Would the small (4" or so) Die cast ore cars be used during the steam era?
Who makes these die cast ore cars? I recived one recently and I can’t figure out would made it. I’d like to buy some more but I want to figure out what era they were used in and the manufacture.
Thanks.
Are you talking about the 22’ iron ore cars from Walthers and MDC/Athearn? These cars have been in service all through the steam era. Some of the original Varney cars were metal, later plastic, IIRC.
Jim
If it’s metal it probably is a Varney, they still show up on Ebay. They would easily fit into the mid to late steam era (1920’s on) and even with early diesels.
One caution, these little buggers can give a loco quite a workout! Especially if you add loads- the car weight will be right up there, so pick your motive power carefully !
I actually saw them in a train publication I recieve. The name of it escapes me. The sold like 10 of them for $60…
I’m not sure the scale translation. I know the one I have is about 4" long.
if its 4 inches it probaly HO. I thougth roundhouses cars were originaly metal, but i may be wrong here. As for getting more, roundhouse made nice ones. I’m not sure if they are still avalable and if so weather they are avalable though round house or athearn. Walthers also makes some nice ore cars.
[quote]
Originally posted by mr_mathyou
if its 4 inches it probaly HO. I thougth roundhouses cars were originaly metal, but i may be wrong here. As for getting more, roundhouse made nice ones. I’m not sure if they are still avalable and if so weather they are avalable though round house or athearn. Walthers also makes some nice ore cars.
[/quote
do you know what thier called. I look up coal cars and I get the standard 3 bay etc. I wish Walthers dated stuff.
Check ore cars. If it’s the type it sounds like, it’s probably an iron ore jimmy, 70 ton capacity but only 22 feet long. Walthers sells them in 4-packs, and, with extended sides for taconite loading, in 12-packs.
The prototype was pretty much restricted to the iron ore country around Lake Superior.
Chuck.
yes ore cars they are as tomikawaTT said.
tichy train group/gould corp makes some older wodden ore cars that are really cool, or in the words of my mom “really cute”. where would the tichy ones have run? I have one thats unlettered that I want to do something with someday. when would cars like this have been taken from servace?
HO scale is 3.5mm to a foot; 4" = 100mm = 28½ feet in HO.
Currently, Model Power, in thier Mantua Classics line is the only one producing reasonably price diecast frieght cars.
http://www.modelpower.com/site/519087/page/293977
In the past, Urlich and Varney were major producers, see:
Mine looks like this http://cgi.ebay.com/UNION-PACIFIC-COAL-HOPPER-8000-DIE-CAST-BOTTOM_W0QQitemZ5952417152QQcategoryZ484QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Wow I like those ore cars. Nice.
I am pretty sure that your car is the Roundhouse (Model Diecasting) kit. You can easily find more of them on Ebay…
http://cgi.ebay.com/Roundhouse-HO-1424-Ore-Car-Kit-Union-Pacific_W0QQitemZ6052037534QQcategoryZ19139QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Yup that sounds like an early Roundhouse car. John Allen used them on his layout. The same car was later made in plastic by MDC/Roundhouse, and is still available today both with the rectangular side and outside braced. They’re based on cars used in Upper Michigan iron ore service from about 1920 on. (The current Walthers HO ore cars are based on “Minnesota” ore cars. The cars used in northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan are a little taller and narrower than the Minnesota cars.)
You can find information about MDC/Roundhouse ore cars at the links below:
http://hoseeker.net/swapgallery/modeldiecastingkits
http://www.hoseeker.net/lit.html
Larry
That is deffinately a MDC/Roundhouse ore car. I contacted Athern about them and was informed that they had no plans of ever producing them. Hopefully this may change. Instead I bought 200 Walthers ore cars. Horison lost a good sale there. I’ll be needing more of the cars so I guess when Walthers has them on sale again I’ll buy another bunch. I’d be happier with the MDC taper side cars but sometimes you got to do with what is out there. The Tichy and Gould wood cars were early cars that were replaced by the steel cars. I have some of the Tichy cars that I’ll use in MOW service. Westerfield also makes a steel car of an earlyer prototype. I’ll be getting some of them one of these days.