That’s interesting: it’s an Avery label done on a computer printer. That’s the first time I’ve noted ‘custom’ boxes for these small runs labeled that way. (Beats using labels with “SAMPLE”!)
3 Likes
I presume that the company that put this label on, i.e. the manufacturer that decorated the model, is the Show Me Railroad Company. They tend to be elaborate with their labels.
2 Likes
It says ‘Dulaney Enterprises’ on the Certificate of Authenticity (which I note reads ‘Pine Gove, W.V.’ 
Dulaney Enterprises decorated a range of Frank’s Roundhouse O-gauge cars in the early 1990s, so I find it completely credible that they handled these Athearn cars. Whether they or the ‘Forest Festival committee’ printed the labels is not something I know, but if there are other examples of box-ends for Dulaney Enterprises-produced cars in the “desktop-publishing” era, we might be able to tell if the company ran the labels. I find it much more likely that the Festival Committee people responsible for obtaining and offering the cars made these particular labels, which have no information regarding the prototype cars…
3 Likes
That’s good information.
I couldn’t find the company name in the Railroad Magazine Index so I just assumed it was an agent.
2 Likes
Plot thickens: the actual pad printing may have been done through Seymour Knight and his Pleasant Valley Process Company of Cogan Station, PA. See here:
There are examples of ‘Dulaney Enterprises’ cars on eBay; their boxes appear to have Avery-style labels with dot-matrix printing.
Incidentally, in what may be a subset of ‘custom models’, Intermountain appears to have done business with a sort of analogue of private-label pocket watches: I see eBay listings for cars whose box-end labels read “Offered exclusively by” either distribution companies (like Nixon Enterprises) or hobby stores (like Express Station Hobbies) – this from the early era of computer desktop publishing when just having your name on the box label had more cred…
4 Likes
Ridgeley & Midland County
MDC/Roundhouse 50’ FMC slide-door boxcar, stock#1957 released in 1981
R&MC (RMC) is a small railroad with a layout called Allegheny Midland Railroad, built by Tony Koester. He is the editor of RMC (Railroad Model Craftsman) magazine. The layout is themed around coal transportation in the West Virginia area.
Page 134 of the May 1981 issue of MR magazine
I’m not sure what the relationship is to the real railroad, South Branch Valley Railroad, which has a similar mark.
South Branch Valley Railroad (SBVR)
MDC/Roundhouse 50’ Pullman Standard boxcar stock#1908 (PS-5277), released in 1981.
“Almost Heaven, West Virginia” is the opening line of John Denver’s song “Country Roads.”
4 Likes
Looks as if SBV copied it from Koester’s version! (There is precedent for this if you know the history of the D&H RF-16s…)
SBV operates on a former B&O branch in eastern WV, with its northern terminus (and connection to 'the national system of transportation (unsurprisingly ex-B&O CSX) just east of Frostbirg. West Virginia acquired the line in 1978 with intent to operate, which was then a ‘first’; not long afterward much of the line was washed out in flooding, but was rebuilt. Omnitrax currently operates it under contract.
There is a scenic railroad using the tracks, the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad; I’m surprised there is not more discussion about this as it seems so close to where 1309 operates…
3 Likes
Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, Elkins & Cass, WV
Athearn 50’ slide-door boxcar
According to Wikipedia, the railroad began operations in 1997, and judging from its configuration, this model appears to have been released around that time.
Mountain Rail West Virginia | Scenic Train Rides in West Virginia
5 Likes
Appropriate to use that Flash Gordon style rocket! Current power is only about half a decade older than those serials…
Here’s the Rocket when it was using the Climax:
and here is the Heisler borrowed from Cass Scenic:
9 Likes
I can’t understand this “Durbin Rocket” at all. 
2 Likes
It’s humor. Trains with ‘Rocket’ in their name are supposed to be fast and streamlined. The ‘Durbin Rocket’ is anything but!
This could be compared with the ‘Harley’s Hornet’ nickname for the Potomac Turbo, where the turbine train itself was wickedly modern, but wretched tracks kept it to 79mph…
4 Likes
You have to be there to understand. It’s Defn a different vibe in that area when I was there. But that was many years ago… and I heard they had an influx of people moving in. So who knows anymore.
2 Likes
In Trains in the late 60’s they had ads for tee shirts that said Ephram Shay racing team.
5 Likes
I found this advertisement in the Trains Magazine 70-year collection DVD.
Page 57 of the June 1976 issue
4 Likes
D.W. Reed’s Hobby Stop, Bridgeport, WV
Athearn 50’ slide-door box car with decals
The shop advertised in MRG and OGR magazines. It was operated by David W. Reed from 1990 to 2016 (source: West Virginia Secretary of State).
Page 49 of the June 2006 issue of Model Railroading magazine
4 Likes
National Railroad Museum 2002, Green Bay, MI
LBF Company 50’ double-door boxcar Wow! The Canadian "National" E unit is also on display.
5 Likes
Hobby Horse, Brookfield WI
Mantua 50’ plug-door boxcar
It seems that the store has several branches in the Brookfield, Wisconsin area, but I’m not sure. They’ve been advertising in MR since the March 1956 issue.
Page 87 of the Dec. 1994 of MR magazine
7 Likes
Milwaukee Model Railroad Engineers, Milwaukee WI
Page 8 of the Feb. 1991 issue of MR magazine
Page 88 of the Dec. 1991 issue of MR magazine
7 Likes
2 Likes