NASG Dispatch Articles: Freight Cars

1990 #4 August

6

Jon Firpach

Improving the look and the performance of the PRS truck by removing the springs section and adding "real" springs. Includes photos.

2015 #1 January

6

Jim Kindraka

The sideframes of early S-Helper Service freight car trucks tend to cant inwards, so this article describes two ways to fix that issue.

2018 #2 March

28

Edwin C. Kirstatter

The author describes the mask he made so that he could paint the freight car wheels and not everything else.

1983 #2 Spring

14

Dick Cataldi

A review of the standard North American truck used from the late 1930s on, which has self-aligning, spring-plankless, and double-truss plain bearings.

2008 #1 February

15

Monte Heppe

The author describes how he converted some A.F. train sets' cars to be used for Civil War equipment. Includes several photos of completed models.

2018 #2 March

11

John Stein

Prototype information about tack boards. S-scale placards can be ordered from the Dispatch editor.

2023 #4 July

22

Larry Shughart

The author describes how the Seltzers custom-painted and sold A.C. Gilbert American Flyer freight cars from 1973 through 1977. Includes ads and photos of the cars produced.

1986 #4 Fall

12

Dick Karnes

The series continues with converting A.F. cars to scale models, by converting a quad hopper, and a wine tank car. Includes diagrams and model photos.

1987 #1 Winter

12

Dick Karnes

The author describes how to create a Virginian-style rotary coal car and a transfer caboose. Includes model photos and diagrams.

2010 #3 June

30

Jeff Madden

A listing of the annual NASG Convention cars from 1985 through 2010.

2023 #2 March

28

Bill Clark

The author notes that Lionel has produced locomotives that can be seen on today's real railroads, but they have not made any freight cars to match the era. This article covers some of the cars by other manufacturers he was able to find that might be possible to model modern railroads.

2003 #1 February

22

Bill Fraley

This is a follow-up article describing other modelers who have completed their Perma-Built freight car kits recently. Includes several photos of models

1991 #4 August

14

Kent Singer

The idea is to decorate one side of a car for one railroad name or road number, and the other for another.

1994 #5 October

20

Kent Singer

The page includes a scale weight guide. Place a car on it, and the scale will tell you what the model should weigh in S-scale to meet the NMRA/NASG standards.

1994 #6 December

31

Kent Singer

Bill Lane contributes the idea of using music wire to reinforce the stirrups on Pacific Rail Shops' cars. Includes photos.

1996 #6 December

24

Kent Singer

Some early S-Helper Service trucks' sideframes leaned out an angle. Bill Mark, Jr. presents his solution to resolve that.

2013 #1 February

16

David Heine

The author shares a good number of photos of models are older ones in his collection.

1999 #2 April

20

David Heine

How to build a reasonable selection of freight and passenger cars for narrow-gauge trains.

2016 #2 March

14

Edwin C. Kirstatter

How to add car tags to freight cars. A sample set of tags is provided on the page, as well as some photos of models.

2011 #1 February

19

Charles Bettinger

How to convert an ACF 3-bay covered hopper to a ACF 2-bay hopper.

1993 #2 April

16

Gale Hall

Some ideas on changing things up a bit with freight cars, such as leaving off the journal box caps, leaving previous ownership paint schemes partially visible, odd gondola ends, hoppers freeze so a fire would be started next to them to defrost their load leading to interesting weathering,

2014 #5 October

23

Bob Stelmach

Bachmann On30 flat cars, gondolas, and tank cars are a perfect fit for standard-gauge S-scale models. The author describes what he does to these to complete their conversion. Includes close-up and finished-model photos.