DL&W wood milk car details

[160pennsy]

Umm, I don't think we're talking about the same cars (although I see I typed 50' instead of 40' in my original question). The old MDC REA express reefer does have ice hatches and is 50' long, but I'm talking about the new tooled for Athearn after they bought MDC milk car which doesn't have ice hatches and is 40' long. Here is a link from their page to one of the cars I'm talking about:
[url]http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH11631[url]

Don't have any electronic photographic evidence of the differences between DL&W & Pfaudler milk cars, that are my own. I only have some reference material in hard copy (3 volumes of - Railway Milk Cars by Robert R. Bahrs  / New York, Ontario and Western Railway - Milk Cans, Mixed Trains, and Motor Cars by Robert E. Mohowski ). I wouldn't want to post any of these photos without the author's or the photographer's permission.

If my version ever gets finished, I'll take some side-by-side comparison photos of the DL&W car next to the Athearn Milk Car.

[bsoplinger]

A marked up photo would be great, because you've gotten me curious about the differences. Milk cars a such a fascinating facet of early to mid 20th century railroading that seems to have been almost completely forgotten when people set up their trains. But I can remember my grandparents telling me about the milk cars on the trains all the time. I'm way too young to ever have seen one and I'm 48 so that may explain why most folks who's remember them are at retirement age or past it and they aren't modeled.

I may have to try to hunt down the rest of those Railway Milk Cars volumes. I got #4 at my LHS, but when I inquired about volumes 1-3 they said they weren't available. Just another reason for me to actually go out and get them. What I saw of volume 4 looked pretty good.

[160pennsy]

I went back and looked at my last update on this project - June 06 2007...wow! Three months and the only major accomplishments were adding some wire grabs / steps, styrene doors & some other little details. Guess my modeling pace is VERY SLOW. Actually the real motivator was hearing that the lettering decals from Prime Mover were arriving shortly, which kinda lit the fire under my butt. Still have to add a brake wheel and some additional brake rigging underneath. Here's my latest photos before some final putty touch up and getting her ready for the paint shop:









Since this is my first attempt at kitbashing n-scale rolling stock, any helpful comments are appreciated. Also have to give proper credit to R.L. Recordon for his award winning article in July 1991 RMC, which covered the same kitbash in HO scale. The excellent drawings by Eric Neubauer, which were included in the same issue, were a big help for dimensions . I might want to try building a second car with full length roof walk, no ice hatches, edge boards or end doors, and grab iron ladders added to the sides. They completed this final rebuild before being removed from milk hauling service.

[Matthew Roberts]

Wow, that's a sharp looking milk reefer! I have no experience regarding milk cars, as milk was not a major traffic source on any Texas railroads. Look forward to seeing it painted and lettered!

Shame it's on such out of profile track.

[Scott Lupia]

Now that is what they looked like.  Nice work.  Wish Paul at Prime Mover Decals had those milk car sets when I did mine. 

Scott