It seems to be the time to find things on eBay that I do not know what they are.
Does anyone know what this freight car would be used for?
-Kevin
Does eBay provide any type of description?
Rich
Looks like an HO scale version of the N scale Atlas log flatcar made by Roco, probably sold by Roco itself.
Or an AHM pulpwood car, which is based on an N&W car.
I had always known them to be pulpwood cars. supposedly designed to carry more than a 40’ pulpwood bulkhead car. Like Athearns version. Never heard if there was a prototype.
SHane
Not exactly sure what these are for yet, though Im pretty sure they wouldnt be used for hauling wood. Doesnt look that easy to load/unload wood.
I saw three of these cars within the last week on the “Railfan Live” channel on YouTube (couldnt make out any markings). The “Elkhart Indiana” feed which is a really good feed. This is a NS line apparently though you will see CP, BNSF, UP, AmTrak and even BLS! (that was a suprise!)
The cars I saw were emptys heading west in a merchandise train. They were orange. I remember wondering myself what they were for. If I see them again, loaded, I will post what I saw.
PMR
You will need to explain why wood won’t work to the N&W.
The side stakes unlatch and rotate to allow the logs to roll out of the car.
No, in this auction it is just called an undecorated freight car. It is over $25.00 with shipping, which seems a little high. I have never seen this model before, and it looks like it should have a home on my experiment in nonsense.
That sure does look the same. I do not recall ever seeing the N scale version either. Thank you.
Pulpwood didn’t even enter my mind when I saw the car.
That is exactly what I was thinking. The hinged sides looked like maybe for a bulk commodity, and the sides would get out of the way for unloading machinery.
Well, there we have it! Thank you for all the help, and the photograph. It is an interesting model.
Would these cars be appropriate for 1954?
-Kevin
At first glance, if wood is the load, then its a specialized wood meaning it would have to be a length that would fit easily in the sections. Get one kiltered either in loading or unloading and now you have a problem with logs ‘jamming’.
Its not a tilt bed (is it?) so I cant imagine the last couple logs on the bottom easily rolling out. Now a man or machine has to finish the job. If your gonna use a machine, just use one start to finish. This car used in this service wouldnt promote quick easy service railroads usually order special cars for.
Id hate to be the ‘unlatcher’, with all that weight against the sides. Wonder how bad the car rocks when they do this?
Im here where that “Mill closed down” (if you saw that in the news) and for 100 years of wood hauling (and this is NS) ive seen alot of wood hauling cars. Never saw these here. Looks like a time consuming/problematic way to handle logs.
However, pictures do not lie… Its a log carrier.
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[quote user=“PM Railfan”]
dehusman
PM Railfan
Not exactly sure what these are for yet, though Im pretty sure they wouldnt be used for hauling wood. Doesnt look that easy to load/unload wood.You will need to explain why wood won’t work to the N&W.
The side stakes unlatch and rotate to allow the logs to roll out of the car.
At first glance, if wood is the load, then its a specialized wood meaning it would have to be a length that would fit easily in the sections. Get one kiltered either in loading or unloading and now you have a problem with logs ‘jamming’.
Its not a tilt bed (is it?) so I cant imagine the last couple logs on the bottom easily rolling out. Now a man or machine has to finish the job. If your gonna use a machine, just use one start to finish. This car used in this service wouldnt promote quick easy service railroads usually order special cars for.
Id hate to be the ‘unlatcher’, with all that weight against the sides. Wonder how bad the car rocks when they do this?
Im here where that “Mill closed down” (if you saw that in the news) and for 100 years of wood hauling (and this is NS) ive seen alot of
You provided the definitive answer in the third post.
I followed the link. It gave me enough information to put together a search on ebay to find more of these.
I was able to locate a model with broken stirrups for almost nothing. I am going to replace the stirrups anyway, so that was a win.
Thank you for the help.
-Kevin
The article AEP linked to said they were created in the early '60s.
This is supposed to be an A1G 3000 car. Notes indicate at least three other railroads had examples (WM 756, L&N 225875, D&RGW 22846 - someone like Carl, rest his heart, would be able to document by car series).
That suicide dump locking mechanism is supposed to work like that on a GS gondola, if you wanted to model the detail more carefully.
I get the impression the N&W car wasn’t run in interchange service; none of the examples I see have a visible BLT date. But the first indication in the Freight Car Cyclopedia is as a ‘new addition’ in April 1963… so that shapes up as a big NO for the Stratton and Gillette.
…although, who’s to say that the N&W didn’t borrow the idea and design from a Stratton and Gillette prototype from a decade before? You can’t prove they didn’t.
-Matt
I already ordered the model, so it will see service in 1954!
I like it, and hopefully I can make it look at home on the roster.
It doesn’t look like any of the appliances or hardware is too modern for 1954.
-Kevin
I actually own this car. It was made by Roco in the 1970s as a ready to run model. It was the first car in my collection which was not made by Tyco. It is a pulpwood car used for taking tree branches to the paper mill. It was originally lettered for Denver Rio Grande and Western and numbered 22,846. It has truck mounted hornhook couplers which I cut off and replaced with body mounted Kadee #5 couplers.
Doesn’t seem likely since these are from the sixties and would have aged out of interchange service years ago. You might have seen something else of a different design with side stakes for carrying logs, pipe, or perhaps ties in MofW service.
And I have been looking to see if I can catch them again with a snapshot. the cars I saw were distinctive enough to catch my eye, and they looked just like these. I wouldnt put it past rebuilding for a special purpose for todays use. Thats how they came to be in the beginning. Would have been nice to catch any markings (like MOW), but couldnt see any.
PMR
If they were orange, or a yellow color, that would support the idea they were in MOW service.
As I said at the beginning of the thread, it’s a pity someone like Carl Shaver can’t determine where and how the various cars might have been put in captive service or dedicated to specific work. Up until very recently it was a common thing to see “Southern gives a green light to innovation” cars (with the green aspect in the “O”) in mixed freights on the ex-Southern NS line between Memphis and Collierville – those cars should have aged out of interchange service more than a few years ago, but there they are.
Cars built after July 1974 can be in interchange service for 50 years.
The green light to innovation scheme was at least applied to new cars through the late 1970s, so some of those cars are good to around 2030.