I have checked with little results and I would like to ask on this forum about the 'Subject" freight cars which follow:
A 1957 built 2-bay, ‘Light-Gray’ paint scheme, with the brand name ‘Boraxo’ in Red and an illustration of a ‘Can of Soap,’ all being on both sides of the car.
A 1961 built 3-bay, ‘Red’/‘White’ paint scheme, with the brand name ‘Bakelite’ in Red, ‘Plastics’ in White and the brand name of ‘Union Carbide’ in White on a Red-Symbol, all being on each side of the car.
I heard that these are prototype cars of which I found only one B.& W. photo. of the ‘BO-RAY’ car.
Please, I would prefer color photos. and if not, than B.& W. will be fine.
I know, this forum is for real trains and I am into model trains and I am not trying to be rude in asking you folks for a little help, but I figured someone would be benevolent to share a photo., or two.
I did search the Inter-Net, but it is almost like asking for ‘Krypto Top Secret’ info.
That is why I came here on this ‘Trains Forum,’ for help.
I would appreciate any help you folks might be able to give me.
“Pullman-Standard Color Guide to Freight Equipment” by James
Kinkaid. This book features official color photographs of the world’s largest car builder during its most colorful decade, 1960-1970. Includes hundreds of color portraits of Pullman’s freight designs for roads like the PRR, UP, NYC, ATSF and CB&Q. You’ll relish the diverse freight, passenger and transit cars. 128 pgs, nearly 300 color illustrations, 8½"x 11", hdbd.# But I think your best odds are the trade magazines of the time, such as Railway Age, Progresssive Railroading, maybe Trains, the various “Builder’s Compendiums” that might include such equipment, etc. See also this thread - http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=51341& Good luck with it.# - Paul North.
I hate to deprive my friend Eric Neubauer of a sale, but his book on Pullman Standard freight car production has no illustrations, just a thoroughly comprehensive (and indispensable to me) production list. (I’m proud to say that I helped him with research on this, poring through handwritten Pullman Company records at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and providing information from my sightings.)
Having mentioned my sightings (the computerization of which has become my major post-retirement “career”), I have to say that I never saw a Boraxo covered hopper in the flesh. U.S. Borax leased a lot of cars that I had seen, but they were plain gray. As for Bakelite Plastics cars, the only ones I recall were built by ACF Industries and numbered in the SHPX 30000 series. These cars were red and white. They would have dated from the late 1950s or early 1960s, and have long since been retired. They pre-dated all of ACF’s Center Flow cars.
Another suggestion: Walthers used to publish books of Prototype Lettering Diagrams (basically just illustrations of available decal sets). Those might be very hard to come by these days, but I’m pretty sure that both of your dream schemes were pictured there.
There are a number of web sites that deal with freight c
Here’re the links to 2 that I consult most frequently - as Carl says, there are more, and maybe some others that are ‘better’, however that might be measured or determined:
I am sorry to be a cheap skate and not buy any books, it’s just that I want at least one color photo. of each car, if there are any are around, but it seems that none are readily available.
You don’t have to buy the books - see if they’re at your local library, or if you can get them via an “Inter-Library Loan” (“ILL”) for free or a minimal fee. Better yet, perhaps someone else on here who has one or more of those books would be kind enough to look and see if any such photo is in it, and let us know here either way. Then you’d know whether the book was worth buying or obtaining a photocopy of that page, etc.
For the trade magazines from back then, some large libraries will have those issues either bound or in microfilm. You’ll need to be able to browse a year or so’s worth from about those dates to see if the cars are in those issues, or to conclude that they’re likely not.
You might also look at the archives for those companies and the trade magazines for those businesses too, in addition to the railroad trade press. A corporate history book or publication might also have a photo of those railcars from the publicity releases at the time.
Also Modern Railroads magazine, though I believe it has not been published for a couple of decades - but you might find copies in archives, etc. (I just couldn’t remember that 3rd trade press publicaiton . . . ).