[clemmie_doris12]

Pat, the Athearn cars are still available at Model Train Stuff. They are pretty accurate. The InterMountain cars have the wrong outlet gates.

[clemmie_doris12]

I can’t remember the name of the shipper(s), but vast amounts of rock salt is shipped out of the central Kansas area. One of the larger receivers in Kansas City is Pavlich, Inc. They receive rock salt in covered hoppers and distribute it by dump truck to local highway and road districts. They used to be located on the MP in the Kaw Bridge area (formerly known as State Line Yard), but moved across the Kaw River next to where the UP freight house and diesel shop was located.

The salt is generally shipped in private owner cars, but railroad owned cars are used, as well. Not too many years ago, I noticed the main salt company (can’t remember name or reporting marks) that sends cars to Pavlich had purchased several well used cars from UP. These cars carry paint schemes from just about every railroad that the UP has absorbed including the MP. I think UP picked out the worst functional cars that they had in their fleet. Most of these cars have trough hatches.

[clemmie_doris12]

The New Iberia Subdivision is present in System Timetables #1 through #18. Obviously, things changed through the years, so you would have to pick one for the era you are interested in.

[clemmie_doris12]

The details are coming together. Please see the announcement from Charlie Duckworth concerning all the latest details.

[clemmie_doris12]

I could go with green, if the marketing manager agrees.

[clemmie_doris12]

We could probably do that old logo and retail the cap for $15.00. Any suggestions on cap color?

[clemmie_doris12]

It looks like a reasonable representation to me. I see lots of these in SW Missouri.

[clemmie_doris12]

I much prefer blue to yellow. Are you trying to make me ill?

[clemmie_doris12]

After reading Charlie’s post, I made a phone call to him and we had a nice little conversation on this subject. Too much time has elapsed and Charlie couldn’t say for sure, but I am fairly certain that the offending clerk was Kim Begley and her trainmaster father was Joe Begley. They both worked in Kansas City, back in the day, and this sounds like something she would do. The statute of limitations has run out, so there is no need to hide names to protect the guilty. If anyone reading this knows who the culprit is for sure, please feel free to chime in.

Kim and Joe were both well-liked by the majority of employees in KC. Kim worked as a Car 4 driver (crew hauler), quite often, and was a favorite of all the road crews that came into KC (you guess why). Joe was a railroader’s railroader and was respected for his ability and fairness with the crews.

Railroaders are big practical jokers. That’s why there is a rule concerning this activity in the rule book. Mr. Jenks might not have appreciated the waybill, but I would bet that everyone else did.

[clemmie_doris12]

There was a hide house in Butler, MO. It was still receiving cars in the very early ’80s. It smelled and the cars smelled. As indicated in the other posts, the empty boxes for this commodity were in assigned service. That does not mean that they were restricted to one specific customer location. I’m sure they roamed the system as needed.

The oldheads I worked with talked about conductors making up phony mty waybills for these cars assigning them to a new location. This way they did not have to stop and switch at this olfactory offensive facility. This was prior to the TCS computer system implementation. I don’t know whether any of these individuals were ever caught and disciplined. During my career, this type of shenanigan was not possible due to oversight by the “magic” computer.

[clemmie_doris12]

Pat,

I’m not sure about the context of your question, but these GP38-2 units would have been used in consist with GP15-1 units after their delivery.

[clemmie_doris12]

Guys,

The magazine did not arrive in my mailbox until right before Christmas. Given the volume of mail during the holidays and the way bulk mailing of this type works, I would say that you should give it another week before deciding that there was a delivery failure. About the middle of the month, I waited nine days for a Priority Mail package that should normally take three days. So, don’t think that the USPS is going to exceed expectations with our magazine in the middle of the holidays. At least, not this year.

[clemmie_doris12]

George,

In the era you are modeling, the vast majority (95% or better) of MP freight trains ran as extras. So, working white class lights would be a neat and authentic addition. They would be illuminated on the lead locomotive of a train that was authorized to run extra. There would be no need to turn the class lights off during any part of the tour of duty for that particular train.

From a modeling perspective, there would not be a big need for the red or green aspects on class lights. These two colors were not used that much in your era. Having working class lights on the rear of the locomotive would not be very necessary, either. Running long hood forward was not done all that often. If you have a local or TSE that runs with only one unit, you might consider adding working class lights to the rear of the units that might be assigned to that job. I agree, working class lights and ground lights would be cool on a model.

The merger did not have any major affect on MP operating practice until GCOR came along. From an operating rules and employee timetable perspective, the UP really didn’t bother with the MP until 1986.

[clemmie_doris12]

George,

The use of class lights is related to the operating rules in use. The adoption of the General Code of Operating Rules (GCOR) which replaced the Uniform Code of Operating Rules eliminated the use of class lights. I believe that this occurred on the MP in 1985. I remember taking the test, but I do not remember the month. I have train orders dated in 1985, so I would say that it was late in the year. Train orders were another tradition that went out the window with GCOR.

Even though they were no longer used after the effective date of the new rules, class lights were not immediately removed or painted over. My best guess is that it was well into 1986 and possibly later before there was any effort to “eradicate” class lights. They still had value as a marker light (red), in cases where there was a locomotive on the end of a train (pusher, etc.). That issue was resolved with the change in the rules that allowed a headlight on low to be used as a marker. I would have to research my old rule books to see when that happened. I always applauded Conrail for keeping red markers on their locomotives. As an operating employee, I have never been a fan of using the headlight for a marker.

In closing, I would like to address your comment about extras. Most freight trains were run as extras, but not all. The FFT (Ford Fast) and CSP (Chicago- St. Louis-Pueblo) were first class trains for a period of time in the early ’80s. As you pointed out, extras were required to display white class lights. Regular trains did not do this. In my time on the MP (1978 forward), we never used flags. And, I seldom, if ever, saw a train displaying green class lights to indicate a following section.

[clemmie_doris12]

Good ol’ Neff Yard. I spent my share of Christmases on the property, both before and after the merger. Lots of things have changed, but many have not. There aren’t many clerk types left, but railroaders still like to eat.

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