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Layout of the Sides
Software:For the job of laying out the sides, I am going to use Photoshop as the primary tool. Later on I will do some layout work and design in CAD, but to get started I want to use software that...
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Finishing the Layout of the Sides
In this installment I am going to finish the layout of the sides. There are three major components to work on: the profile of the bottom fish belly, the position of the vertical ribs, and the...
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Truck Identification
This is a closeup of the truck on the EJ&E gon that I am trying to identify (you can click to enlarge):The truck is on a 50-ton gondola that was built late 1930s to mid 1940s and substantially...
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A Test Design (in Styrene) for the Sides
To this point, this blog series has focused on the prototype and the mechanics of making a drawing of the sides with reasonable fidelity to the prototype (starting from a photo and ORER dimensions)....
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C&NW 41' 6" 70 Ton Gondolas
This all started when I was looking at the Accurail 41' 6" AAR Steel gondola, admiring the ribs and ends, and wondering whether the ends could be used on the EJ&E 31550 series gons I am working on...
View ArticleCNW 41' 6" 70 Ton Gondolas - Addendum
Jack Mullen was kind enough to send me some additional information about the C&NW's 41' 6" gondola fleet that I thought was quite helpful with respect to filling out some gaps in my previous post...
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A Prototype Waybill - 31
Introduction:I recently added this waybill to my very small collection. It caught my eye for several reasons. It is from a small southern Class 1 railroad; I've always had a soft spot for those...
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Commodities for Milwaukee's Municipal Ferry Terminal
As I've been continuing to work on my Municipal Ferry Terminal module and getting closer to being able to pull cars from (and push cars onto) the City of Midland, I've also been continuing to look into...
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Freight Car Types for Milwaukee's Municipal Ferry Terminal
In the previous post I discussed car ferry traffic from the Port of Milwaukee in terms of commodities shipped and received. I derived two lists that show the number of carloads for each of the 261 ICC...
View ArticleQuestions (and some answers) About Shipping Wallboard by Rail
The original question that got me think about this topic was posed by Craig Wilson on the STFMC:"I have one of the Intermountain B&O bulkhead flatcars. The reweigh date is "WA3-65" and has a...
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A Prototype Waybill - 32
Introduction:This waybill is for a carload of rough lumber, loaded from a mill in Rock Island Ill. and delivered to Algoma Plywood. It is from the group of cars delivered to the Ahnapee & Western...
View ArticleBox Car Travels - R 197: Introduction
I've spent over a decade now wondering what a chain of movements might look like from the viewpoint of a single box car, the factors that might govern the movements, the statistics of the outcomes, and...
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Box Car Travels - R 197: Step 1
The first step in any Monte Carlo chain is a bit arbitrary, and the first step in the travels of the 40' PS-1 Rutland 197 boxcar we are tracking is no exception. I decided to start the car off on its...
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Box Car Travels - R 197: Step 2
The outcome of step 2 in the travels of Rutland 197, our ordinary 40' box car, was not what I expected. After step 1, delivery of a carload of animal feed to a feed store in Palmer, Mass., I thought...
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Box Car Travels - R 197: Step 3
This is the third Monte Carlo step I generated for Rutland 197. In generating this step and accompanying waybill I think I learned a little bit more about the car selection process and the competition...
View ArticleBox Car Travels - R197: Step 4
Step 3 found our box car (Rutland 197; an ordinary PS-1 40' all-steel car) on the B&M in Nashua, New Hampshire, empty after delivering a load of scrap paper from Rockford Illinois. For step 4, R...
View ArticleBox Car Travels - R197: Step 5
After step 4, R 197 was empty in Worcester Mass., traveling toward Rockford Ill. (returning empty via its last loaded route). At step 5, the 40' PS-1 box car failed to find a load in Worcester, and...
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Box Car Travels - R 197: Step 6
At the end of step 5, the ordinary 40' steel box car we are following (Rutland 197, a PS-1) was empty in Maybrook, New York, returning empty via its last service route toward Rockford Ill. after...
View ArticleC&O Hoppers in Vermont?
On the STFMC list, Don Valentine wrote:"The question that always troubles me with regard to C&O hoppers, however, is that with a number of file cabinets loaded with photos of prototype scenes in...
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Empty Box Cars Competing for Loads - State to State Variability
I just finished typing big pieces of the 1% Carload Waybill Statistics State to State Distributions from 1957 into a spreadsheet. I identified all of the ICC commodity classes that were carried...
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