If you have access to TRAINS magazine, check out the photo on Pages 42/43 of the November 2005 issue. Neat photo! An IC 2-8-2 pulling mixed freight in October 1940 in Mississippi. Look at the cars, lots of height differences, wood, steel, outside braced... cool stuff. I think cars 2 and 3 are PRR X29's and back about car 16 is a round roof - looks like the B&O wagon top from the exterior ribbing (imagine that - Pennsy and B&O cars in Mississippi!). A gon, couple flats, couple tank cars - a nice train. I think we can all learn something from vintage photos like this. This train could fairly easily be done in S... Nothing more boring to me than 1940's era steam trains of all "same height" cars.
All the talk about mechanical reefers reminded me - back when I worked for Stroh, we modified 50 PFE mechanical reefers to haul bulk heavy beer from Detroit to LA; prior to the installation of fire brewing there. The reefer's end was removed and a 600 barrel stainless tank on skids was slid in. The cars were all repainted white or yellow (I forget!) with a the words "The Chiller" in shadow black block lettering across the side. We really didn't want to draw anyone's attention to a car containing 18000+ gallons of heavy beer. They were attached to the end of a daily Detroit to Van Nuys GM parts train. I think the destination was called "Raymer Yard". We also learned the hard way about longitudinal twisting motions in RR cars as they move down the rails. Initially the counter pressure and CIP lines were welded to the tanks. The twisting would break the welds and relieve the CO2 pressure on the beer in transit. That wasn't a big deal, but when you depressurized the tanks to push the beer out, it would spray in all directions until the level got below the break - picture shaking a can with several pin holes in it! Those were some great beer showers! My boss wrote an article about it for the MBAA Technical Quarterly, but he left out all the fun parts!! Those were some great times, I only wish I had a photo of one of those cars spraying beer out the door - it was unbelievable. The cars, both breweries, even the company are all gone now... times do change! I even think the GM auto plant across the tracks now belongs to Toyota! Jim K. ---------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.9/116 - Release Date: 9/30/2005 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
