Hopefully the pics will load this time.
There has been posts in the past about this, but I didn't feel like looking for them plus, I felt it deserves its own post. So here it goes.
The TTOS National convention mine train started in 1983 with a simple ore car and lasted to 1990 with the CMT crane car. These shorty cars have become highly collectable. The early ore and dump cars had a rippled metal piece that covered the bin. These were to simulate either cooper, gold or salt loads.
Interestingly, in 1985 for the Utah Snowbird convention, the TTOS decided to spruce up the white metal panel with real salt. One can question this decision and many will deny their involvement, but the truth be told, it wasn't the best decision. One reason it was changed to glitter sometime afterwards.
As most from the northern regions know, salt and metal do not get along very well. So why would they choose to use real salt? Well, we can give them a little slack as the decision makers were from California.
A lot of people have asked me what to look for and how bad can they be. Well, I wanted the share what some of these can look like, albeit the bad end of the spectrum.
Here is a car that was affected more than usual. It is past the early stages.
As you can see, there is heavy discoloration on the load section, but the corners are where the heavier rust lies. The paint is also bubbling in these areas. This car is well on its way to further deterioration. So if your car has rust showing on the load, it is a matter of time before it strikes elsewhere. Most likely there is salt underneath the load panel as it can fall thru cracks around the edges.
Now on to the rust mother lode. Not many have gotten to this point, but they could. This is the worst I have seen. I keep it in a ziplock bag and away from other trains.
As you can see, it is toast! Note how the worst areas are the corners and last I checked salt shouldn't be blue! So, when buying one of these cars, check the corners this is a sure key that the rust may be waiting. The best bet is look for a glitter loaded car instead. These are easily recognizable by the uniformly square glitter pieces.
Class dismissed.
ARNO
