Christian Ray

Thanks!

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with the brake apparatus installed.

The underside detail is almost complete. Note the 3D-printed T pipejoiner in the trainline, a part from precisionresinworks.com and chain links from ppw-aline.com/products/292.... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

How Can a Locomotive Pull a Long Train That’s Much Heavier? For railroads, it’s all about managing static and kinetic friction.

For railroads, it’s all about managing static and kinetic friction. www.wired.com/story/how-ca...

Something didn’t look right - the couplers are upside down. This is an enantiomeric freight car until remedied.

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with end sill installed in the right location, bearing corner gussets, and equipped with the couplers.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with trainline and brake detail being installed.

Adding the corner gussets and end sill - this time, in the right place. After that, the trainline and brake gear. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola, inverted, with dump mechanism rod and bearings installed.

HO scale Prototype couplers being installed into graphite-painted resin coupler boxes.

Threading the bearings on both sides finished, I am preparing the coupler pockets with graphite. These are Prototype Couplers, a little more prototypical than Kadee (at the cost of being harder to operate). #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola next to a rod and several dump mechanism bearings that will be installed.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with the dump mechanism rod threaded through the first two bearings.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola, partially threaded with dump mechanism bearings on one side.

The underside of this project will take the most time. Here, we install the dump mechanism very gradually. It requires sanding out 16 ring-shaped bearings per side and threading them through a rod. Tedious but not difficult. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the lip on the B end mostly peeled off, hanging by a thread.

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the B end lip being glued in place with cyanoacrylate (CA, or superglue).

B end-on view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the lip at the top repaired.

As @jamesdmcdonald.bsky.social suggested, this mistake has proven to be fixable. After gradually reattaching with thin CA, laying it flat upside down on a piece of glass straightened it out. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Definitely fixable! I tried your unrolling and gluing approach with CA and got a satisfactory result. Post to come.

HO scale Caswell gondola with the ledge on the end warped and disconnected from the main casting.

The B end was being difficult, so I ended up dumping a slight excess of Un-Cure. This had the effect of eating away at the casting. Is this model, as the kids say, cooked? #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with a bottle of Bob Smith Industries cyanoacrylate remover, Un-Cure.

HO scale Caswell gondola with an erroneously placed end sill removed, showing collateral damage.

Then I realized my mistake. I resorted to Un-Cure (bsi-inc.com/hobby/un_cur...) to remove the end sill. Removal incurred collateral damage I will need to fix... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with underframe installed next to a bottle of CA glue and a spray bottle of Instaset.

Next was to use thin CA with Instaset (bsi-inc.com/hobby/insta_...) to fine-tune the locations of the cross-bearers. Basically, hold the rib in place, drop a tiny bit of CA, make sure the rib is positioned, then spray Instaset. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with crossbearers test-fitted.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with crossbearers moved in order off the underframe.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola next to the assembled underframe: center sill and cross-bearers.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with underframe fitted into place.

The underframe is complex, with the dumping mechanism visible. It came together mostly smoothly, though some of the individual cross-bearers were not as straight as I wanted. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola, inverted, with sill supports in place.

HO scale Caswell gondola, inverted, with end sills erroneously installed in the wrong location.

I was overly concerned about the twisted casting; my actual big mistake was installing the end sills with CA (superglue) instead of the end cross bearers, which are what is supposed to be there. This will come back to haunt me! #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale gondola from above with a flat metal plate installed in the center of the hold.

HO scale gondola resin casting with the false floor installed on top of the metal plate.

I had hoped that the floor weight would straighten out the casting - and it did, but not completely. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale gondola resin casting, without details installed, next to a pin vise holding a #79 drill bit

HO scale gondola casting with grabirons installed demonstrating the degree of twist in the casting.

First, to drill out the grabirons. I was a little concerned about the degree of twist in the primary casting. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Photo of a page from the Westerfield history of Caswell gondolas, "Caswell Variations", included as part of the kit. To the right is a prototype photo from the B end. On the left is a tally of the many Caswell gondola variants and how long they lasted, ranging from 1930 to 1970.

Caswell gondolas and derivatives were also used widely for coal service, sugar beets, woodchips, stone - basically anything not needing weather protection. They had a long life and made it to maintenance-of-way service as well. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

The #SantaFe served many mines in New Mexico, Arizona, and California where these gondolas would be useful. wheelsmuseum.org?page_id=945 mojavedesert.net/railroads/sa... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

https://old.atsfrr.org/resources/Sandifer/Howard/Consist/Consists.htm Photo of a short consist on the Howard Branch of the ATSF in Kansas. Behind steam locomotive 1015 is mixed freight, consisting of a Frisco USRA composite gondola, ATSF Caswell gondola, and taller Caswell with wine door mechanism.

These gondolas ended up a lot of random places (atsf.railfan.net/oddities/gon...). From the 2nd photo here, note how high the Caswell rides compared to another gondola design: old.atsfrr.org/resources/Sa... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Also groups.io/g/ModelRailr..., sfrhms.org/wp-content/u... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Small modeling project: Caswell gondola Among the most distinctive cars in the Santa Fe freight car fleet were the Caswell gondolas. It is obvious that Santa Fe really liked this d...

The Caswell has been a popular modeling subject: see modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/04/smal..., www.nasg.org/HowTo/Scratc... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

General service gondolas with full drop bottom doors were developed about the turn of the Twentieth century. Most used chains and shafts to open and close the doors. A stronger and more complicated arrangement was the Caswell System, named after its inventor and marketed by the National Dump Car Co. The Caswell mechanism also employed longitudinal shafts but they moved sideways in slots, located in the webs of the bolsters and crossbearers, all the way from the side sills to the center sills. Racks on the crossbearers and pinions on the shafts controlled the position of the shafts in the slots, and cylindrical bearings under each door permitted the doors to open as the shafts moved towards the center sills and closed them as the shafts moved back towards the sides of the car. The shafts were controlled by permanently attached levers and ratchets located at the ends of the car. If properly maintained, the Caswell system was stronger and easier to operate than other designs and it held the doors closed more securely.

INSTALLATIONS OF CASWELL GONDOLAS DATE DATE NO.OFTRUCK CUBIC CLASS SERIES LOT ORDERED PLANT BUILT CARS CLASS CAPY Ga-O 79301-79950 3716 3/15/05 Jeffersonville 11/1905 650 535 1718 Ga-R 80803-80402 4632 2/28/06 Terre Haute 1906 1600+ 535 1709 Ga-X 82403-83302 6992 2/21/12 Peninsular 1913 900 545 1710 Ga-2 83303-84602 8423 5/16/17 St.Louis 2/1918 1300 546 1710 Ga-2 85551-85700 8423 5/16/17 St.Louis 1918 150 546 1710 Ga-3* 85701-85750 8552 3/11/18 St.Louis 6/1918 50 546 1710 Ga-4 70000-70499 8876 2/1920 St.Louis 1920 500 546 1710 Ga-5 171000-171999 9174 3/1921 St.Louis 7/1921 1000 546 1710 Ga-7 172000-172499 9450 10/1922 St.Louis 6/1928 500 546 1710 Ga-9 172500-172999 9753 2/1924 St.Louis 1924 500 553 1710 Ga-10 173000-173499 9904 11/1924 St.Louis 3/1925 500 553 1710 Ga-11 173500-174049 5112 12/9/25 St.Louis 1926 550 ARA C 1710 Ga-12 174050-174349 5112 12/9/25 St.Louis 6/1926 300 ARA C 1710 Ga-14 174350-174649 406 1/12/27 St.Louis 4/1927 300 ARA C 2022 * Built as ore cars for Santa Fe Land Improvement Co. + 2500 cars ordered; lot list indizates the order was cancelled but likely just reduced.

In the 1910s-1920s, drop-bottom gondolas were in favor at the Santa Fe. The Caswell design, described in the shot of the kit instructions here, was built in the thousands. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Box for a Westerfield HO scale car kit that reads, "8501 CASWELL GONDOLA ATSF GA.X GA-2/3/4/5/7/9/10" next to the kit, partially assembled, on dual gauge track.

On the workbench today: Another Westerfield resin kit, the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe (ATSF) Caswell gondola. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

This Day in Labor History: March 9, 1911. Railroad brotherhoods in Kentucky and Tennessee went on strike to protest the hiring of Black workers. This is an example of how skilled white workers would choose their white identity over and over again over any sense of racial solidarity across class!!!

A young deer looks back at the camera over its right shoulder. It appears headed for the woods.

#Deer in my back yard yesterday.

screw gravity

twofer @snipy.bsky.social

Nocturnal scene of the depot at Guadalajara, Mexico with two passenger trains.

The Alta California Railway meets Nacionales De Mexico at Guadalajara, commissioned by @interurbanera.bsky.social . (Not gonna lie, this has to be one of the best things I've ever done)
If any of you model railroad guys want a portrait of your finest (or grubbiest) motive power, drop us a line!

Excited to share this preprint that describes my latest work on using GPUs to accelerate processing of RNA-seq data.

The title says it all: "RNA-seq analysis in seconds using GPUs" now on biorxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... and github github.com/pachterlab/k...

Figure 1 shows they key result

RNA-seq analysis in seconds using GPUs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.04.709526v1