News

Grain doors were used for decades when loading box cars with grain. They went across the side doors to enable loading, to minimize leakage past the bottom of the doors, and to enable doors to be opened at destination. Active country elevators always had a few stacks of grain doors on hand, so if you model one or more country elevators you need a few stacks of grain doors. Go to the item and its associated description for more details about grain doors and how to use them. 

Airslide covered hopper cars were and are used to transport fine solids like flour and sugar. By injecting air into the load, the product is liquefied and conveyed out of the car through pipes and hoses preventing contamination and spillage. Great Northern's airslide cars were used mostly to transport sugar and flour. The specific cars we offer came to the GN in March of 1968 in Big Sky Blue paint. They are the latest build date cars we have in the store. We bought the last 15 so when they are gone they will not be available for a long...

We were out of stock of the Three Room Section House and the 12x34 Portable Depot for a significant time. Our supplier would not cut less than 50 kits in a batch. These items are not high volume sellers, so 50 kits would be an eight to ten year supply. It would have been imprudent to tie up that much of the Society's money in slow moving inventory. The problem was serious because this supplier provided five different kits for us. Despite protracted negotiations we were unable to resolve the issue and the vendor withdrew. Fortunately, we have found an...

Happy New Year, As you know, we have discontinued selling hard copies of Goats, Reference Sheets, and Modeler's Pages. All of this information continues to be available in electronic format which is cheaper and quicker for you, and eliminates the need for us to spend volunteer labor hours to do the mailing. It will also make the rented space at Jackson Street Roundhouse used to store physical publications, available to the Archives for their important work.  In making this change, we found three color cards: Equipment, Frame Structures, and Depots 1965-1970. These have long been available as part of the...