Dave,
Many of Doc Johnson's Midgage cars are down here on a complete train
owned by Jack Troxell. They have never been detailed but when his
layout was running weekly it took a lot of power up front to move them.
Even aluminum that thick has some weight plus the trucks of the time
didn't help either. Jack did pull off one his triumphs in converting
one of the cars into a boat-tail observation made from a chunk of wood
expertly formed and finished.
I understood the Midgage cars were based on UP cars. I owned a couple
of them for awhile thinking I might add some additional horizontal ribs
and call them MILW cars, but that passed too.
I started 4 or 5 of the JC cars a long time ago, but if I built them per
plans it's difficult to put the sides on after painting without showing
the major seam between the ends and the sides--still in "what to do next
mode" on that one!
Bob Werre
On 10/1/13 8:40 AM, David Engle wrote:
The cars I have are all the pre-war PS pattern, that is, the upper
letterboard is half smooth, half-corrugated. I have never seen, let
alone owned , any smooth-side cars. The only possible exception is
several cars that are smooth except for a horizontal rail above and
below the windows; I understand those are aluminum extrusions by
Sylvania, whomever they were. Midgage is known for the long
extrusions that I understand were actually made by AF to match AF cars.
I remember getting 3 cars in 1957 or 58, then trading them to Doc
Johnson in St. Louis for 2 AF coaches and a Midgage express reefer at
the St.Louis MCoR convention. By their 1962 convention, I was set in
my all-scale ways; in 1968 I acquired all 3 Chester cars back plus
about a dozen or so more, but never really put them in service--no
trucks at the time. I doubt I have all the different sides that
Chester offered. I acquired a shortened RPO from Dick Karnes in
those days, and it is on the layout as a straight RPO. More
recently, he has done an observation car from Chester sides, etc;
Dave Engle
