There was a Bicentennial Commemorative railcar from I believe Tyco I saw at a recent, local train show. I didn’t get b/c I am gunning more for the prototype. It might have been a car from this set: HO Scale – Tagged "bicentennial"
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There are very few commemorative cars Ill buy, usually only if the date means something to me
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What about limited run car’s like less than 100 , would that be a commemorative ?
I would say No. Here in the U.K. limited runs are generally model railway clubs, Model stores and Railway Charities.
David
there are here to, I just wondered what category they would fall under.
Special Editions.
David
got ya.
got ya. thank you David
There are collectibles and then there are collectibles. Most “collectibles” are anything but. In my financial planning career, the question often came up in discussions with my clients. One of the favorites was Chinese Ceramics.
Rich
The model in the photo is a commemorative item for the NMRA MER Convention 1992, and 500 were made. The exterior is a complete (old) Norfolk Southern Railway 2-bay hopper (Athearn). Is this a commmemorative car?
Page 36 of the July 1992 issue of the MR magazine
By the way, this Herald is called “Tarwheel.” I wonder if it has something to do with the nickname “Tar Heel” of North Carolina, the main area of the railway.
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To me, “commemorative” or items made solely to be “collectables” means something clearly not real - even to a non-model railroader. White boxcars, each with a different Disney character on it. Christmas cars with Norman Rockwell paintings on their side.
I would say model railroad clubs who do a limited run of an actual freight car from their area is a model of a real car, not a collectible or commemorative. Also, I wouldn’t count realistic but freelance cars as commemorative, since they usually appear plausible and don’t stick out in a train with models of actual railroad equipment. Cat Mountain & Santa Fe, Gorre & Daphetid, Virginian & Ohio, and so on.
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The Burlington Route operated the Ak-Sar-Ben (later the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr) passenger train between Chicago and Lincoln NE. That might be where the hobby company got their name?
https://www.trains-and-railroads.com/ak-sar-ben-ak-sar-ben-zephyr
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We have a blue with white lettering 50-foot boxcar on the club layout, lettered for Kalmbach’s late Milwaukee, Racine & Troy layout. Accurail-made. With a little weathering it blends right in and I don’t think anyone has ever commented on it. There’s also a plain orange Athearn 57-foot reefer with the reporting mark UNDX that seems to draw more attention.
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Apparently, Micro Trains had the one on their website mislabeled. If you click on the link now, it shows it to be HO scale.
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Atlas actually did an entire set - steam locomotive, 5 box cars, a hopper and a caboose. I live in Tennessee and went to the 1982 World’s Fair, so naturally when I came across this set I had to get it.
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We should have realized it was HO scale because of the difference in the size of the couplers. I’ve also attached a screenshot.
I would never buy a commemorative anything. I certainly would not buy any merchandise that deifies a sitting politician, that is plain absurdity.
The only commemorative items I own were presented to me during my career to commemorate my own achievements. They will never be of any value to anyone. When I am gone my wife will throw them into the rubbish where they belong.
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Graham_Line, as you say, once the model is weathered it blends into the scenery. It looks like a ninja 
However, in a display shelf…
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Doc_Fowler, I’m so jealous that you were given the commemorative model as a gift. I’d love to see it.
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