Just a note to let you guys know about the new weathered cars we have had produced.
These are InterMountain cars,Hand weathered by Conrail Hobo for Fifer Hobby.

Here is the newest FHS weathered car.
http://www.fiferhobby.com/html/fhs_custo...red_c.html


Thanks , Mike

Sugar beets were once a common crop in Southern Ontario. But other than a few circa 1950s pictures in Ian Wilson's various "Steam..." books, I haven't seen much about them. Apparently they were carried in open gons loaded at team tracks, and were a common "good" in the fall after harvest - so much so that there were "unit trains" of them.

Can anyone shed any further light on this?

Thanks.

Andrew

New job...OK...Three months now..My own computer at work with internet...No filter for this site......Can read posts at lunch.
My balony sandwhich taste real good now!

Michael Yerina sent us pictures of his in-progress 55n3 layout:

http://www.55n3.org/yerina/



If anyone else is building in 55n3 please send us pictures.

Thank you if you visit
Harold

You guys are doing some excellent work! Gonna be tough.

Instead of doing something that is/was protypical...I'm gonna have some fun with this!

I'm starting with these two bay window cabeese. The one on the left, is a show "bargin box" find. The one on the right is CNE's first caboose. Since this unit is old, and never see's action...Pretty much shelved.
   
The plan is two "slice and dice" the two, and put them together. Sorry for the rough cuts, it was quick.
   
   
Here's what I hope to end up with, except I'll more than likely paint them.....Hmmmmm.What scheme?.....
   

A friend sent this to me. Who'd have thought.

“The modified model of a diesel train engine was carrying a small chunk of californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart.
“We needed to refine the calibration technique to make sure we are measuring our neutrons as accurately as possible,” said Masa Ono, the project head of the National Spherical Torus Experiment.”

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/science/29train.html?_r=3&ref=science">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/scien ... ef=science</a><!-- m -->

As a former employee of the Frankfort and Cincinnati and L&N Railroads, I spent a lot of time switching cars at some of the distilleries in the Frankfort, Kentucky area. They varied in size from the single spur 21 Brands Distillery on the L&N to the massive Schenley (Ancient Age) distillery on the F&C. Most of these operations would make a layout in themselves and the traffic variety is great too.

I've attached a schematic diagram of one of the smaller distilleries that was located along the F&C Railroad - Buffalo Springs at Stamping Ground, KY. This one is what I'd call model railroad size, but would include all of the "typical" traffic that existed at all of them.

In the late 1960's and through the 1980's here is the type of traffic you'd have at the distilleries:

Inbound:
1- Coal in twin or triple hoppers for the power plant
2- Grain in covered hoppers (and every now and then in 40 foot box cars)- 80-85% corn / 10-15% rye / 5% malt - depending on the formula each company used
3- Empty box cars and/or covered hopers for loading with spent dried mash (feed). Bagged in box cars, bulk in covered hoppers. Sometimes, the covered hoppers that delivered the grain were re-used to load the dried mash, but not often.
4- New Oak barrels in 50 foot box cars
5- Empty 50 foot XL box cars for loading the finished product in cases.

Outbound:
1- Box cars or covered hoppers loaded with the spent grain mash (feed)
2- Box cars loaded with empty used barrels. Bourbon whiskey barrels can only be used once so these were shipped out to Canada or Puerto Rico where they could be reused. Some even were shipped to people who cut them up for use as furniture!
3- Sometimes you'd have box cars loaded with the bourbon in barrels for shipment to other distilleries owned by the parent company
4- Box cars loaded with cased bourbon whiskey
5- Empty coal and grain hoppers

On the attached diagram - this would be a typical days traffic in and out of this small distillery:
1 car of coal - 1 car of grain - 1 or 2 cars for loading cased bourbon - 1 car of new barrels which could be reloaded with used barrels and finally 1 car for loading the dried mash.

Hope this inspires someone to model a distillery. If you need more information - just let me know.

Ed

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

I've been acquiring back issues of Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, and I came across an article in the May/June 1993 issue on The Craddonium Connection. According to the authors, Craddonium was discovered in France in 1835, and later in America. This substance can be used as a rocket propellant or an explosive, having the properties of completely stable nitroglycerine, and when mixed with chalk from a certain region in France, causes steel to become" as malleable as macaroni."

GERN was not the first... 8-)

This is unbelievable. From 1925. Some of the comments seem to be a bit puzzling if you remember what was available.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.shorpy.com/node/7676?size=_original">http://www.shorpy.com/node/7676?size=_original</a><!-- m -->
Charlie

Here in the northeast there were feed stores that went by the name GLF. They were later taken over by Agway. I am wondering if anyone has any info or even remebers what their logo looked like. I grew up in a small town that had a GLF, and have many fond memories of the sights and even smells of it..right next to the NYC mainline.

thanks....Dave