Wooden Box Car Site?

Mountain Man

Active Member
Google is giving me the run-a-round. does anyone now a good, basic site for images of old wooden boxcars, circa 1890's?

Is it just me, or is Google much less user freindly than it used to be?

Anyone know a better search engine? Ask.com used to be good for a lot of stuff Google couldn't handle.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Good luck! Finding actual 1890s cars (not ww1 era and later) is very difficult.

Try finding John H. White's American Railroad Freight Car from you library (or a library). It is worth more than every website on the internet for freight cars of the era.

The Railway Car Builders Dictionaries might help...the issue from 1888 would be great for 1890s cars.

Of course, books on the Colorado Midland, Midland Terminal, and Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railway are solid resources.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Thanks for your help, Dash10.

Thank you for your suggestions as well, nkp174. I do, in fact, own several of those types of books, including the definitive history of the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad, but I still find myself looking for information.

All too often the old time photographers were meeting other objectives for their clients than considering the needs of modelers a century and more later. :cool:

You're quite right about the difficulty of finding cars, which is why I am working to retrofit my rolling stock to a more correct appearance. This means everything from trading those Bettendorf trucks that seem standard for everything for archbars trucks, and re-working car bodies as needed.

Besides, my layout concept is more than a little "non-traditional". :cool:
 

pgandw

Active Member
Google is giving me the run-a-round. does anyone now a good, basic site for images of old wooden boxcars, circa 1890's?

Is it just me, or is Google much less user freindly than it used to be?

Anyone know a better search engine? Ask.com used to be good for a lot of stuff Google couldn't handle.

For prototype information, a good starting point is the Early Rail Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarlyRail/). There are often prototype pictures shared there.

Shame on me, I don't know whether you are pursuing narrow gauge or standard gauge. If narrow gauge appeals, then the HOn3 (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOn3/) and TOCng (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TOCng/) Yahoo groups are worth joining. There's likely to be a group about the F&CC as well. White's book on freight cars is an incredible resource - I was able to buy a used copy at a San Diego hobby shop for $35 - worth every penny. Now I want his passenger car and locomotive books as well. Saving my pennies.

For HO and HOn3 boxcar models, Labelle makes them in HOn3 lettered for F&CC. BTS (www.btsrr.com) makes boxcar kits for Civil War through TOC. Alkem Scale Models (http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/ASMMain/Main.html) makes 19th Century boxcar kits, although they tend to favor Eastern prototypes. Railway Engineering (http://www.railwayeng.com/hon3/carter/carter.htm) makes a Carter HOn3 ventilated boxcar kit in plastic. Trout Creek Engineering (http://www.troutcreekeng.com/tcho.html) has both standard and narrow gauge car kits for Colorado prototypes. And of course, Blackstone offers RTR HOn3 boxcar models (mostly pre-weathered and 20th Century) of D&RG prototypes.

For standard gauge trucks - my preference goes to Kadee and - when I can find them - Tahoe Model Works arch bars. Bitter Creek Models and Rio Grande Models also offer extensive lines of suitable arch bar truck kits (both standard and narrow gauge). Kadee and Blackstone also make HOn3 arch bar trucks.

Hope this helps with what you are looking for - and isn't too much of a repeat of what you already knew.
 
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