I am trying to find out what era the Difco Side Dump Cars are from. I have been unable to find any reference to them before the 1980’s. Info would be much appreciated. Thanks!
If you’re referring to the Walthers cars, they are from approx. the 1980 era and later. Earlier versions were smaller and somewhat different. Several other manufacturers produced similar designs.
The Great Northern Railway acquired 100 of the Walthers’ style cars in 1968 or so. They were painted black with a unique style of lettering (for the GN). As they were non-revenue equipment, they were given X-series numbers, denoting MOW. Can’t quite recall the series exactly, but I believe they were the X-7000 to X-7099.
Thanks to both Mike and Rick for the quick reply to my question. Yes , my reference was to the Walthers cars. They seem like such a good idea that I thought they had been around a lot longer. My layout is built sort of around the early fifties so they won’t fit in. Too bad! Walthers has a good price on them this month. Thanks again!
I am not sure where they came from, but I do have one of them. It is bright orange and lettered for Amtrak. I am purchasing another one that is also bright orange- this time lettered for CSX. These are used for ballast and other materials on maintanence trains, and that is what they are used for on my model railroad.