Starting in 1964, the GM&O delivered coal from Captain Mine in Percy, IL to Commonwealth Edison's Joliet Plaines Station. Two "Mass-ter Movement" trains made daily round trips up and down the GM&O (and later ICG) for 10+ years.
In 1966, a third train was added as the GM&O won the contract to serve the State Line Station in Hammond, IN owned by Commonwealth Edison of Indiana. The State Line trains ran with GM&O power up to Joliet and then EJ&E crews on the J's Eastern Sub between Joliet and the State Line Generating Station.
The original 423 CWEX Thrall Gondolas were delivered across 2 years:
CWEX 3001-3068 (1964) Red/Black w/Billboard Lettering (68 cars)
CWEX 3069-3270 (1964) Red/Black Plain lettering (202 cars)
CWEX 4001-4058 (1965) Red/Black w/Billboard Lettering (58 Cars)
CWEX 4059-4153 (1965) Red/Black Plain lettering (95 cars)
The typical Plaines trains grew from 72 to 102, and finally 126 cars in length. The typical State Line trains used 102 cars. In the GM&O era, the Plaines trains were served with 4-unit sets of SD40s, while the State Line trains utilized 5-6 GP30s/35s. (The SD40s were too heavy for some of the EJ&E's bridges...) In the ICG era, the power was mixed, with everything from Geeps to SD40s.
While Billboard-painted cars have been done in the past by MDC/Roundhouse and Athearn, these two decal sets focus on allowing modelers execute two very important versions of the CWEX paint schemes correctly.
Want to learn more about these trains on the GM&O? Check out Ken Donnelly's beautiful 2-part article titled "M Is For Mass-ter Movement!" in Issues 131 and 133 of the GM&O Historical Society NEWS. (These issues are still in stock as of this writing (Jan 1 2019) and can be ordered from the GM&OHS here for $5 ea with shipping. They also have CD electronic options.)
Now, on to the two decal set details:
SE-25 $9.00 CWEX Coal Gondolas in As-Delivered Red/Black Plain Lettering 1964+ (Letters 3 cars)
CWEX 3069-3272 (1964) Red/Black Plain lettering (202 cars)
CWEX 4059-4153 (1965) Red/Black Plain lettering (95 cars)
Yes, that's right. The majority (70%) of the CWEX fleet is delievered in this Red/Black plain scheme!
Some extra reweigh dates in the 1969-1970 range are included on the sheet as well as plenty of number jumbles for variety.
The SE-25 is printed in white and priced at $9.00 per set, HO Scale.
SE-26 $10.00 CWEX Coal Gondolas in Black/White Repaint Scheme 1969+ (Letters 3 cars)
The black repaints started in 1969 and were typically pulled from the full-Billboard lettered cars:
CWEX 3000-3068
CWEX 4001-4058
So if you model 1970+, that means about 30% or so of your CWEX cars should be plain black... (and the other 70% plain red/black!) No billboard cars...
White stripes are included for the A-End of the car as well as Thrall Inspection circles applied 1970+. I threw in some extra reweigh dates, since variety is important for your CWEX coal train!
The SE-26 is printed in white, black and yellow. They are priced at $10.00 per set. Available in HO Scale only.