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The closest I come to this is a car hauler with four 1955 Buicks on board. The Oxford models were just too nice not to get.
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I don’t know if 1955 Buicks would have been being shipped in early august, 1954, but I played a little fast and loose to make it happen
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-Kevin
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Looking at my vehicle collection I would say that half of my vehicles do have a specific year. I guess it depends on the maker. All of my Micro Machine Corvettes have a year. And many of my Malibu Internationals, Model Power Minis, and Motor Max Fresh Cherries have a year.
I’d like to add a thought to this discussion. Model vehicles are available for many time periods, but with a glaring exception. It’s possible to find vehicles to fit almost any time period from the 1930s to the 1960s, and it’s possible to find vehicles for post 2000. But there are virtually no vehicles available for the period from the 1970s to the 1990s. I’ve spoken to manufacturers at different train shows and suggested this is an opportunity, but have seen no products yet. Athearn’s excellent open-sided auto racks are just begging for loads, but none are available at any price. Vehicles, like Sylvan’s with excellent detail, could be produced for placement around the layout. I believe there’s also an excellent opportunity for less expensive, but still accurate vehicles for auto rack loads or placement on the layout in background locations.
Does anyone else see this opportunity?
Blackhawk Lines
The new 3D printed cars have 70’s models. My peave is manufactures retire models, Athearn macks, Walthers, cmw 50’s fords, International Harvestors, Whites, plus their car models, you can only find them on auction sites
Looking on EBay shows a company called Brekina making some vehicles that are late 60’s and maybe some early 70’s. Busch used to have US vehicles in the 90’s like the Crown Victoria, but they’re nowhere to be found other than EBay.
I’ve found a couple on eBay. Honda Accord, VW Passat, Ford Escort, most were from Busch, I believe. But of the Gen X-familiar vehicles I find, there tend to be way more Ferraris and Porsches than you’d expect to see adjacent to an American railroad.
What I really want is a Chrysler Cordoba with rich Corinthian (by way of New Jersey) leather. There are some diverse offerings to be had on Shapeways if you don’t mind painting, but they seem a tad expensive. And most I’ve found don’t have open windows and detailed interiors.
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So do I. The STRATTON & GILLETTE is a very early user of trailers on flatcars. By August, 1954 they are accounting for about 5% of all traffic on the line.
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-Kevin
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In my version of 1954, the government has already corrected unfair rates and tariffs for piggyback, and piggyback interchange is in full swing, several years before TrailerTrain.
So even though I model the east, you can see piggybacks from roads all over the country.
Fact is most modelers don’t even understand the complex growth of piggyback in the early 50’s because of the restrictions and complexities of federal rate and territory regulations on both trains and trucks.
Regulations that might have made sense in 1900 or 1930, but were outdated long before the 50’s, and not fully repealed until 1980 with the Staggers Act, Motor Carriers Act, and the 1976 Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act.
The ATLANTIC CENTRAL sports a fleet of nearly 100 piggyback flats covering nearly every railroad who had piggybacks in 1954, as well as a few “foobies” who did not really get into piggyback for a few more years (those roads may have gotten in earlier with the improved regulatory climate).
Here is a typica
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I never noticed this about Woodland Scenics vehicles.
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I only own one, this log truck.
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I think you are correct. It looks kind of like a 1930’s truck, with features similar to several, but not exact as far as I can tell.
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Neat.
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-Kevin
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