Tom, I had no problem with anything you said. I just wasn’t sure if you were referring to my car. One reason for my confusion was that after I realized that my car was missing the doors, I looked on eBay to see if that exact car was available with the thought that maybe I could replace the missing doors. While searching eBay, I did come across two similarly lettered and numbered box cars but with white roofs and red sides.
Let me ask this question. I notice on my box car, at least in the photo, that there appears to be some white on the edge of the roof. Maybe it’s simply a reflection of light or was the car originally primed white at the factory before applying a red finish. I will have to pull out the car to get a closer look.
Another question. Your cars appear to be in pristine condition. Between me and my brother, we were not gentle with our trains as kids. How did you manage to keep your cars in such good condition?
I am surprised that I do. My dear mother was not one to keep stuff laying around or stuffed away on shelves. She would regularly toss stuff into the trash can including my plastic models that I built as kid. My brother inherited my trains after I left home. When he no longer had any interest, my mother boxed up everything train related and brought the boxes over to home home. Thank goodness she did that instead of merely tossing them out.
One thing that I have no answer for is when did I get each piece of rolling stock. My father brought stuff home piece meal, So, the freight cars were not necessarily part of a set.
Rich, below is a picture of my original red 633 boxcar. It was part of the 1952 version of the 5112T set. This car is the red painted version, there is white plastic showing under some paint chips on the car. I also included a picture of the brown painted version of the 633, notice it also has some chips that expose the cream colored plastic. Both of these cars have sheet metal frames. The early painted plastic and painted Bakelite cars would chip all too easily.
My trains were always of great importance to me so I took care of them. They are all in their OB’s, some with their original tan paper wraps and those boxes are in the original set boxes.
I have been trying to focus on Gilbert trains and not the layout on which the photos are staged because it is obviously not a Gilbert style layout.
Eleven years ago I had a more traditional Gilbert style layout in part of that room and wanted to build a dramatic room filling layout. My wife vetoed that plan, she did not want construction noise and dust in the house and had other plans for me that did not include eight hour days hidden away building a layout. The solution was simple, have one professionally built. The result would be far better than I could ever do and complete in less than a year.
I contracted with SMARTT and the layout was delivered and installed in November of 2016. Go to www.smarttinc.com, then Layouts, then Personal, then Larger Scales. My layout is the one on the upper left titled S Scale 17’x21’. The photos and video were done in their Miami factory with the layout about 90% complete.
To answer another question, the backdrop was custom painted in the factory by a specialized artist SMARTT has on contract.
My intent was to create a scale environment in which to operate any S scale item ever made. We succeeded with one footnote. In order to get the track plan I wanted I compromised on the original minimum design track radius. It is 30" rather than my planned 34"R. As a result there are a few long rigid wheelbase steam engines from River Raisin that will not make those curves. Simple solution, I did not buy those engines. Everything else, scale or highrail, runs on it.
Here is a picture of a 1952 342 0-8-0 switcher. The 1952 version is harder to find. It has the 5-wire connection between the engine and tender, red glowing smoke and type 5 tender trucks. The type 5 trucks were used just prior to the switch to knuckle couplers with the sintered iron truck side frames. These longer trucks were made to solve the perpetual problem of the steam engines with four wheel trucks switching into neutral when transiting the 90 degree crossing. Type 1 through 4 link coupler trucks have two springs embossed, the type 5’s have three springs embossed and are longer.
Tom,
Thanks. I do have a set of the red heavyweights. This is not the best photo. I’m not sure why I didn’t photograph the whole set. It could be because I had a very limited camera back in 2007 when I took these photos.
Wow, you are to be commended. Back then as a kid, these were strictly toys to be played with. Keeping them in pristine condition was never on my mind, less so on my brother’s mind.
My philosophy was to buy the best condition I could find, even when it meant I could purchase fewer items. Here is an an example, the desirable BAR Reefer, mint OB in the Clearpack. I also included a picture of my Lionel version (new 93). The original Gilbert is far better with sliding doors and a painted body. The Lionel is unpainted red plastic with non opening doors and looks a bit tacky sitting adjacent to the Gilbert car.
