Needham Meats Reefer in HO —update—

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

During my days of employment many years ago I would often pass by the former NYC main line just east of Cleveland (Collinwood Yard) on my way in to work and look for railroad activity.

On one such occasion I saw a train stopped for fuel and amongst the rolling stock were several refrigerator cars in this spiffy blue paint scheme:

needham_meats by Edmund, on Flickr

I filed the mental image away thinking, someday, I’d like to have a model of such a car. So, I found one by Intermountain in a yellow motif but, so far, in HO, I haven’t found any in the blue regalia.

Needham_meats by Edmund, on Flickr

Does anyone have any recollection of the blue paint scheme ever available in HO in something just a tad more detailed than a Tyco or AHM model? It seems like it would be a popular item, sort of a modern-day billboard reefer. Short of that, were decals ever made commercially?

*[edit] Well, insert foot-in-mouth!

I just did another quick search and came up with an Intermountain model with the blue scheme!

https://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/html/45523.htm

[D)][:|]

Thank you, Ed

2

Looks like it addresses the detail issue, too! [swg]

Wayne

3

May or may not be up to your standards, but Athearn offered the blue version about five years ago:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH86051

4

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. I’ll keep an eye out for the earlier release of the Intermountain car. Sometimes the hunt makes the challenge fun.

Regards, Ed

5

Yes, Intermountain. Zientek Hobbies in Chicago has a bunch of the blue cars. Check your personal messages.

6

Thanks again to all involved [Y]

Sioux_City_Beef by Edmund, on Flickr

Thanks to Autonerd, who made a trip to Zientek Hobbies I now have a pair of the blue-painted Intermountain reefers which I recently completed the assembly of same:

Needham_a by Edmund, on Flickr

My dressed beef is now traveling in style!

Regards, Ed