Recently I acquired an old AMBROID kit for “Livesay Poultry Car”; the kit was part of an auction lot of stripwood. The seller has no knowledge of trains, selling on behalf of a deceased friend. THERE WERE NO INSTRUCTIONS!! Not even a picture! The kit has lots of bits of wood inside, some decalled and painted. I’m not scared of this sort of kit, but I have no idea what a Poultry car looks like! Can anybody help?? A copy of the instructions would be great ;-)) I’ve emailed Ambroid (who now only make glue) but no reply. I emailed NorthEastern Scale Models, who supply the stripwood; they gave great service by replying immediately, but unfortunately couldn’t help. Even a picture would be a good start! I have quite a good collection of old Model Railroaders, if anyone can pinpoint this kit I might be able to find it in an old magazine. I’ve been modelling for more than 20 years now, but I can’t remember ever seeing a Poultry Car!
Have you checked MR’s online magazine index? I’ve seen something somewhere on this kit, perhaps a kit review. But they may not be in the index. The model probably is more than 20 years old, so references to it may not be in your collection.
Bob Boudreau
Cutting,
There’s an outside chance that the NMRA’s Kalmbach Memorial Library might have the instruction sheet in their files:
http://www.nmra.org/library/
It’s worth a try. Their photocopy fee is reasonable, even if you’re not a member. If not, here are the article citations from the Index of Magazines:
Poultry car Model Railroader, October 1947, page 804 ( DRAWING, POULTRY, STOCKCAR, FREIGHTCAR, PROTOTYPE, MR )
Strictly for the birds - a Poultry Car Railroad Model Craftsman, May 1951, page 10
( DRAWING, “MILLER, BILL”, POULTRY, SCRATCHBUILD, CONSTRUCTION, FREIGHTCAR, RMC )
Live poultry car Model Railroader, July 1961, page 26 ( DRAWING, “GEISSEL, J. HAROLD”, POULTRY, STOCKCAR, FREIGHTCAR, PROTOTYPE, MR )
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Here’s a link to a Palace Poultry Car photo. Don’t know how a Livesay compares, but it’s a sure bet the birds ain’t riding in a palace. (Yuck, yuck…)
http://www.sacramentohistory.org/search.php?imageid=1363
Wayne
There is a book about the history of Gainesville, Georgia that has a picture of some guys loading one. I’ll try to get you a copy of the picture. I believe that it was pretty good and showed an open door. Shoot me an email if I forget.
I was pretty supprised the such a thing existed, but poultry is a huge business around here so I guess it was something that they tried.
The NEB&W freight car database has several photos of poultry cars, as well as general rosters and histories:
Thanks guys for all your help!! I should be able to get something out of all this!
Cutting,
You can find a bit more text and two illustrations of poultry cars on pages 268 through 270 of:
The American Railroad Freight Car, From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel
John H. White, Jr.
1993
The Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN 0-8018-4404-5
Don’t know how many copies of that tome there are in Oz, so you might want to request photocopies from the NMRA’s Kalmbach Memorial Library:
http://www.nmra.org/library/
Good luck with the kit.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Whyte’s book The American Railroad Freight Car, 1850-1900 (I think that is correct) has a picture of a poultry car in it. This may or may not help with yours. Be advised, though, that this book is double-oversized and HEAVY and fees for an inter-library loan from USA to NZ may be prohibitive. [:o)]
Thanks guys for your help, I’ve managed to get plans for a similar (but not exactly the same) Ambroid kit via the Kalmbach Library at the NMRA. And every now and then I do a search on Ebay to see if anyone is selling the same kit; maybe one day I’ll find the exact one … thanks again for your help!
Don’t know how similar it is to yours, but Ye Olde Huff n Puff makes a kit for one http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/HOFreight.HTM
Enjoy
Paul