Currently in Wyoming--they advertise in most of the model publications; wisely,
the new owner has not given up his day job as a UP engineer.
It passed through at least two owners in Wisconsin before several couples in
Indiana bought it and actually added a couple of new kits.
I think LaBelle also cut the wood for the Star kits in On3 years ago. Current
owner (may have started with the Indiana operation) uses a
laser cutter, as the original woodworking machinery was worn out.
Jace Kahn
General Manager
Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co.
> RE: KINSMAN passenger cars. Yes, the cars appear to be B&M prototypes but
> still are generic. An outfit that still operates in O-scale produces
> beautiful wooden passenger cars. I believe it is called LaBelle and
> currently operates out of somewhere in Utah or Idaho. Its ads have appeared
> over the decades in MR and RMC. Originally, the company was located in
> Wisconsin. I wonder if they could ever be persuaded to crank out some cars
> in S scale.
>
> Tom
> ________________________________________
>
> While the prototype open end cars Kinsman used for the kits were
> Boston & Maine equipment, they were not unique to that road. The New
> Haven, Maine Central and Bangor & Aroostook also had them. Several
> roads outside New England also used similar cars.
>
> The prototypes were built by Laconia Car Co. in the 1880s mostly for
> branch line and secondary trains. When steel cars were mandated early
> in the 20th century, most of the New Haven cars were replaced and the
> balance sold to the B&M/MeC where they augmented their existing fleet.
>
> As time progressed most were relegated to back woods lines where they
> lasted (at least on the B&M) until the end of steam on the branches
> in 1953 which coincided with abandonment of passenger service on all
> but the main lines and commuter trains out of Boston. Several of the
> cars remained in service well into the 60s in work trains and I
> believe a couple went to Edaville.
>
> Sadly I witnessed the end for a dozen or so cars at B&M's Billerica
> Shops. The cars were spotted on siding well away from the buildings,
> pushed over on their sides by a front loader and burned. Any metal
> that remained was salvaged and the trucks were sold to tourist lines.
>
> An interesting note is the 'special' treatment the New Haven gave
> some of their cars - they removed the outer sides and replaced them
> with metal - scribed to look like wood. As the story goes, the NH had
> to use steel equipment in and out of New York back in the early
> century and not wanting to spend a lot of bucks on commuter cars,
> they shopped several wooden cars cladding them in steel but the
> public had fears of riding in steel cars lest a derailment bring the
> cars in contact with the wires or third rail - so a mechanical
> engineer came up with the idea of making the cars look like they had
> wood sides and nobody knew the difference. There was one of these
> cars used on a tourist line near Worcester back in the 80s
>
> Raleigh in Raineigh Maineigh
>
>
> At 02:05 PM 10/2/2011, Don Thompson wrote:
> >
> >
> >Dear Darrell,
> >I was told by the draftsman of the kits drawings, Bill Boucher that
> >the prototype was the B&M wooden passenger cars that lasted much
> >later than most mainline cars of this type. I am sure that Rollie
> >would have more information on the prototype...
> >Don Thompson
> >
> >On Oct 2, 2011, at 1:56 PM, Darrell wrote:
> >
> > > True, the Kinsman kits are very basic and "generic" in the
> > one-size-fits-all sense and the detail level.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
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