Running Boards that were clearly visible and intact! I can't remember the road names, but I think one was in the Rio Grande scheme. I'm not sure but based on most of the automobiles in the move, this episode was circa 1973-75. There were loads and loads of GMC Fishbowl buses in the "electric blue" paint scheme. I always enjoy watching old tv movies and looking for any trains and buses in them.
QUOTE: Originally posted by GrayLoess Accurail's 40-footers are the easiest boxcars to modernize IMHO - just clip the pegs off the bottom of the running boards, glue them in the holes, and you're done. QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45 BTW: Forgot to mention. Earlier this year on t.v, one of the cable channels was running the classic 1970s "NBC Mystery Movies" series. I greatly enjoyed watching these police detective flicks as a kid. (Columbo, McMIllan & Wife, Hec Ramsey, and of course everybody's favorite cowboy: McCloud.) I saw a "McCloud" episode. (Marshall McCloud is a New Mexico detective stationed in New York City---he always manages to get in trouble, give his boss a migraine, but get the bad guys in the end). During a fight scene at a river dock, there were a number of freight cars present, including several 50ft. Boxcars. I noticed that they had Running Boards that were clearly visible and intact! I can't remember the road names, but I think one was in the Rio Grande scheme. I'm not sure but based on most of the automobiles in the move, this episode was circa 1973-75. There were loads and loads of GMC Fishbowl buses in the "electric blue" paint scheme. I always enjoy watching old tv movies and looking for any trains and buses in them. LOL! I saw another McCloud episode (the one with Barbi Benton I think...anybody remember her?) where they were arresting some guys loading stolen stuff on a boxcar at a freight yard...funny thing was, all the switch engines were SP, as was a lot of the rolling stock (even some 40-footers as I recall) Hmmmm - what is a yard full of Espee switchers doing in NYC? Guess it was really filmed in LA all along[:D]
QUOTE: Originally posted by TA462 I grew up in the 70's, Southern Rock and Trans Am's were the best part of the 70's for me. I still listen to Southern Rock and I still own a 1978 Trans Am.[:D]
QUOTE: The "Vanishing Railroad Car" episode was the shark jump for me. From a person who comes from a railroad family, I know for a fact that this theft could never have been committed the way Thomas Banacek said it did. Banacek said the thieves uncoupled the railroad car in question from the car ahead of it and from the one behind it and kept the entire train going by running a heavy steel cable between the disconnected sections. They built a special switch that allowed the first section of the train to run straight through it. Then, they quickly threw the switch to send the car to be stolen onto the temporary siding. After the stolen car was switched-out, they threw the switch back to the straight position to allow the rear section of the train to proceed, eventually using the cable and a winch to reconnect the two sections. The thieves then leisurely off-loaded the car on its temporary siding and made good their escape. Banacek demonstrated this with an HO scale train on a table top. Unfortunately, for Banacek, model trains and real trains are completely different. First, swithces and turnouts on real railroads take several seconds to completely shift heavy rails from one side of a track to the other. On a model train, a switch can be thrown back and forth nearly instantaneously. But the real flaw in Banacek's crime solving was the braking system used on real trains. Prototype railroads use air-brakes on the locomotives and the cars. The brakes on cars are set in the engaged position so when there is zero air pressure in a brake line, the brake shoes are firmly clasped to the wheels. When a train is in motion, all of the cars are not just connected by knuckle-couplers, they are also linked by air-brake hoses. The locomotive has an air compressor and an air reservoir to keep the air brake lines charged with air. Positive air pressure forces the brake shoes away from clasping the car's wheels. If a train breaks in two, the air brake line is severed causing air pressure to drop to zero and the brake shoes on all of the cars engage and both sections of the train come to a complete stop. So, on Banacek, how did the front section, stolen car and rear section keep moving down the track with no air pressure?
- Mark