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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.
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.
Forgive the late reply, but as Bill knows, I am not a real big passenger fan. At least, not yet. Anyway, I was involved with the Smoky Hill Railway from 1992 through 1994. The MP 582 was in their collection, but was sold to a private individual during the time frame that I was there. I think it was in Nebraska for awhile before going to Branson. I lost track of it after that.
Nate,
That’s what I’m looking for. Was this photo taken in NLRK?
Thanks for posting.
Does anyone have one in color?
Outstanding work, as usual.
Well, you can’t trust an Internet photo due to all the variables involved. There probably were various shades of paint used on the prototype ART equipment. Fading is always a factor, as well.
I’m just glad to see some companies that do make an effort to get it right. I hope all the concerned modelers out there show support for these manufacturers by making a purchase.
Here is the reply from Nick Molo concerning the color process for these cars.
The colour selection is a long one and it isn’t easy. First up we purchase all the yellow paints on the market, mostly railroad colour some not. I actually spray all of them on the real car sides that they would appear on, like the General American cars in this case. They are then compared to photographs, noting that some images have a slight shift in colour during processing and age. The short list is then sent out to a well known modeler with an excellent eye for colour and a discussion is made with which to go with. One of the colours is selected.
Unlike other companies barring one other that I know of, I send the actual wet painted sample to China to get it matched. It gets sprayed in a first round production sample and it is checked again by me with a side by side physical comparison. Likewise the matching coloured plastic that is used on the model, specifically the ladders in this case is also checked to the finished samples. If another round of sampling is necessary this process is done again.
Sometimes I’m lucky and a colour like NYC jade green is sprayed from one of the paint brands is a great match straight out of the bottle. Sometimes like the reefer yellow used on the WADX and MODX cars it takes 16 yellows to go through to get the correct colour.
Joe,
It’s very difficult to compare colors with a computer. Scan quality varies, monitors vary, etc., etc. So, I would not place any large amount of trust in small variations noticed over the Internet. I sent a note to Nick, the owner of Moloco, asking him how the color of the model was determined. His reply will be posted as soon as it is available. I purchased one of his cars at the RPM meet in St. Louis, last August, and the color looks good to me.
As for the gusset, everything looks correct to me. I did not notice any deviation from the prototype photo.
Personally, I think Nick does his homework and produces extremely accurate models.
It’s sad to see a caboose just rot away like this. Is there anything left of the interior?
Michael, this would be an interesting article for the magazine. Are you offering to be the author?
Tom, I appreciate the info on the speakers and enclosures. Can you post some photos showing installation in the body shell?
Bill, thanks for the info. You have discovered an issue that I was not aware of. I have contacted our IT consultant about the issue as it does the same for me in Chrome. I think it can be corrected, but it may take a few days.
As you pointed out, going directly to the forum site rather than going through the main website does seem to remove the problem.
To all concerned, if you experience a functionality problem when accessing the forum through the “Forums” link on the main page, please go directly to the forum using this URL: http://mopac.org/bb/.
If you go to the forum using this URL, you can quickly get to the home page of the main site by clicking on the Home link which is in the upper left corner of the page.
I’ll post further info as we work through the issue.
Hey, Tom. What brand and model of speakers are you using?
The first thing to do when a web page does not display as anticipated is to clear the cache in your browser. It doesn’t always help, but it is the first place to start. You should close and reopen the browser after doing this.
Bill, I removed you as a user from the BB site and then added you back with your user account details from the main site. Let me know if this has cleared up the problem.
Mark, I have done the same for you. There are known issues between Chrome and Windows 10. Have you checked to see if Chrome is up to date? I had some slightly different issues when I upgraded to Windows 10 and found that Google had made some updates to Chrome which were not installed on my computer. Let me know if you are unfamiliar with how to correct this.
I believe the gray car, a former passenger coach, has been converted to a weed sprayer control car. Look at the piping below the side sheets.
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