IrwinsJournal.com Presents: The Unofficial Micro-Trains® Release Report Issue #255 – March, 2018 (Not affiliated with Micro-Trains Line, Inc.) Copyright ©2018, George J. Irwin. Reproduction prohibited. Please see legal notice at the end of this document.

Hello again everyone… and let’s get right into the news and views for this month.

N SCALE NEW RELEASE FREIGHT EQUIPMENT:

058 00 320, $28.95 Reporting Marks: HJH Co. 305. 36 Foot Wood Double Sheathed Refrigerator, Truss Rod Underframe, Vertical Brake Staff, Heinz. #7 in the Heinz Series (pre-orders taken April 2017). Brown with black underframe and arch bar trucks. Green and white Heinz pickle trademark on left. Red with white outline lettering including “57 Varieties” on left and “India Relish” and reporting marks on right. White end markings. Approximate Time Period: 1890s.

Okay, so just what is India Relish? Well, according to the website Saveur.com, it was an 1889 invention of H.J. Heinz. “The original secret recipe, loosely based on traditional Indian relishes, featured a sugared and vinegared mix of pickled cucumbers, green tomatoes, cauliflower, white onions, red bell peppers, celery, and mustard seed, plus cinnamon and allspice.” The Food and Drug Administration took exception to the name—since India Relish was not actually from India. But the case against Heinz was dismissed when it was determined that the name was being used generically.

I thought that this product was one of the 57 Varieties that was no longer available—but it is. It can be procured from at least that large Internet-based purveyor of items which is named for a large South American river. The ingredients have changed: Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cabbage, Distilled White Vinegar, Alum, Xanthan Gum, Dehydrated Red Bell Peppers, and a few other things. Blogger Dan Woeller “The Food Etymologist” that relish was around before Heinz was, and before sauerkraut. “An even older and perhaps more important condiment across American convenience cuisine is pickle relish. While today it’s not as popular as ketchup or even salsa, it was the first true American condiment, even though borrowed from Indian chutneys, and still ranks as top five in most used condiments. Relishes go back to the late 1700s, but gained popularity in the 1850s in America… Most believe relishes originated from the need to preserve vegetables for winter, and that its roots extend back to India, where chutney, India’s relish like condiment, goes back to the 1600s.”

I’m going to stick with my 1890’s guess on the ATP. Clover House has dry transfers for a similar car, with yellow sides, however, not brown ones. They place that car as circa 1907.

1 116 00 070, $23.40 Road Number: 565700 (will be “N&W 565700” in website listings). Troop Sleeper, Norfolk and Western (Company Service). Green with yellow grab irons. White lettering including circa 1964 round “hamburger” herald at top left, roadname at bottom left and road number at bottom right. Approximate Time Period: no earlier than 1964 into the 1980s.

How about this: this former troop sleeper gets a mention in the April 1970 issue of the Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER). Okay, it’s not much of a mention—it’s in the group of only 63 cars scattered in the number series 564002 to 565899, described as “Miscellaneous” in a section of the N&W’s ORER entry that is also headlined “Miscellaneous Equipment – Non- Revenue,” but hey, it’s there.

The Approximate Time Period for this car couldn’t start any earlier than 1964, as the herald which appears on the car was formally introduced in December 1963. That herald is sometimes referred to, including in these bytes, as the “Hamburger” version, perhaps to distinguish from the earlier and also round herald.

And that herald was introduced just a bit prior to the N&W’s major, and complex, expansion with takeover of the Wabash, Nickel Plate, Pittsburgh and West Virginia and Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroads. The Wabash had picked up 64 surplus troop sleepers and converted them to various uses. The N&W inherited at least some of these following the multi- way merger. However, the new owner apparently took its time repainting these cars, as it did much of the other railroad’s equipment. Witness, for example, converted troop sleeper Wabash 5668, still in its former owner’s paint in 1969 in a photo in the Wabash/Nickel Plate/ DT&I Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. (A future MTL release, perhaps?)

Meanwhile, a car painted how MTL modeled it can be found on Page 128—yes, the last page!— of the Norfolk and Western Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. It is not, however, a bingo; it’s Road Number 565621, as found in Frankfort, Indiana (on the former Nickel Plate, yet!) in July 1985. Structurally, it still looks very much the same as it did when in the employ of the United States Army, and still has those Allied Full Cushion trucks, which were banned from interchange service all the way back in the mid-1950s. The green paint is considerably faded from the hue that Micro-Trains used, which borders on “where do I plug this in” bright. The Color Guide gives the series of these cars as 565600 to 565621 and confirms their Wabash heritage.

Need a bingo for this car? Me too. It’s in glorious black and white over at the archives of the Norfolk & Western Historical Society ( www.nwhs.org ). On the N&W this was called a “camp car.” It was found in Decatur, Illinois in March 1968. Look for photo NW01683.

2 130 00 240, $37.95 Reporting Marks: NS 387. Bay Window Caboose, Windowless Sides, No Battery Box, Norfolk Southern (original). Gray with red and white zebra striped ends. Black underframe and trucks. White end rails. Black lettering including roadname across top and reporting marks left of bay window. Red “N” and black “S” to right of cupola. Approximate Time Period: 1969 to present for this particular car (see text).

Since at least 2009, this caboose has been preserved at Spencer Shops, formerly a key repair facility for the Southern Railway and now the home of the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Photos of the car at the museum, found on RRPictureArchives, show the key delta plainly: it has a window on either side of the bay window, while the MTL 130 body style has windowless sides.

MTL’s car copy describes this car and five others numbered 386 to 391 as constructed from boxcars by the Southern Iron and Equipment Company (SIECO), which is perhaps better known as the manufacturer of significant numbers of Incentive Per Diem boxcars. I’d hoped I would find photos of these cars in service, and I didn’t have to look very far. George Elwood’s “Fallen Flags” site ( www.rr-fallenflags.org ) has images of the 386, 387 and 389, all lensed by well-known rail photographer Warren Calloway. They were all taken at Raleigh, North Carolina in 1969, 1970 and 1971 respectively. The end zebra striping extended to the roofline on the real cars, which also had a running board—now that’s different on a bay window caboose.

These cars don’t appear in the ORER for April 1970—the Norfolk Southern didn’t list company service equipment in its entry. And of course, this time we refer to the “original” Norfolk Southern, the line that connected Charlotte, North Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia and existed independently from 1942 to 1974. The Southern Railway picked up the “old” NS in 1974 and, as we know, did some legal maneuvering to reuse the name for its 1982 merger with the N&W.

135 00 091 and 135 00 092, $29.90 each Reporting Marks: BN 64003 and 64018. 70 Foot Well Cars, Burlington Northern. Red with mostly white lettering including reporting marks on left and small herald right of center. White on black COTS stencil on far right. Approximate Time Period: 1991 (build date given by MTL) to early decade of the 2000s.

Given that Micro-Trains has already done six well cars in this paint scheme in Z Scale, this is a copy and paste opportunity, right? Not really. Quoth MTL: “In early 1991, Burlington Northern received an order of 16 single Husky-Stack cars from Gunderson…” So, no, as the Z Scale entries (540 020 catalog numbers) represented cars from multi-unit sets.

3 The 1991 build date helps, of course. The July 1992 ORER has the 16 cars described as “Flat, Double Stack Pack” numbered 64003 to 64018. The vital statistics were: inside length 48 feet, inside width 8 feet 8 inches, outside length 71 feet 8 inches, extreme height 4 feet 9 inches— unloaded, that is—and capacity 154,000 pounds. The group was already down to 12 cars in the January 2000 ORER under the BNSF registration. Just two remained as of the October 2004 Equipment Register, neither of which were the numbers MTL selected.

RRPictureArchives has a 1991 photo of sister car BN 64015, in which are stacked two BN America containers. It’s an oblique shot taken in fading light, but it will have to do.

181 00 040, $26.80. Reporting Marks: UP 499030. 50 Foot Steel Boxcar, Single Plug Door, No Running Board, Short Side Ladders, Union Pacific. Orange sides, aluminum roof, ends, underframe, trucks, and couplers. Black lettering including roadname and reporting marks on left. Slogan “Ship and Travel and Automated Rail Way” with red, white and blue shield herald on right. Approximate Time Period: 1968 through early 1980s.

Page 35 of the Union Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment (Volume One) has the bingo on this car, fresh out of the paint shop in April 1968. It’s noted in the caption that this car was built in 1955, one of an early order for plug door DF equipped cars. The UP class BI-50-1 is an indication. The real car had straight side sills, riveted sides and a slightly different plug door than the MTL 181 body style.

The ORER for October 1969 shows the series 499000 to 499299 with 282 cars total. That series differs from the group of 100 cited in MTL’s car copy. I think that’s OK since the UP could have been reworking these cars in groups. The inside length of these cars was 50 feet 1 inch, outside length 54 feet 6 inches, extreme height 15 feet 1 inch, door opening 7 feet 7 inches wide, and capacity 4477 cubic feet or 100,000 pounds. An end note calls out the DF belt loaders.

MTL describes these cars as being in service into the 1980s. The October 1986 ORER shows only two cars left in the series, which has been cut down to 499127 to 499151. I won’t presume those are the two remaining road numbers. The ATP could be shorter than the timespan of the cars given the UP’s paint schemes the UP utilized. For example, the UP’s BI-50-2 class of plug door cars, built in 1957, was almost identical to the BI-50-1s. Micro-Trains did an example of those cars in June 2002 and February 2015, with the newer red and black “We Can Handle It” scheme (at right). Note the road number, 499234, is in the same prototype series as this new release.

4 469 00 101 and 469 00 102, $16.95 each. Reporting Marks: NFFU 031060 and 051105. 53 Foot Corrugated Containers, National Fast Freight (National Containers). White with red trim at top and bottom of seams, and silver door hardware. Red and gray “National Freight Lines” map logo in center of sides, nose and tail. Black reporting marks at top left of sides. Black website URL at bottom center of sides. Approximate Time Period: decade of the 2000s at least (a guess). These items are not on MTL Standing Orders.

It has a .com domain, but National Fast Freight Incorporated was actually founded in 1982 in Canada, with its head office in Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area. (Also the location of a very nice train show I try to attend each year, now called the Greater Toronto Train Show. It will be held on September 29 and 30 this year.) National Fast Freight has terminals across the Dominion from Victoria, British Columbia in the west to Moncton, New Brunswick in the east. It’s a division of TFI International, a Canadian transport and logistics company based in Montreal, and handles both full truckload and less-than-truckload shipments. TFI purchased National Fast Freight in late 2016 from Calyx Transportation Group.

It appears that the company’s logo was changed after the TFI acquisition to align with TFI’s other operations, as opposed to currently not the same as what’s depicted on the MTL model, which might affect the Approximate Time Period.

Matt’s Intermodal Page, specifically the “Canadian Containers” section, has a shot of NFFU 031060 ( http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part4/canada/canadian53.htm , Matt’s doesn’t have a homepage). The photo is undated. Matt’s also has images of the 031008 and 031019, also undated in an unspecified location. All three are described simply as “corrugated containers.” Meanwhile, RRPictureArchives has two other images from 2012 of National Freight containers loaded in well cars, but they’re not of the same paint scheme and they’re both refrigerated boxes.

So that leads to my usual guesswork on the ATP. A post on the discussion group “Hank’s Truck Forum” from January 2010 includes a few more photos and information on the fleet as of that time: “[There are] about 25-75 in each series. They utilize an assortment of manufactures such as Stoughton, Singamis, CIMC, and Jindo.” Number series are 31000+, 32000+, 42000+, 52000+, 62000+, 72000+. That list catches the first number MTL released, but not the second. Is “decade of the 2000s” a sufficient estimate? I suppose so, and of course there is Rule #1.

5 In addition to the above items, the Union Pacific SW1500 diesel locomotives (986 00 571, Road Number 1135, 986 01 572, Road Number 1174, and 986 01 573, Road Number 1198, $194.95 each) are scheduled to be released mid-month and should be at MTL dealers as you read this. UMTRR coverage was in the January 2017 (Part 2) edition.

In addition to the above, the following is in pre-order at present and is NOT currently available. Scheduled delivery is as noted below. UMTRR coverage is being provided ahead of the actual release in order to facilitate pre-order decisions; pre-orders close March 31.

Scheduled Delivery September 2018: 073 00 250, $49.95. Reporting Marks: CN 87989. 40 Foot Steel Boxcar, Single Youngstown Door, No Running Board, Full Side Ladders, Canadian National Impact Car. White with black roof, ends, underframe and trucks. Red lettering including roadname and reporting marks on left and “wet noodle” herald on right. One side is transparent (including door) with simulated aluminum interior bracing and red lettering including herald and reporting marks left of door. Simulated interior load included. Approximate Time Period: 1978 (given by MTL) to at least 1980. MTL artwork is preliminary and actual product may differ.

The purpose of this car is the same as the Union Pacific impact car for which there was a pre- order announcement last month. We go to different sources for each side of the car. Two photos posted on the Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery show the fully sheathed (i.e. “normal”) side of the car. These images date to 1979 and 1980. The lettering matches what MTL has in its artwork. Page 127 of the Canadian National Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment Volume One has the bingo on the other side. Author John Riddell states, “In 1978 CN converted a 40 foot steel boxcar into this special boxcar with Plexiglass panels on one side to show the effects on the contents under actual operating conditions.” The MTL artwork is almost a perfect match to the photo, which was taken in Toronto in January 1980.

MTL’s car copy refers to the original conversion of this boxcar being done in the 1960s. That seems right. The site “My Railway Pictures” has a photo dated June 1964 of CN 87989, in what looks to be the railroad’s standard mineral brown color. RailPictures.net has a 1969 view of the car with only the right half of the side framed out with Plexiglass. It was “on tour” on the Santa Fe in Temple, Texas. At the time it also had a running board and full ladders. This shows that the car, and perhaps others, left home rails—handy if you need to justify having

6 one on your railroad. Meanwhile, on RRPictureArchives there is a 1979 view of the car at Port Huron, Michigan. The side shown is fully open, though there is extra “fence” bracing along the bottom of the see-through side. This could have been a temporary addition.

I do wish I had a better idea of the end of the Approximate Time Period. However, the ORERs are, as usual, of no assistance in determining that. I find it hard to believe that the CN would redo this car in 1978 if it didn’t plan to use it for a number of years after that. However, I am surprised by the lack of images online of a car that I think would have been a photographer magnet. So take that “at least” seriously in my ATP.

N SCALE NEW RELEASE PASSENGER CARS: 144 00 190, $34.90 Road Number: 101 (will be “UP 101” in website listings. Heavyweight 3-2 Observation Car, Union Pacific. Two-tone gray sides with white striping. White lettering outlined in gray, including roadname in center of letterboard and road number at bottom center. Black roof, underframe and trucks. Approximate Time Period: 1946 (repaint date given by MTL) to 1952.

Wow, this lettering is hard to read on the image. The UMTRR Spy Network has noted to me that the lettering on the car itself isn’t easy to read either. And… that might be an error. Just before “press time,” MTL announced a recall of this car. They will replace your copy with a new one with corrected two-tone gray colors, provided it’s returned by June 4. See their website for details. Back to our review, already in progress…

We’re going to need to back into this one. I suspect that this 101 is not the same 101 that is in the Union Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment Volume Two. That 101 was converted from Chair Car 5448. That car wasn’t built until 1950 and was made into a business car in 1952. Its image is as of 1968 when in service for the Robert Kennedy for President campaign. And furthermore, it’s a streamlined car. This does help with the ATP, I think, since the Union Pacific wouldn’t have two cars numbered 101 on their roster. Uh, right?

I further note that the UP changed road numbers and car names on their business cars relatively frequently. From the “Passenger Car Photo Index” site alone we learn that the streamlined 101 was named at least “St. Louis,” “Lone Star” and “Pocatello,” and didn’t have a name at all in 1973.

Don Strack’s UtahRails.net site provides 1946 to 1952 as the period during which UP used two- tone gray for non-streamliner cars before switching to the familiar yellow and gray. That adds to the potential correctness of the ATP for this model. Given the lack of other information in the UMTRR Research Accumulation, we’ll go with that. The UtahRails site reinforces how many times UP business cars, given “UPP” reporting marks starting in 1986, were renamed and renumbered, but I didn’t locate anything about the two-tone gray version of car 101.

7 149 00 070, $29.95 Reporting Marks: SP 7225. Heavyweight Horse Car, Southern Pacific. Olive Green with black roof, underframe and trucks. Gold lettering including roadname in center of letterboard, split by center door, “Railway Express Agency” left of center door, “Baggage” right of center door and reporting marks at bottom right of center door. Approximate Time Period: as early as 1927 (build date) to early 1950s.

Buried among my late father’s Official Guides and previously undiscovered by me is a copy of the Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment for March 1943. I already have access to this edition via CD-ROM, but now, I see, I have, and have had for a while, a hard copy. On Page 48 and 49 of this relatively slim item (64 pages total) is the SP’s listing, and within that is the series numbered 7212 to 7248, of 37 cars described as “Baggage-Horse” with a length of “70 feet and over.” Returning to the electronic versions, the January 1953 ORPTE splits the group into three. The one in which we’re most interested here runs from 7224 to 7228, a total of five cars with a 70 foot 1 inch length.

And that series is referenced in the Southern Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment Volume 3. The group was built in 1927 by the Bethlehem Ship Building Corporation. It’s noted that sometime after July 1953 the cars were renumbered which would, strictly speaking, end the ATP. The photo on Page 22 of the Color Guide shows sister car SP 6263, formerly SP 7226. The rightmost door has been removed, however there is a vestige of the drip guard above where the door was. The car’s image was captured in June 1971, stored dead at Bayshore Yard in San Francisco. The roof is significantly different than the MTL 149 body style.

In terms of the start of the Approximate Time Period, the “Espee Modelers Archive” quotes Jim Lancaster on this: “Prior to 1937 all SP passenger cars were heavyweight cars and almost all were painted dark olive green (similar to Pullman Green). Some cars retained this color into the early 1960s.” With the possible exception of the use of the word “Lines” on the letterboard, it’s possible that this is the “as delivered” paint scheme.

N SCALE REPRINTS: One this month…

083 00 020, $26.90 Reporting Marks: SOO LINE 8369. 40 Foot Drop Bottom Gondola, Soo Line. Brown with white lettering including reporting marks on left and large roadname in center. Simulated wood load included. reporting marks. Approximate Time Period: 1955 to mid-1970s. Previous Release: Road Number 67267, December 2007.

8 One of the fun aspects of having done the UMTRR this long is that I’ve built up a healthy library of images of past releases… almost twenty years’ worth now, in fact. So I can go right over to December 2007’s lineup and pull the previous run (at right) to illustrate— literally—that the reprint is Not A Reprint. The number series is different and the reporting marks on this second run have lines above and below. And that qualifies for a Not A Reprint. (The different load doesn’t.) Of course, that also means more work…

Interestingly, with the December 2007 release I remarked that it would have been easier to review with the book Freight Cars of the Soo Line by the Soo Line Historical Society. That book wasn’t yet in print then, but it is now, with the slightly different title Soo Line Freight Equipment and Cabooses, and it’s in the UMTRR Research Accumulation.

And perhaps this isn’t quite as much of a Not A Reprint as I thought. As you might know, the post-1961 Soo Line was the product of the corporate consolidation of the old Soo Line with the old Wisconsin Central and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic. Since, before that time, the SOO and the WC were technically separate entities, their rosters were kept separate… even though they were painted the same. And so it was that in February 1953, there were two groups of drop bottom gondolas built at the Soo’s North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin shops. One hundred of these were in the series 67201 to 67399, odd numbers only, and were assigned to the Wisconsin Central, also called the “Chicago Division” in the January 1953 ORER. The previous run fits into that group. Another hundred were built for the Soo Line proper and carried odd numbers only from 8201 to 8399. That’s the source for this reprint. The bingo for it appears on Page 88 of the Soo Line book in a black and white photo from 1956. It’s noted that these were the first gondolas to receive the block SOO LINE roadname as delivered.

The ORER folks must have received advance information for these groups, as they are already listed. The 8201 series was described as “Gondola, All Steel, 16 Drop Doors, Odd Numbers“ with AAR Classification GS. The inside length was 41 feet, inside width 9 feet 6 inches, inside height 4 feet 11 inches, outside length 42 feet 4 inches, extreme height 9 feet 4 inches, and capacity 1933 cubic feet or 100,000 pounds. Add “Chicago Division” to the 67201 group and keep everything the same, as noted back in 2007.

In 1960, five of these cars received three-foot side extensions, duly noted in the January 1954 ORER which also showed the main series down by those same five to 95 cars. As of the October 1974 Equipment Register, that main series was at 60 cars, plus 21 more cars with an increased capacity to 110,000 pounds and five more with pulpwood racks fitted. The April 1981 ORER showed 20 unmodified cars, three with pulpwood racks and three with extended sides. All but one of these cars were off the Soo Line roster by the July 1987 Register. This corresponds with MTL’s previous car copy item that “a few of these hard working cars survived into the 1980’s.”

9 N SCALE MULTI-PACKS: Runner Pack #138 (993 00 138, $109.95), four Southern Pacific Ortner Hoppers, has been released. UMTRR coverage was in the October 2017 issue. The individual catalog numbers and road numbers for these items are as follows: 125 51 010, 481364; 125 52 010, 481381; 125 53 010, 481393; 125 54 010, 481398. These are the third through sixth road numbers for this car.

Also, the Titan Booster Rocket Three-Pack (993 01 680, $149.95) has been released. UMTRR Coverage was in the November 2017 issue. The individual catalog numbers and reporting marks are as follows: 045 51 059, SRMX 597002; 045 52 059, SRMX 597004; 045 53 059, SRMX 597008. These are the first through third road numbers for this car, which hasn’t been previously released. Decals for the loads are included for application by the user.

The following is in pre-order at present and is NOT currently available. Scheduled delivery is as noted below. UMTRR coverage is being provided ahead of the actual release in order to facilitate pre-order decisions; pre-orders close March 31.

Scheduled Delivery June 2018: 993 00 143, $94.95 Reporting Marks: WTCX 744, 751, 762, 772. Quantity four of 42 Foot Log Cars with Uprights, Weyerhauser. Green with white lettering including reporting marks in center. Approximate Time Period: at least the 1970s to no later than 1991. Previous Releases: Road Numbers 742, 759 and 783; part of the Weyerhauser Logging Train Set, February 2018. Preliminary artwork shown; actual product may differ.

I guess I can’t get away with ignoring an ATP for this set, although it looks like I did sidestep it back in January 2017 when the Weyerhauser Logging Train Set was announced. The three skeleton log cars slated to be included with this set have the distinction of being the first of the body

10 style to be painted and lettered. Of these, I was quite surprised to get a bingo on the 783, which is absolutely a skeleton log car with uprights… in service in 1980! The major difference between the prototype and model is the length, which includes a longish distance between the trucks and the couplers. It’s a bit challenging to describe—sort of like “extended draft gear” on other freight cars-- so I’d recommend a look at the actual photo and of sister car 763 on RRPictureArchives. There is also a photo of the 783 on RailcarPhotos.com. A small further hint on the ATP is also on RailcarPhotos: a 1974 shot of log car 429 which is painted brown, not green. Does that mean anything significant? Maybe, maybe not.

As I noted back in January 2017, Weyerhauser did have an entry in the July 1980 ORER but these cars were not listed. I suspect that they didn’t leave company trackage, which in this case was in Olene and Dairy, Oregon respectively. These are both unincorporated communities outside Klamath Falls, which is in Southern Oregon, not all that far from Micro- Trains HQ for that matter by Western United States distance reckoning. They are both currently located along Oregon State Highway 140 and the “OC&E Woods Line State Trail,” the latter of which is the former Oregon, California and Eastern to which the “Weyerhauser Woods Railroad” connected. The OC&E was jointly owned by Southern Pacific and Great Northern before it was bought by Weyerhauser in 1975. The end came in 1991 and the last run brought 79 log cars with friction bearing trucks down to Klamath Falls. Most if not all of the over 300 log cars in service there were scrapped. For more on the OC&E’s history and operations, check www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/oce.html .

Scheduled Delivery August 2018: 993 00 145, $109.95 Reporting Marks: NS 120052, 120089, 120114, 120128. Quantity four of 60 Foot Centerbeam (Center Partition) Flat Cars, Norfolk Southern. Brown with mostly white lettering including reporting marks in center. White on black COTS stencil on far right. Yellow conspicuity stripes across car (combination horizontal and vertical). Approximate Time Period: no earlier than 2005 (given conspicuity strips) to present. Previous Releases: None. Individual catalog numbers (likely in the 053 700 series) will be confirmed upon release. Preliminary artwork shown; actual product may differ.

The presence of conspicuity stripes peg the start of the ATP at 2005 or later. However, I first pick up this series in the October 1991 ORER. The series NS 120000 to 120119 was among the very first cars to receive the NS reporting marks. While I’m here, I’ll note that we have a “length thing” in that the MTL 053 body styles represent 60 foot cars while this group is of 73 foot inside length and 79 foot 7 inch outside length. This series was expanded to a total of 250 cars numbered 120000 to 120249. Of that original 250, 246 were listed in the January 2018 Equipment Register, so we definitely have a “to present” Approximate Time Period this time.

11 Over on RailcarPhotos.com, you have a choice of a fully loaded car or an unloaded car; isn’t that convenient? From April 2009, there’s NS 120079, completely full of lumber. And from October 2010, there’s NS 120100, ready for its next load. It’s noted that these cars were constructed by Trinity. Over on Fallen Flags is NS 120065, one of an assortment of photos from the series. The car is not only fully loaded, but covered in plastic wrap. I don’t recall seeing this additional protection on a centerbeam type car before.

The “Plate C” stencil on these cars made me wonder about whether these dimensional guidelines have changed over time. When introduced in 1963, the idea of a freight car with an inside length of 73 feet was not exactly top of mind! It turns out, however, that the extreme height and extreme width are the key measurements to consider for a dimensional plate, and so, yes, these cars do fit inside that criteria.

Scheduled Delivery August 2018: 993 01 730, $159.95 Rio Grande Heavyweight Passenger Car Five-Pack. Expected to consist of the following items: • 141 Series 10-1-2 Heavyweight Sleeper, Lake Ernest. Previous Release: Harrison Lake, July 2017. • 145 Series Heavyweight Coaches, Road Numbers 980 and 985. Previous Release: Road Number 976, August 2017. • 147 Series Heavyweight Baggage Car, Road Number 741. Previous Release: Road Number 711, September 2017. • 1447 Series Modernized Business Car, Road Number 102. Previous Releases: None (the 3-2 Observation, Road Number 631, November 2017, was not the modernized version). Silver and gold sides with black striping. Silver roof, underframe and trucks (including couplers). Gray ends. Black lettering including Rio Grande “speed lettering” roadname in center of letterboard (except 10-1-2 Sleeper, which has “Pullman” in “speed lettering” there) and car number (except 10-1-2 Sleeper, which has car name) at bottom center. Approximate Time Period: 1950s (based on paint scheme) into the 1960s. Previous Releases: None. Individual catalog numbers will be confirmed upon release. Preliminary artwork shown; actual product may differ.

The Rio Grande series on MTL passenger cars might just be more popular than I thought! The individual car releases wrapped up in January with the Heavyweight Diner. This pre-order set of another five cars is earlier than most in terms of a follow-on. With the exception of the Modernized Business Car, these are reprints; so let’s let the last be first and start with the fifth of the five cars this time around.

12 Page 29 of the Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Car Equipment has an April 1963 photo of Business Car 102. It’s noted by Color Guide author Jim Eager that the car was rebuilt from a coach to a business car in 1930 and then modernized in the 1950s. The balloon roof is generally a match though the window arrangement is different between the prototype as shown in the photo and the MTL body style.

The previous run of the 10-1-2 Sleeper, “Harrison Lake,” had a bingo in the Color Guide. It’s noted in the caption that “Lake Ernest” was a sister car, also built to Pullman Plan 3585 and painted similarly. I think it’s a bit unusual that the word “Pullman” would appear on the letterboard well after Pullman’s forced exit from operating passenger cars. It’s certainly unusual to have that word in Rio Grande speed lettering!

When the Heavyweight Coach was first released in August 2017, I cited Jerry Laboda’s reference to the Otto Perry collection of images at the Denver Public Library. From two images of the 976, I noted that the real 976 had four wheel trucks and arched windows at each end, along with a somewhat different roof design. The first of the two new road numbers scheduled, 980, is in the same series 971 to 984, as listed in The Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment for March 1943. The 985 is shown as its own series of one in that entry. It’s still in the ORPTE for January 1953, as are eight of the twelve cars in the 971 to 984 group.

The previously released baggage car carried Road Number 711, which was part of the series 700 to 739. But the new release will carry Road Number 741, which was part of a five car group numbered 740 to 744. They were originally Western Pacific buffet-library cars converted in 1920 by the Rio Grande. One, the 742, was still in Pullman Green as of 1963 as shown in the Color Guide, while the 743 was in the scheme MTL uses as of 1967. Door width and placement of the prototype cars were modified over time but they generally had one narrow door and one wide one, which differs from the MTL 147 series.

N SCALE WEATHERED/GRAFFITI RELEASES: The following was announced via the Micro-Trains website, the MTL Facebook page, and via the e-mail “Micro-Trains E-Line,” all on or after March 15.

024 44 400, $27.90 Reporting Marks: NP 1053. 40 Foot Steel Boxcar, Single Youngstown Door, No Running Board, Full Ladders, Northern Pacific. Base car is green with white stripe and white lettering including arched roadname and reporting marks on left and slogan on right; with white, red and black monad herald on right. ACI Label left of door, white on black double panel COTS stencil and yellow on black U-1 wheel inspection “dot” on right. Heavy weathering and rust effects. Brighter

13 green patch panels in various places on car. Approximate Time Period: 1978 (given U-1 “dot”) to early 1980s at latest. Previous Releases: None, although similar but not identical paint schemes have been released on unweathered cars of different body styles.

The January 1978 ORER, issued just a bit before the order to inspect 33 inch wheel sets, showed the Northern Pacific series 1044 to 1062 with 15 cars. The property of Burlington Northern since 1970, these cars had an inside length of 40 feet 6 inches, outside length of 44 feet 5 inches, extreme height of 15 feet 1 inch, an 8 foot door opening (meaning a “door thing” versus the MTL 024 body style) and capacity of 3915 cubic feet or 110,000 pounds. These cars were described as “Box, Cross-Bar Loading Devices” which means that the “DF” symbol on the door, or what was left of it, was appropriate. By April 1981 this group was down to just two cars, the 1056 and 1060, so I stopped looking.

The Fallen Flags site has a photo of sister car 1057, in much better condition as of July 1961. The running board and ladders are intact. The 1050 is in less good shape as in 1976 in a photo on RRPictureArchives, but the running board and ladders haven’t yet been modified. Finally, a photo in the NP Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Page 56, validates the use of the brighter green for patch panels. Fifty foot boxcar NP 98078 has them, plus a repainted door. It took me some time to figure out that the shade of green was the Burlington Northern’s own Cascade Green, which looks a lot brighter compared to the dark green of the as delivered paint scheme. Put another way to myself: Well, duh…

025 44 562, $28.95 Reporting Marks: RBOX 43148. 50 Foot Exterior Post Boxcar, Single Youngstown Door, Railbox. Car #3 in the “A Year of Railbox” series. Base car is yellow with black door and mostly black lettering including reporting marks and “Railbox” name on left and small “Next Load/Any Road” symbol and slogan on right. Extensive graffiti across bottom of both sides of car with Saint Patrick’s Day theme. Approximate Time Period: 2014, plus or minus. A three-pack (Catalog Number 25562) with Road Numbers 31558, 31562 and 31574, January 1997, and Weathered Release “A Year in Railbox” #1, Road Number 21502, January 2018.

My bet on St. Patrick’s Day for the March release was correct in last month’s column. I can’t think of any other well-known holiday that takes place in March. I suppose the Ides of March would have worked… well, maybe next year.

Our resident Graffiti Special Correspondent David Grothe looked at both sides of the car for us: “The Railbox ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ car was done by graffiti artists Gane and Byas. I was able to find a bingo on Flickr by searching for ‘Gane Byas’ in the search box. In the comments of

14 the full car photo there are links to close-up photos of the left and right side of the car. I noticed Micro-Trains covered up the woman on the left corner a little bit to make her a little more G rated.” That covers one side (pun not intended), however, the other side is more of a mystery. David couldn’t find a prototype although he checked with other graffiti experts who determined that the green and white lettering on the right reads “Cheats.” That led to a dead end on a photo search. Is “cheats” what MTL is doing for this side of the car? Nah, couldn’t be… Meanwhile, the bingo photos are from 2014, giving us the “more or less” ATP.

Three cars and three different prototype series so far in the N Scale Year of Railbox. The 43148 is from the group RBOX 42750 to 43349, built by Pacific Car and Foundry between August and October 1980. This is Railbox class XCF20A, based on a photo of sister car 43054 over on RailcarPhotos.com. On the prototype, the side sills are straight and the X-panel design of the roof goes all the way to the ends, two relatively small differences from the MTL 025 body style (and the 510 body style in Z Scale).

The October 2014 ORER has the PC&F build in a larger series, RBOX 40750 to 44069, with 539 cars in the main series and another 146 in a subset which has—nitpick time!—a difference of two cubic feet in capacity (5275 versus 5277), and a three inch difference in outside length (55 feet 7 inches versus 55 feet 4 inches). These are all 50 foot 6 inch inside length boxcars.

130 44 210, $37.90 Reporting Marks: CSXT 900016. Bay Window Caboose, Windowless Sides, With Battery Box, CSX Transportation. Base car is gray with black roof, underframe and trucks, yellow end rails and grab irons, and “Operation Lifesaver” lettering in yellow and blue. Heavy weathering and rust effects with simulated plated over window openings. Road Number in yellow over black patch panel. Approximate Time Period: about 2010 to at least 2016. Previous Releases: Unweathered, Road Number 903966, as part of CSXT Caboose Two-Pack (130 00 210), August 2017.

Call me sentimental, nostalgic or stuck in the past, but I think that “shoving platform” is one of the more unattractive terms in today’s railroading scene. That’s the name given to cabooses which have been converted to use when a backwards or shoving move is of a distance such that the conductor can’t simply hang onto the last car. On some roads, the caboose is locked up or sealed off; on others, most of the interior has been pulled out but at least the railroader can be inside. I don’t know what the exact situation is on CSX Transportation… and I think I’ll leave it right there.

Speaking of unattractive, I don’t think it’s a stretch to put this Weathered Release in that category, especially considering what the car looked like when first painted in the Operation

15 Lifesaver scheme. However, it’s an appropriate reflection of reality, as illustrated by the February 2012 image of the car in Plant City, Florida, found on RRPictureArchives.net. One attribute of the prototype that’s cleverly reproduced here is a line around the plated-over windows. As originally configured, the car had side windows while the MTL 130 body style does not, which makes this model a more correct rendition of the prototype. Photos on RRPictureArchives date out to August 2016 which gives us an “at least” ATP.

N SCALE SPECIAL EDITION RELEASES: Car #2 in the Union Pacific World War II Poster Series (118 00 120, $25.95) has been released. Reporting Marks for this Troop Sleeper are USAX 19412. UMTRR coverage was in the September 2017 issue. The poster on which this car is based is at right.

Also, the Ringling Brothers Advertising Car #4 (140 00 210, $33.95) has been released. UMTRR coverage was in the October 2017 issue.

There are no pre-order announcements for Special Editions this month.

Z SCALE NEW RELEASES: 518 00 520, $28.95 Reporting Marks: HJH Co. 305. 40 Foot Wood Double Sheathed Refrigerator, Vertical Brake Staff, Heinz. 058 00 320, $28.95 #7 in the Heinz Series (pre-orders taken April 2017). Brown with black underframe and arch bar trucks. Green and white Heinz pickle trademark on left. Red with white outline lettering including “57 Varieties” on left and “India Relish” and reporting marks on right. White end markings. Approximate Time Period: 1890s.

Please see the coverage of the N Scale Release above (058 00 310), with the caveat that the Z Scale release is on a 40 foot car while the N Scale run is on a 36 foot car.

16 531 00 281 and 531 00 282, $25.95 each. Reporting Marks: MP 706101 and 706105. PS-2 Two Bay Covered Hoppers Missouri Pacific. Gray (including trucks and couplers but not wheels) with black lettering including reporting marks on left and “buzzsaw” Missouri Pacific Lines herald in center. Approximate Time Period: 1969 (build date) into the late 1990s at least.

Missouri Pacific series 706100 to 706299 was built by Pullman-Standard as their Lot 9397 in May and June 1969. That’s relatively late for these cars. When the MP was absorbed into the Union Pacific, this group of covered hoppers was placed into UP class CH-100-77. RailcarPhotos.com has examples of two post-UP decoration: one with a nice neat UP paint job as of 2006, and one from 2008 mostly colored “rust” with a UP shield and restenciled MP reporting marks.

We’d like an “as delivered” reference photo, though, since that’s what MTL used. Over on Fallen Flags, there’s an undated shot of sister car 709169, found at North Little Rock, Arkansas. There’s an ACI Label attached to the car which would probably make the image date sometime after the build date. There are two differences between the real car and the MTL 531 body style. First, the prototype cars have a low mounted brake wheel, which makes sense given their build date. Second, there are three grab irons spanning from the frame to the hopper on each end of the side.

The ORER for April 1970 has all 200 possible cars denoted as an addition to the MoPac’s entry. The inside length was 36 feet 11 inches, outside length 46 feet, extreme height 14 feet 7 inches and capacity 3000 cubic feet or 200,000 pounds. Skipping to the October 1986 Register, there were 186 of the original 200 in service. I wouldn’t be able to tell you when the last of these lost their “buzzsaw” in favor of the UP shield, but I can tell you that as of the April 1997 ORER there were 169 cars in the Union Pacific’s registration in the MP series. Also keep in mind that the “Missouri Pacific Lines” buzzsaw was succeeded by the “Eagle/Buzzsaw” MoPac herald in 1979. There are examples of these change on Fallen Flags and RRPictureArchives.net, though there is a car in the original paint as of 2008 on the latter site. Even so, I’ll stick to an ATP to “at least” the UP merger. Just add weathering… lots of it…

Which reminds me: although it doesn’t seem to have been present on these cars, the MP installed drip guards above the road number and ACI Label on a number of their covered hoppers. The aim was to prevent… well, drippage… from obscuring those important pieces of data. There are a few examples of this application in the Missouri Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment.

17 556 00 040, $29.95 Reporting Marks: SP 100. Modernized Heavyweight Business Car, Southern Pacific. Silver with gray underframe, trucks and couplers. Red letterboard with silver roadname in center. Car name “Airslie” in “Daylight” motif with black reporting marks bottom center. Approximate Time Period: no earlier than 1985 to 2010 as lettered. MTL artwork shown; I’ll post the official image on the UMTRR Website, once that image becomes available.

The Southern Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment Volume 3 shows this car in what’s known as the Sunset Red/(Simulated) Stainless Steel, or “SSS” scheme, in two different photos. The first, taken in 1974, shows the car with plain reporting marks and car name at the bottom center. The second, taken on January 1, 1986, shows the car as MTL depicts it, with the “Daylight” motif car name. In between, according to the Color Guide, the car was painted in Amtrak colors! It’s also mentioned that the car received the “SSS” scheme back in the 1960s. And so just how do we get to an Approximate Time Period this time?

By finding more photos, and sticking with a “Strictly Speaking” ATP for the version of the car with the “Daylight” car name. That sends us over to Jerry Laboda’s “Passenger Car Photo Index” ( passcarphotos.info ). According to images linked from there, as of September 1975 and July 1981, the car name was still plain. That helps! However, I didn’t see anything earlier than 1985 for the car in the lettering used by MTL, which yields a “no later than” ATP start.

The caption for a photo on RRPictureArchives reveals that the car was sold by the Union Pacific to a private owner in North Carolina in 2010. It appears to have been on display as of 2009 in Fullerton, California, prior to its sale. A photo of the car on the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western taken in December 2010 shows it unceremoniously mounted on jacks. A more complete chronology on the car is available on UtahRails.net, look for the “Heritage Cars 1” page.

Returning to the Color Guide, I’ll note that the window arrangements for the prototype car aren’t the same as the MTL 556 body style. Micro-Trains noted in its car copy that the “Airslie” was originally built in 1926. The Color Guide adds the cost: $81,502.93, which was a lot of money in 1926! (The 2018 equivalent: more than $1.1 million.)

In addition to the above, the Norfolk Southern SD40-2 Diesel Locomotives (970 01 211 and 212, $195.95 each) were scheduled to be available mid-month and should be at dealers as you read this. UMTRR coverage was in the June 2017 edition. The Undecorated version of the SD40-2 (970 01 000, $175.95) was scheduled to be released mid-month as well.

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Z SCALE REPRINTS: No releases this month.

Z SCALE MULTI-PACKS: Runner Pack #105 (995 00 105, $119.95), Four Southern Pacific Streamlined Sleeper Cars, has been released. UMTRR coverage was in the October 2017 edition. The individual catalog and road numbers are as follows: 500 51 070, 9151; 550 52 070, 9156; 550 53 070, 9160; 550 54 070, 9162.

There are no pre-order announcements this month.

Z SCALE WEATHERED RELEASES: The following was announced via the Micro-Trains website, the MTL Facebook page, and via the e-mail “Micro-Trains E-Line,” all on or after March 14.

510 44 223, $28.95 Reporting Marks: RBOX 43148. 50 Foot Exterior Post Boxcar, Single Youngstown Door, Railbox. Car #3 in the “A Year of Railbox” series. Base car is yellow with black door and mostly black lettering including reporting marks and “Railbox” name on left and small “Next Load/Any Road” symbol and slogan on right. Extensive graffiti across bottom of both sides of car with Saint Patrick’s Day theme. Approximate Time Period: 2014, plus or minus.

Please see the coverage of the N Scale Release above (025 44 562).

Z SCALE SPECIAL EDITION RELEASES: No releases this month.

MTL ANNOUNCEMENTS: An The N Scale Well Car is now available in an undecorated version (#135 00 000, $22.50) is now available. As usual, the car is not assembled and the part colors may vary.

INCREMENTAL INFORMATION DEPARTMENT: None received since last month.

19 OOPS PATROL: Two copy and paste errors last month: The N Scale Weathered CSXT Center Flow has catalog number 094 00 540, not 530. The Z Scale “A Year of Railbox #2” Weathered/Graffiti boxcar which is Catalog 510 44 222 has Road Number 39264, not 17823.

DISCONTINUED ALERT: Just when I thought the bye-bye board wouldn’t be updated until April, here it is in March. And once again, the list is non-trivial: eight Z Scale items and thirty- six N Scale items.

Let’s start with what’s already gone from just last month, all in N Scale: That would be the “Mardi Gras” Railbox car in N Scale (025 44 561), the CSXT/Chessie System Weathered Center Flow (094 44 540), the Napa Valley Wine Train caboose (130 00 230), the one of a kind Southern Pacific combination door boxcar (033 00 190), the ABOX/Railbox x-post boxcar (026 00 170), and the Burlington Northern drop bottom gondola (083 00 120). From January’s releases, the Great Northern boxcar (034 00 320), the “Early Times” and “Old Forester” covered hoppers (099 00 180 and 190), the Ringling Brothers Advertising Car #3 (149 00 200), and the second number of the UMAX Container (469 00 082).

Staying with N Scale passenger cars, these have also left the building: the New York Central 12-1 Sleeper (142 00 130, May 2014) and 28-1 Parlor Car (143 00 130, June 2014); the Baltimore and Ohio 28-1 Parlor Car (143 00 090, September 2012), the Rio Grande 28-1 Parlor Car (143 00 160, December 2017) and Diner (146 00 180, November 2017), and the Norfolk and Western Business Car (144 00 730, December 2017) and Baggage Car (147 00 180, September 2017).

Four Airslide Covered Hoppers are outta here: the second number for GACX (098 00 012, September 2016, first number already sold out), the Burlington Northern single car (098 00 080, October 2017), the second number of the Santa Fe (098 00 092, November 2017, first number already sold out), and the Weathered Rio Grande (098 44 070, December 2017).

Three other Weathered Releases which are sold out are the East Erie Commercial “Mountain Scene” boxcar (025 44 006, December 2016), the Golden West Service Center Flow (093 44 120, October 2017), and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio boxcar (180 44 010, October 2017).

Other freight cars which have sold out include, in catalog number order, the Southern Pacific boxcar which is Friendship Train #8 (020 00 027, September 2017), both of the Cudahy/Old Dutch Cleanser refrigerator cars (049 00 760 and 770, August 2017), Heinz Series #2 “Preserved Fruits” (058 00 270, October 2017), the second number of the Southern Pacific Center Flow (092 00 362, June 2017, first number already sold out), the Northern Pacific caboose (100 00 390, November 2017), and the Canadian National boxcar (180 00 020, October 2017). Finally in 1:160, the first number of the Swift Container (469 00 111, December 2017), the Royal American Circus Wagons (462 00 060, December 2016) and the Hearse Wagon Two-Pack (470 00 289, September 2017) are gone.

The Z Scale outs list is positively puny in comparison. In catalog number order, they are: the first number of the B&O Timesaver “Comet Scheme” boxcar (500 00 036, September 2017), the

20 Weathered Northern Pacific refrigerator car (518 44 330, April 2017), the second number of the Rio Grande tank car (530 00 472, February 2017) the first number of the Western Pacific Covered Hopper (531 00 251, February 2016), the Weathered Southern Pacific open hopper two pack (534 44 021, August 2017), the New York Central caboose (535 00 410, July 2016), and the Canadian National Weathered Train Set (994 05 160, March 2017). Previously reported was the Weathered TTX Well Car (540 44 010, January).

FINALLY, CAUGHT UP: As you read this, the website tables for 2018 are up to date.. hurray… including all of these March releases and the discontinued items. A few flukes in my schedule allowed five minute breaks here and there which, while not useful for writing these bytes, can be put to good use updating tables. Also, all 2017 issues of the UMTRR are now available on the “Back Issues” page of the website.

This up-to-date status expires in 3, 2, 1…

Until next time, do the best you can!

Cheers, George

[Legalese: You’ve received this because you’ve requested a UMTRR e-mail subscription. If there’s been some mistake, please let me know via e-mail at [email protected], including “UMTRR” in the subject line (all other e-mail is automatically deleted unread). You may also reply to this e-mail, but PLEASE delete attachments and other text first. All information contained herein is supplied “as is” and no warranties are express or implied. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Images of releases provided through courtesy of Micro- Trains Line, Inc. The Federal Trade Commission considers this effort to be an “endorsement.” I assume readers can make up their own minds. The UMTRR is copyrighted and all reprinting, reposting and other transmission is expressly prohibited, except for “Fair Use” quotes, unless prior permission has been obtained from me.]

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