Jim Fitzgerald Wrote:
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> Ken, all of that footage is just wonderful. I
> doubt that there are many in the USA with the
> machinist skills that Victor had who could produce
> those locomotives and cars today. Did he build
> the cars as well? How about the rivet lines, were
> they all real rivets? Absolutely fascinating.
> Thank you.


"REAL RIVETS" .. (including some 2500 in the Turntable Structure...)
My Grandpa played for keeps... He had help building a few of the wooden car bodies in the early days from his two Sons... My Dad, Jim--and my Uncle Ron...
You could drop ice cubes down the hatches of the two yellow PFE cars and keep your sandwich cold while working on the railroad. The Hopper Car had all operational drop openings. We used it to ballast the track.

WOOD for early day car bodies came from wooden boxes that cheese used to come in from Kraft.
Tank cars were modified tanks from "carbon tetrachloride" fire extinguisher bottles.
You used what you could find, in those early days...

KRK