[princessclyne69]

I have good shots of the depot from last summer. It does really look nice.

It sits about two blocks from what’s called Salina Union Depot. This structure is, of course, on the UP (KP) main line, but it has still-existing evidence of a platform on the south side. Did the MP move into the Union Depot in later years?

RG7

[princessclyne69]

Looked at this one more closely, and along with the date is the notation “No. 1”.

There are only the summary of each train’s equipment, the timetables proper, and a couple of MP ads and a Hertz ad. No pictures of Pullman rooms, no schedules of fares, no freight train schedules. Instead of a centerfold system map, just a simplified one on the front cover.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

Can’t report any A&S cabeese ever coming to Wichita, but several A&S MP15s did, in the early 70s. They seemed to be treated as road power, in other words I never saw one actually switching. Since they had MU, they no doubt worked to Wichita and back.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

It would be interesting to know where this came from. It seems to me that this could be a doctored photo, going by the edges of the lettering inside of the buzzsaw. ‘

RG7

[princessclyne69]

[attachment=0:1dinqr6v]MP 4-1976 FRT CAR DGMS_Page_396.jpg[/attachment:1dinqr6v]

[princessclyne69]

Thanks for the reply. I’d realized that the comments I recalled were part of an email exchange between Nate and I.

Here’s the MP diagram, drawn in 1966 after the merger. [attachment=0:6qve8yft]MP 4-1976 FRT CAR DGMS_Page_396.jpg[/attachment:6qve8yft]

A curious fact is that the cars were stenciled as RB (refrigerator, bunkerless) and are listed as RB in the MoPac SoE. Yet, they have belt rails and door bars according to the MP diagram, and the diagram calls them RBL (refrigerator, bunkerless, with loaders). A discussion on one of the groups.io forums a few weeks ago listed the minimum thickness of insulation that would qualify a car as RB(L) rather than just an XMI, and that they would earn a higher per diem when so equipped.

Another interesting discrepancy is that the diagram says the cars have roller bearing trucks, while all the photos taken several years later show solid bearing ASF A-3 trucks.

Now, bigger question. These five cars evidently were painted blue when built, or at least a couple of them were. I believe there were a few other KO&G boxcars (there only ever were just a few, of any type) that were painted aluminum. The relettered car in the photos above is probably painted aluminum, as near as I can tell, and the paintouts on the car sides are probably white or gray. So the question is, were some or all of these five, later four, cars repainted aluminum with black ends?

RG7

[princessclyne69]

I believe that a large number of depots had the 48″ buzzsaw, if it would fit on the wall that was nearest to the main road. If not on the wall, on the roof slope, or somewhere that it would be visible to the public. Before then, many depots had a large buzzsaw painted directly on the wall, but by the 60s the Scotchlite decal mounted on metal became the normal practice.

As an aside, the extended bay window cabooses that were new in the early 70s had a 48″ buzzsaw (as did the later ones, until the screaming eagle took over). I was a cutting-edge present-day modeler in the early 70s, so I bought a Champ O scale diesel locomotive decal set to get the 48″ HO decals for the caboose that I kitbashed from an Athearn.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

Not really an MP news item, but the Colorado Pacific geep 3831, which was painted earlier this spring at the K&O shop on the site of the former Orient shop just down the street from my building, is back in Wichita. It apparently made one trip to Colorado and is now hauling grain cars again on the Conway Springs branch.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

I have that book open here right now, gathering background material. I had a sneaking suspicion that might be the case.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

The president of Missouri Pacific after 1923, L. W. Baldwin (1875-1946), was reported to have said ‘the only proper color for a steam locomotive is black’.

If someone can supply a context for this quote, I’d appreciate it. I read this quote more than once in the 1970s.

Ron Merrick

[princessclyne69]

Add the 69 (ex 8026) as another unit that was repainted first, before renumbering.

From a slide now on eBay.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

Another one documented: Engine 48, ex 8005, from a slide on eBay now. This is one that was repainted before the renumbering, so one of the first.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

https://www.brasstrains.com/classic/product/detail/132491

[attachment=0:3oz6hdju]DSC06774.jpg[/attachment:3oz6hdju]

Well, it does say MP right on the box…

RG7

[princessclyne69]

The sides on the Athearn car aren’t right, because of the lack of the horizontal rivet seam. The Athearn reefer (I decaled a couple of them for ART many years ago) is actually based on the PFE R-40-23, a car built in very large numbers both for PFE and for a couple of other reefer owners like NP.

The 36000-36024 and the 35000-35049 had 4-4 round-corner ends. These can be made to fit by filing the ends of the sides down flush with the core end. I had a couple of sets of resin ends which are correct. or they can be modified by careful slicing from an Intermountain end. The later 26000-26299 and the 27000 and 28000 cars have ends that are very similar to the Athearn model, with the same shape of the ribs except for having one more in the lower half of the end.

Hope this helps.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

I almost have to ask this.

Does coach 6328 have any special significance?

RG7

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