How about NO new beer cars nor any other non-prototypical “collector” cars advertising products in non-prototypical lettering schemes for that matter?
And since when are “beer cars” non-prototypical?
Mark
WGAS
Nothing wrong with beer cars themselves, it’s all the non-prototypical “collector” colour schemes for beer cars and also trucks, tractors, baseball teams etc., etc., stc., and other non-prototypical “collector” schemes I was discussing.
If no one bought them, they would not make them. Evidently there must be a market, which may, or may not, be model railroaders.
Who’s to say they are all fantasy schemes? Matter of fact bill board reefers were frequently repainted and often in a different color and/or lettering style each time, heck you could have a different advertisement on each side if you so desired, and examples of this did exist, or I suppose one could scoff at the automotive supplier that leased and had custom painted several reefers for which they had no purpose other then to perform the function of a rolling billboard to advertise their non-rail related products while earning some lease money!
I model the roaring twenties when billboard reefers were in their heyday, yet, I elect not to have any on my layout for the simple fact they were uncommon in the part on the country I model, should I ever desire to include them or find photographic evidence to the contrary , I will.
Dave
Are you saying we should collect only prototypical stuff? My layout is freelance and what I put on it reflects that. If I want to put something ‘non-prototypical’ on it I will and you nor anybody else can tell me I can’t. I’ll collect what I please.
Thought this was going to be a rant about advertising alcoholic beverages.
Very simple answer to the problem you perceive - if you don’t like 'em, don’t buy 'em.
As for non-prototypical, I run seven-axle articulated coal hoppers of no recognized parentage and a 2-6-6-2T in a country that never had a steam loco with more than five drive axles…
If non-prototypical overpriced junk didn’t sell, the half-dozen or so companies that live on it would have gone bankrupt. If they depend on me and the OP for future sales, they had better plan for bankruptcy now.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Although the Interstate Commerce Commission banned “billboard advertising” cars from interchange service in 1937, in earlier years these could be seen on our nation’s rails. So, the “beer reefer” is not some kind of sales gimmick thought up by model manufacturers. It was a sales gimmick thought up by the meat packers and brewers who used the cars.
This Wikipedia image accompanies the “Refrigerator Car” article. When I started back in this hobby about 7 years ago, I thought reefers were “cool,” if you’ll excuse the pun, but when I started doing a bit of research, I found the ice-bunker reefers typical of the pre-war period to be particularly fascinating. An older New England Yankee at work got to telling me how he would watch them handling the ice blocks for these things, since the ice bunker reefers continued in service, long after the billboard advertising was gone.
I’d suggest spending a few minutes with the article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car
As a result of my chance encounter with beer reefers, I ended up building an icing platform and ice house model for my layout, an interesting trackside activity.
These beer cars may stretch the imagination a bit, but they’re not all that far off. If you really want something to complain about, pull out your soap box and look at this one:
Jeffrey!
I’m with you!
Dave
Wonder if you could call this a modern day beer car… [;)]