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November 2004 Newsletter
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What a year! As we complete this month New England Rail Service will complete its' fortieth year in business. This one has been the busiest one yet! This Newsletter, for example, was begun fully six months ago and is only now being completed. It is an item that really needs to be done at least every three months. While that fact is well known, sometimes the time just gets away from one. That is how I have felt since late spring and there does not appear to be an end in sight at the moment. So we just keep plugging away to keep the supply of our regular items available and try to add the news ones as we can.
Ah, yes, the Dominion cars. This is one of those projects for which if one had realized what a headache it would become it probably never would have been commenced. It has now been sixteen months since the original mold was test shot, our toolmaker's error in converting things to scale dimensions was discovered and just over a year since the error was corrected. Rather than complete the rest of the work he contracted for, the toolmaker for the CNR version of the Dominion car has abrogated his contract, claiming he lost too much money correcting his error. When one makes such an error it rarely gets corrected for nothing! NERS has brought legal action against him to bring about completion of the work in accordance with the terms of his contract or cover the costs of having the work completed by another party. Given that the toolmaker has recently hired a firm of criminal defense attorneys to represent him, that should tell you something. This being the case, I will make no predictions on when the CNR version will be completed until work actually begins again upon it. In the meantime, the CAD development work continues for the CPR version, which we hope to let a tooling contract for shortly after the first of the year. There are distinct differences between the CPR and CNR versions of the Dominion car and we are not about to offer a "one type for all" as Life-Like Canada has recently done with its so-called "Fowler" car. We would like to be able to advise that our CNR Dominion car will be available very shortly but that is not the case. It will be completed, however, and it will be completed correctly, with all the fine detail incorporated into the carbody molding itself.
This year some time has been taken for some maintenance work on some of our older parts molds to enable them to withstand many more years of use. It seems hard to believe that our oldest molds are nearing twenty years of service but that is the case. While the mold for out #231 Pullman 8 Cell Battery Box was being worked upon we actually ran out of stock. That is upsetting as it also meant we soon ran out of #351 and #355 Air Conditioning Kits as well since they both include #231 moldings. In any case, all mold maintenance has been completed; another run of parts is in transit so we should have the #231 and all kits that include it available again within a matter of days. Then we will address the issues with the #211 5 ft. 6 in. Baggage Doors.
#300 Coach Kit Sale Continues
(but not the #301 combine)In January we announced a sale for our #300 Pullman Coach and #301 Pullman Combine kits in which we offered an extra coach kit at no additional charge to anyone ordering three coach kits and one combine kit or four coach kits. In the past six months we have sold out the available stock of combine kits. Thus we will continue our sale but limit it to five #300 Coach Kits for the price of four. Please be reminded as well that a good stock of new Rivarossi 12-1's has been acquired and are available for only $17 each with the purchase of a like number of conversion kits. That is a $10 saving from the retail price. We are completely out of stock with the #211 5 ft. 6 in. Baggage Doors and cannot mold more prior to some additional mold work being completed. Hopefully, that work will be complete by the New Year and by mid-February we will have some paired 4-ft. doors in an 8-ft. wide frame as well. Once we see what reception the new 8-ft. baggage doors receive it will be determined whether still other additional sizes should be offered.
Our instruction sheet for Kit #321, the 6 S - 4 Rm - 3 DBR car of Plan 4179 is nearly ready to go to the printer and work has begun on instructions for kit #322. This will be an 8-5 of Plan 4036. Given the inordinate amount of time it has taken to finish everything for the Plan 4179 conversion, let's hope the Plan 4036 can be completed within a more reasonable time frame.
We have now placed an order for the two types of roof hatches used with the ice activated A/C system. Working with fellow Pullman historian Tom Madden and others it has finally been determined that the roof hatches used by the Santa Fe differed slightly from those used by Pullman itself. Thus it is probable that we will ultimately be issuing two different sets of roof hatches for the steam ejector system. The Santa Fe style hatches are what have been ordered. These should be available by early January, at which time they will be announced along with their price. Work continues with the underbody gear for this system in an effort to determine which of the several configurations found is the most common. Here again there is a possibility that two types may have to be offered, though every effort is being made to avoid such a hassle. The chief problem with the underbody gear is determining which cars had the pump for the steam ejector system on the right end of the housing and which had it on the left. As you might expect, there are some other more minor issues to account for as well. We are probably going to end up packing this underbody gear in such a way that it will not make any difference as both left hand and right-hand parts will be included in the Steam Ejector A/C Underbody Detail Kit. In any event, we are beginning to move forward on parts for this system.
General American - Pfaudler Corp. Milk Car
Among the master's being worked upon here at this time is one for a one piece carbody, cast resin General American - Pfaudler Corp. milk car of the early 6,000 gallon type. These are the wood sheathed milk cars first constructed in the mid-1920's and designed to have a removable roof. As those with a strong appreciation for milk cars know, the removable roof feature was found unnecessary. Thus the top portion of the four steel plate lifting lugs was later removed, leaving only four flat plates bolted to the eaves of the car sides. This is the style being modeled. As noted, these kits will be cast resin with a one-piece body. The underframe will be included and will be injection molded. Those interested have fellow milk car enthusiast, historian and modeler Ben Brown to thank for instigating this long needed project.
For those unfamiliar with the specific prototype, these cars are closest to the #3160 "Type A" milk cars offered in brass by Overland Models some years ago. New England users of the type included H. P. Hood & Sons, United Farmers of New England, Sheffield Farms and the Dairymen's Co-operative Association. Such cars were in use well into the late 1940's, with one Hood car, though rebuilt with single doors, in use until at least 1953.
At this time we are out of our #600 Rutland Steam Locomotive Decals and our #603 GPEX Milk Car Decals (for Northeastern lessees). A refill order for the #603 set was sent to a recommended decal printer early this summer, together with the required artwork, after being assured we would have the decals needed by 1 September. September and October have come and gone and our request for the return of our check and artwork has gone without response, though in a follow-up call today (14 Nov.) I was assured they were "in the mail". Every effort will be made to find a reliable decal printer to get these much needed items, together with the new items that are ready for introduction, back into regularly available status just as quickly as possible.
We have been experiencing some difficulties with the PayPal system in accepting orders below the $20. Minimum Order and not calculating shipping costs correctly. You may experience some difficulty with the pay on line system before the issues are remedied. If this is the case the best way to work around the problem for the short term is to print out an order form from our website, complete it and send it along with your check by mail. We regret this inconvenience and hope to have things resolved shortly.
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