Trucks and Typefaces
Saw your message on B&O YAHOO site where I am also a member. This is nice work, in a period earlier than which I model. Notwithstanding,there are earlier model trucks in existence than
KADEE produces. Unfortunately, the 'HO' scale models of four
wheel wood frame trucks consistent with the era of this model
are not currently in production. In one case because the maker
is out of business (the original CENTRAL VALLEY company,
no longer exists and apparently neither does the dies and
tooling related to their excellent 19th century product line),
and in the other because the last owner died (Bill Cook of
BC MODELS), and the current purchaser of the line has not
been able to make the goods involved.
You should be aware that there are two large dealers in
old kits (for both the collectors and those wishing to
operate metal and wooden kits not found elsewhere).
These are JAY'S TRAINS, and NIXON ENTERPRISES that
have websites that you can GoogleUp easily. I glanced through
their site, which in the case of Nixon's is somewhat confusingly
laid out since they are too lazy to create enough separate
categories of merchandise (e.g. so some craftsman kits
and metal trucks wind up thrown in with the Oriental brass
imports). However, people who want an old RED BALL
flat car kit for instance, will find their way through the maze.
JAY says that these trucks keep changing so giving him a call
and telling what you want, can be the best way to go. He also
might be able to tell you if he has an old kit with them on it.
That is an expensive way to go, but is an option.
Here is basic history of the model trucks you seek, as they
can appear with differing marques. The most commonly
available were first produced by M.Dale Newton (interestingly,
in the same town that the KADEE line started in). He called
his products the RED BALL line and sold it in 1956 to
Howell Day in Dunellen, New Jersey. THis is the same
gentleman that the NMRA's model train museum in
Chattanooga is named for. He sold the equipment that
he made under the RED BALL name, for the most part,
and also imported brass locos from asia that used the
same marque, but he also sold some of the RED BALL
products under his own name. Ultimately after more than
twenty years he sold the line to a school teacher in Roanoke
Indiana, who did not buy the bulk of the trucks from
Day ( I don't know why, all he took were a unique six
wheel freight car that went with a battleship gondola
and some old time trucks). The others were bought and
marketted under the CAPE LINE marque by a Massachusan.
In Indiana where RED BALL goods were made, lots happened
over the years including the making of structure kits
under the HOME TOWN and WABASH VALLEY label, and
the production of plastic freight cars under the CANNONBALL
CAR SHOPS marque. Lots of stuff, but no organization and
under capitalization so this was a desultory business.
Bill Cook bought the old metal and wood kit line , when the
teacher owner went into a panic over lead in his models
and did a good job (as BC MODELS)until illness caught up
with him. So what you want can be available in several
names from across the years.
Since you are an excellent modeller, and may be able to
rework a kit to backdate it allow me to give you the
names of several makers of excellent metal wheeled
trucks that include a number of arch bar and other style
trucks that are earlier than the KADEE offerings.
RIO GRANDE MODELS makes a number of arch bar
narrow gauge (HOn3) that can be used as a basis
for shorter wheel base, early trucks.
STEAM ERA MODELS includes several such trucks
and offers spoked wheel sets that are not available
elsewhere and also RP25-80 as well as standard
RP25 fustum wheels.
BETHLEHEM CAR WORKS likewise has some
candidates and come with metal RP25 wheels.
AR KITS has some kits with potential for modification
but have no as built substitutes for the 1860s.
All of these firms have Web presences with pictorial
representation of their products.
In another vein , barrel cars (a/k/a barrel boxes: which
is an exceptionally long lived slangword being used for
highway trailers associated with the household moving/
furniture business < Removals to Brits> today), were
commonly open cars. They had roofs and side frames
to help contain the barrels. Barrells, implicitly were all
weather containers. Perhaps, something about the
quality of the flour barrels in use required an enclosed
car, or perhaps they were used for whiskey or some
other product that needed to be kept secure from two
legged vermin. In any event, the last of the open barrel
cars were made in 1937 for ETHYL corporation to carry
petroleum based chemicals in steel drums.
Ye OLDE HUFF 'N PUFF models makes a model of an
'HO' scale barrel car of the more traditional 19th
century car designed to deliver cooperage to customers.
You may be interested in the EATON box car which was
patented Jan. 1, 1867. It is among the first all metal
box cars, and featured an internally mounted (to side
walls and ends) series of continuous half bands (letter
'C's in horizontal attitude) designed to hold barrels in
upright position. It is U.S. patent number 60865, and
met with limited success. However, the B&O had an
earlier all metal car, and Vanderbilt's Lake Shore had
a fleet of them for gun powder carriage built during the
Civil War. The last of those got away from us in the
1930s when the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis
which had been using them in work train service
scrapped them. Too bad, for it was an artifact from
another time that can't be duplicated.
Nevertheless, Richard Eaton's car was a milestone
engineering wise, so it is worth looking at. Patents
are readily available by throwing, "Google Patents"
into your search engine or using the US patent office
site. He displayed a depth of understanding of the
needs of shippers, and the technological capability
of his time which is remarkable, and also somewhat
unique among inventors.
If you intend to continue to model in the era we are
considering here, let me suggest that you join the
YAHOO group : "Early Rail "; that covers everything
from the beginning of railroads through 1920. You
will find far more people there than on the B&O group
familiar with period.
Hoping this will be of help to you and
Good-Luck, Peter Boylan
