Anybody knows these freight cars?

R

RailRon

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Nov 23, 2002
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Trimbach, Switzerland
Hi Gaugers!

At a bargain sale I just bought some freight cars. Two of them are models of prototypes I don't know:

The car in the background is a Bachmann 50' plug door boxcar (I think) - but what RR company brought out this paint job of newspaper titles?

The car in the foreground is a C&O flat car (well, sort of ;) ) made by ROCO. But here I even don't know what type of car this is. It looks like a heavy duty flatcar (>> fishbelly sides). But what is the purpose of the strange contraption on top of the car? I thumbed trough the Walthers 'bible' but I didn't find anything that looks like this model.

Can anybody enlighten me? Thanks!

Ron
 

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Here is my guess. The news title car caries News Pint. The two real ones that I have seen where from Quebec. Don't know the details, but the car's interior is set up to carry the big rolls of news print. And the news print is all that it carries. Now the news paper titles on the cars were mostly in french if my memory is correct.

The other one? Kind of looks like an empty gas cylinder car. The cage is filled with long cylinders of compressed gasses. Don't know if that is the car. Do know that liquid nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, and probably other gasses are caried this way.

Any other info out there?
 
I think there was an article in MR last fall or summer on the newprint cars. I'll keep my eyes open for it...

The bottom one? I would just cover the openings with screen and fill it with Preiser nuns :D :D :D

05900000010402.jpg
 
Hi Ron, These are just wild guesses but I think that the box car is some kind of a "promotional" model....US cars would never appear without reporting marks. Also, newsprint cars have extra wide doors for unloading. All of them I have seen have sliding doors rather than plug doors. Also roofwalks on US cars were banned years ago. The Chessie car is I think a car for carrying rolls of coiled sheet steel.

Jon....Why would you put Nuns in the car....I musta missed something:confused: :D
 
The first railcar is, as indicated, a newsprint boxcar (XP). Owned and operated by Canadian National, they flung this paint scheme on **ONE** railcar only; the newspapers are all from Canada, including the paper for my city, the Edmonton Journal.

The paint scheme should ONLY be on ONE side of the car; and reporting marks should be located along the BOTTOM sill of the car. Life-Like <Proto1000> recently put it out as well, and did as the prototype - one side with paint scheme (reporting info at bottom); one side boxcar red. See the thread below for my pic of it.

http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3736&highlight=newsprint
 
Originally posted by Vic

Jon....Why would you put Nuns in the car....I musta missed something:confused: :D
Click to expand...

Vic, there are many logical reasons to have a flatcar full of nuns on any layout, here are the top ten:

1. Too many meds

2. Forgot meds

3. Warped sense of humor

4 Very warped sense of humor

5. John Cleese would approve

6. Mixing meds with alcohol

7. To get rid of old habbits

8. They keep the LPB's from taking over the layout

9. What else whould you do with a set of Preisler nuns???

10 The best reason: So the chief in Rome would put a clerical ban on me!

:D :D :D
 
Thank you all for your suggestions.

The newspaper car:
(which is several years old, hence the roofwalk):
Mike, when I compare my car with yours, then I see that mine has exactly the same 'picture' on it - but in a larger scale. So on all four sides a part is missing. The colors are obviously different, and mine has the same graphics on both sides, but no reporting marks whatsoever. :confused:
Vic, I agree with you: It doesn't make sense to carry the big paper rolls in a plug door boxcar. Even if you wanted to carry newspapers (most probably bundled on palettes), a wide door boxcar would be a better choice.
Probably it was just a promo gag - and yes, Jon, I also remember vaguely having seen something like that in MR (in a two part article about paper mills???).

The other car:
Gardenrrguy, you might be right. Perhaps somebody took out the gas cylinders - if there ever were such things on that car. (As I said, I bought it at a sale. Back at home I discovered that there is an axle missing, too! :mad: )
Jon, I put one of my plastic men into this car - and he's looking out of the top of the cage. Now I fear, when I really make a cage out of this thing, the poor nuns have to move about on their knees. :eek: Only the two on the right of your pic would qualify. Of course we could calm them down with some of your meds - but then I'm afraid that their chief in Rome would put a clerical ban on me. (Although I don't think that he really is reading the forums of The Gauge :D :D :D ) On the other hand, John Cleese would be extremely happy with this set-up, wouldn't he? :rolleyes:

Ron
 
Still a mystery car...

My newspaper car has on one end a horn-hook coupler, on the other one (you can see it) a Maerklin coupler.

Obviously it was modified by the former owner as a go-between between (European) Rivarossi locos and other 'normal' American freight cars. With my bargain lot I also bought the Rivarossi IHB 0-8-0 switcher (also with Maerklin couplers). BTW, she runs like a charm :) and looks absolutely new!

Back to the car: On the floor it is marked BACHMANN - didn't they make very cheap cars when they first came out into the model RR market? Must have been in the 70's, I think.
Then this could be a car of these early series? :confused: :confused: :confused:

Ron
 
Very possible, they have been for awhile, and they were definitely on the lower end of cars at the time

(( although they apparently haven't gotten a LOT better; they are currently being lambasted like nobody's business for the quality of their quad hopper on a prototype freight car list I'm on ))
 
Mike, you say

although they apparently haven't gotten a LOT better
Click to expand...

However their consolidation is praised almost everywhere, and the model railroaders of the world (oh well, at least in the USA :D ) seem to hold their breath until the ten-wheeler comes out. At least that's the impression I get from surfing in the net.

Do you know the consolidation? Would you recommend it? :confused:

Ron
 
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