1930's-40's rolling stock

[Toother1321]

I am really making some progress in the planning phase of my layout right now. Some of you may have seen my previous post about doing a steam era railroad based around pittsburgh, PA. I was wondering if anybody could point me in the direction of some freight cars that would be appropriate for that era and where i could buy them. I'm mostly concerned with hopper and box cars. I'll also need a lot of them and i do enjoy doing scratch building so I am looking for some cars on a budget.

Thanks
Steve

 

[MasonJar]

Accurail makes some nice boxcars of various sorts (40 footers, wood, steel, outside braced, etc). There are also 55 ton hoppers (you can use "war emergency" or composite versions during/post-WW2).

There were lots of 36' boxcars in service as well, but these are harder to find as simple kits. There are resin versions, and (more) expensive RTR versions though.

For your time period, bear in mind that there were a lot of different versions of the box car as well, since some of the specialized cars we know today had not come along yet. There were box cars with:

• 5 foot doors
• 6 foot dors
• door-and-a-half
• double doors (common on "automobile" box cars)
• end doors (see above)
• lumber doors (small high doors on the ends)
• drop bottom (flat like gondolas or with "hoppers", like, well - hoppers)
• insulated box cars that look somewhat like reefers*
• express box cars for the head end of passenger trains

Some were built of steel, some wood. Some with wood sides had steel ends. Full ladders and roof walks were still in place. Brakes may have been a mix, depending on the exact year, as were ribbed back wheels.

*Billboard reefers were outlawed in 1937.

Hope that helps. For a great look at circa 1930s to 1950s railroading, check out the work by our very own doctorwayne. I'm sure he'll be along soon to give you some more information...

Andrew

 

[stripes]

check out this company! http://branchline-trains.com/newreleases/new_releases.htm
*Billboard reefers were outlawed in 1937. And as it is your layout you can do anything you want!

David

 

[Gary S.]

Why did they outlaw the billboards?

 

[MasonJar]

*Billboard reefers were outlawed in 1937. And as it is your layout you can do anything you want!

Well, yes, but he did ask for appropriate cars (at least as a start... ).

Why did they outlaw the billboards?

I believe that the billboard reefers were outlawed after numerous complaints from various shippers who felt they were paying the way for (potentially) a competitor's product to be advertised. Imagine if you are Cadbury, and your chocolate is being shipped in a Hershey's reefer...

Andrew

 

[Thoroughbreed]

check out this company! http://branchline-trains.com/newreleases/new_releases.htm
*Billboard reefers were outlawed in 1937. And as it is your layout you can do anything you want!

David

sign1 I know why your having fun with this:thumb:

 

[stripes]

sign1 I know why your having fun with this:thumb:

I see a whole consist full of billboard cars in my future!! sign1
And yes, I model the 40`s era, but hey, laws are made to be broken! EH!

 

[Gary S.]

I believe that the billboard reefers were outlawed after numerous complaints from various shippers

Seems to me that the free enterprise system should have been allowed to run its course. They didn't need any laws to take care of that.... well, maybe they did, considering that the railroads are to a more or less extent, a monopoly, especially back then.

 

[wjstix]

Long story short, billboard reefers were outlawed (or restricted) at the request of the railroads. Too many times a shipper would request a reefer, and then refuse it when the RR supplied one lettered from a competitor to that company. Then the RR had to go back and get another reefer, losing time and money. The ICC regulation said lettering could only be so high (I think 16"??) so no more 6' lettering - but in return, required that the shippers take the cars the RR delivered if it otherwise met their needs. (There's more to it than that, but that's a thumbnail version. By the way, the peak era of billboard reefers was really the 1890's-1910's anyway.)

So in the late forties, you would have no billboard reefers, no cars with arch bar trucks or trussrods (in interchange service anyway). Oddly, there would be quite a few woodside cars - probably more than you would have seen in the thirties!! During the depression, RR's used their newest cars first, and let older ones sit, so they often were using steel cars bought in the 20's-30's. (Because of the Depression, they didn't need all the cars they had.)

In WW2, steel was in short supply and new cars were needed due to the boom in shipping, so boxcars, gondolas, even hoppers were build with woodsides - something that hadn't been done for 20 years or so.

 

[stripes]

wjstix, That is interesting history. Thanks
I still love them and plan on having them on my layout!! bounce7
Especially because I just bought 12 of them!

Doubt that anyone would know the difference anyway!!

David

 

[Torpedo]

http://www.westerfield.biz/

Kits for freight cars built through the '30s. Some ran into the '70s.

 

[stripes]

Those are nice cars! Torpedo, You know your in trouble when there are video instructions on how to use the site!!

 

[doctorwayne]

If you can find them, the old Train Miniature steel boxcars are pretty decent starting points for USRA and ARA steel cars. They're now made by Walthers, but I don't know if they're currently available. I also like their model of the Pennsylvania RR X-29 boxcar, and was lucky enough to find 3 of them at the LHS yesterday (Walthers version, new in the box.) As mentioned, the Accurail double and single sheathed boxcars are good, and Red Caboose does a very nice X-29. Proto1000 does a nice version of the 36' Fowler Patent car and Proto2000 offers a 40' Mather stockcar and a Mather boxcar. Both Atlas and Roundhouse have 36' reefers and Tichy and Red Caboose have nice looking 40' wood reefers. I usually find most of my rolling stock on the "used" table at the LHS, or, as was the case with the X-29s, pick up a bargain, as my LHS buys up both estate lots of train stuff and the stock of hobby shops that have gone bankrupt. With a little (or a lot on some) work, you can have some decent rolling stock and a lot of modelling fun for a reasonable cost. Here a pictures of a few cheap cars that I've modified to appear more prototypical. Most of them have also been custom painted and lettered with decal or dry transfers. There are also a couple of not-so-cheap ones included too, as we all need a treat once in a while.

Roundhouse 36' reefer, made into a boxcar with the addition of a door. A few added details, this one has been downgraded to work train service.

Walthers 50' single sheathed automobile car, on the left (I picked up 9 of these, undecorated, for $5.00 each) and at right, a Red Caboose X-29 style car (5 of these at $8.00 apiece :thumb: )

Accurail 40' wood reefer

Accurail 40' 9 panel boxcar

Accurail 40' 9 panel boxcar (with a half-door modification from New England Rail Service added)

Athearn 50' wood express reefer

Red Caboose X-29 boxcar (the Pennsy owned over 30,000 of these, and they were seen all over North America)

Train Miniature (now Walthers) X-29 boxcar

Train Miniature X-28 boxcar (modified X-29)

LifeLike (Proto-no-thousand ) 36' reefer (a buck on the junk table at the LHS)

Train Miniature USRA double sheathed boxcar (this car was a pretty major rebuild)

Accurail USRA double sheathed boxcar (this car is stock save for a few added details)

Stewart U-channel hopper

Tichy rebuilt USRA single sheathed boxcar

USRA door-and-a-half boxcar (built from a Train Miniature plugdoor boxcar)

ARA 40' steel boxcar (Train Miniature)

Proto1000 36' Fowler Patent boxcar. CNR and CPR owned over 70,000 of these cars, which roamed North America (these cars retail for between $30.00 and $40.00, but I was lucky to pick up 6, bodies only, for two bucks apiece)

Red Caboose 40' reefer

Train Miniature 40' single sheathed boxcar (I changed the ends on this car)

Another Train Miniature 40' plugdoor boxcar (shave off the plugdoor details, cement a new door in place)

Tichy 40' reefer

Athearn 40' wood reefer with steel ends

Milk/fish car from an Athearn 40' reefer (replaced the kit's steel ends and built a new roof with no ice hatches - this is a rebuild of the car pictured above)

Athearn 40' steel reefer (this car was extensively rebuilt to follow an 1939 prototype, but the stock Athearn car is also appropriate for your chosen era)

Athearn 40' steel reefer, mostly stock

Concor (modified) 52' welded gondola ($2.00 off the junk table )

Intermountain refrigerator car

Rebuilt Athearn wood reefer

Intermountain composite drop-bottom gondola

Walthers USRA 42' steel gondola

Athearn 50' steel gondola

Proto2000 52' steel gondola

Athearn chemical tankcar

Athearn standard tankcar - this one has been shortened - the 3-dome car is also appropriate

Intermountain tank car

Athearn 50' flatcar

Walthers 52'6" GSC flatcar

Athearn 34' offset side hopper

Athearn 34' ribbed side hopper

Athearn 34' ribbed side hopper with side panels from Pike Stuff

Accurail panel side hopper

Athearn offset side 4-bay hopper (this one has been shortened to 3 bays)

Stewart offset side 3-bay hoppers

Stewart 55 ton fishbelly hopper

I hope that the photos aren't "too much", but at a 1,000 words per picture, that would've been too much typing for even me!! My fingers thank you.

Wayne

 

[MasonJar]

Ahhhh!!! Download h-e-double hockey sticks! I should know better than to try and view one of Wayne's posts over dial-up!

Andrew

 

[doctorwayne]

Geez!! I keep forgetting that part!!ops: Sorry.

Wayne

 

[Torpedo]

Ahhhh!!! Download h-e-double hockey sticks! I should know better than to try and view one of Wayne's posts over dial-up!

Andrew

Yeah, I know to skip them until last when he starts the thread, but if he's in the middle....... :cry::cry::cry::cry:

 

[JimBrown]

PMFJI, but here's a trick I used to use when I was on dial up.

If I opened a thread that had a lot of pictures, I would hit the "back" button to get out of it. I would then right click on the link and select "open in a new window". While the thread was loading all the pics in the new window, I would go back to the original window and continue reading other threads. Once the thread in the new window finished loading, I'd go read than (and look at the great pics) and then close that windows once done.

Have fun!
...jim

 

[Toother1321]

Doc,

Thanks for the reply. I'm really interested most in the hopper cars, however the boxcars will definately help break up the monotony.

Thanks
Steve

 

[doctorwayne]

Doc,

Thanks for the reply. I'm really interested most in the hopper cars, however the boxcars will definately help break up the monotony.

Thanks
Steve

What a coincidence, I was just thinking about posting a coal train run-by. Actually, it was going to be a possible "last run" for my U-boats, as I may have a buyer. The train is 41 various hoppers, with "live" loads. Total train weight, excluding locos, approximately 328 ounces. Andrew, and others: "DON'T LOOK!!" if I post it.

Wayne

 

[toptrain1]

Train Minature old reefer

A view of a few Train Minature reefer cars.. Opps these are small.