Which Company Manufactured These HO Freight Cars?

[PC101]

Is the 40’ PRR car oxide brown with sliding doors and has the road number of 87742?

Is the 40’ NYC car jade green with a 6 panel sliding door and with a black roof and ends and has the road number of 173888?

EDIT. I just see now one of your cars has double doors that do not move (maybe glued in place or molded in place).

EDIT- Anyone know of a 40’ Double door in MDC/Roundhouse? RE-EDIT- OK, looks like there is a Ready to Roll NYC #77141 in jade green. Thanks Rob.

All my MDC/Roundhouse are pre Horizon.

[Shock_Control]

PRR is 24301.

NYC is 77141.

At any rate, I like the idea of having the bottom steps connected to the unframe, rather than the body.

[PC101]

Bottom view of a MDC/Roundhouse kit 40’ box car’s plastic frame. The yellow circles are the location of circles molded on to the plastic frame.

[PC101]

PRR is 24301.

NYC is 77141.

At any rate, I like the idea of having the bottom steps connected to the unframe, rather than the body.

Any chance the PRR 40’ box car has the ‘‘Don’t Stand Me Still" lettering under the “PENNSYLVANIA” lettering? I have this one with the plastic frame, it is PRR #24303. The box is marked (40’ Box Car Kit - 1042 -Pennsylvania - $4.98) in 11/4/87. I remember that PRR 40’ model #1042 came with different road numbers, you had to open the box to see what the road number was. These cars were on a lot of RR’s back then as now, only problem back then there were no end reporting marks on the cars right out of the box.

[doctorwayne]

doctorwayne MDC/Roundhouse did make some pretty good models, and perhaps made a switch to plastic underbodies - likely cheaper to produce than the metal ones, and the older plastic car-bodies would likely be a slip-on fit. They did. Some of the cars, like the 40’ box I pictured above, were released with plastic floors with cast-on steps, and the plastic parts were essentially identical to the old metal parts. Athearn continued to use this later version of the MDC 40’ boxcar with the plastic floor as a Roundhouse/RTR version.

Thanks for the confirmation, Rob, as it pretty-well clears-up the mystery.

Wayne

[Shock_Control]

Any chance the PRR 40’ box car has the ‘‘Don’t Stand Me Still" lettering under the “PENNSYLVANIA” lettering? I have this one with the plastic frame, it is PRR #24303. The box is marked (40’ Box Car Kit - 1042 -Pennsylvania - $4.98) in 11/4/87. I remember that PRR 40’ model #1042 came with different road numbers, you had to open the box to see what the road number was. These cars were on a lot of RR’s back then as now, only problem back then there were no end reporting marks on the cars right out of the box.

Yep, that’s it! Is that MDC/Roundhouse? Any idea of the approximate dates of production, based on the one-piece plastic underframe? Edit: I see 1987.

[PC101]

Yes it’s a ‘‘Model Die Cast/MDC/Roundhouse’’. Pre Horizon.

Now for that Double Door NYC #77141 car.[^o)]

[wp8thsub]

Now for that Double Door NYC #77141 car.

Do a web search for “NYC 77141” and you get photos of a double door MDC Roundhouse car.

[dti406]

The only problem is the car with the number 24303 is an X29 which had the “Don’t Stand Me Still” logo but the Roundhouse car is not a X29 which were only 9’ IH and the Roundhouse car is a 10’6" Inside Height car which makes it either a 1937 Mod AAR or 1944 AAR Car, if I could see the ends I could tell, but without seeing the ends I can’t tell.

Rick Jesionowski

[ATLANTIC_CENTRAL]

PC101
Any chance the PRR 40’ box car has the ‘‘Don’t Stand Me Still" lettering under the “PENNSYLVANIA” lettering? I have this one with the plastic frame, it is PRR #24303. The box is marked (40’ Box Car Kit - 1042 -Pennsylvania - $4.98) in 11/4/87. I remember that PRR 40’ model #1042 came with different road numbers, you had to open the box to see what the road number was. These cars were on a lot of RR’s back then as now, only problem back then there were no end reporting marks on the cars right out of the box.

Yep, that’s it! Is that MDC/Roundhouse? Any idea of the approximate dates of production, based on the one-piece plastic underframe? Edit: I see 1987.

After MDC/Roundhouse was bought by Horizon and made part of Athearn they used this tooling for lots of Athearn branded “Ready to Roll” items since this tooling was newer and better than the old Blue Box tooling for similar cars.

They are likely still using it, but I have not bought any recent releases to know for sure.

So you can find these cars as first offered in kit form in the late 80’s, as RTR from MDC, or RTR from Athearn.

I have a bunch of them, in all the versions and lots of different roadnames.

So you got these without boxes?

Sheldon

[PC101]

PC101
Now for that Double Door NYC #77141 car.

Do a web search for “NYC 77141” and you get photos of a double door MDC Roundhouse car.

Thanks Rob.

[BN7150]

The transition of the MDC AAR 40’ boxcars that I imagine is as follows.

1950- all die-cast (not assembled)

1963- die-cast plastic hybrid

1978- all plastic (some are left and right mistakes like Athearn)

2001- integration of sliding doors onto the body

2003- floor changed (diverted from the one of modern boxcar)

2005- added brake 3-piece set as separate parts and integrated stirrups to the body (after Athearn merger)

Of these, the period during which the stirrups were integrally molded with the floorboard was from 1978 to 2004. Please give me the advice of detailed modelers.

[Shock_Control]

After MDC/Roundhouse was bought by Horizon and made part of Athearn they used this tooling for lots of Athearn branded “Ready to Roll” items since this tooling was newer and better than the old Blue Box tooling for similar cars.

They are likely still using it, but I have not bought any recent releases to know for sure.

So you can find these cars as first offered in kit form in the late 80’s, as RTR from MDC, or RTR from Athearn.

I have a bunch of them, in all the versions and lots of different roadnames.

So you got these without boxes?

Sheldon

Thanks for the clarification!

Yes, I got both cars individually from train shows over the years. They had no boxes, and they were probably only 4 or 5 bucks a throw.

I had been out of the hobby for a few decades. As a kid, I had Athearn, Varney and Mantua/Tyco, so I was unaware of this type of car.

Thanks all for your assistance!

[PC101]

The only problem is the car with the number 24303 is an X29 which had the “Don’t Stand Me Still” logo but the Roundhouse car is not a X29 which were only 9’ IH and the Roundhouse car is a 10’6" Inside Height car which makes it either a 1937 Mod AAR or 1944 AAR Car, if I could see the ends I could tell, but without seeing the ends I can’t tell.

Rick Jesionowski

How is this for the end view?

[BN7150]

This is the model I assembled. I changed the sliding doors to 8-ft, but only for the atmosphere.

[dti406]

No I meanth the end view of the actual car, cars came with many different ends and they constantly evolved and one can tell the car’s era by the differences in the car ends.

Rick Jesionowski

[PC101]

Thanks BN7150, some old cars I had in a box that I never looked into or really gave it a thought who made them. I now know, reading your post they are of 1963 vintage MDC. The picture of the 40’ Green body Die-Cast Plastic Hybrid with the cast metal frame gave it away. I now see the number/letters on the bottom of your car (below the Japan sticker) but upside down and my cars match #FB101A. All of my cars like that have sprung cast metal trucks with plastic wheels and steel axles and steps/stirrups molded on the bodys and sliding doors. It’s fun to get the old stuff out and run em around.

[PC101]

No I meanth the end view of the actual car, cars came with many different ends and they constantly evolved and one can tell the car’s era by the differences in the car ends.

Rick Jesionowski

Opps sorry, I don’t have the real car handy at this moment.[:)]

[Shock_Control]

The transition of the MDC AAR 40’ boxcars that I imagine is as follows.

Thank you for all this detail! I will take a closer look at the underframes of the cars I have to determine the era. I can certainly rule out the first two you posted.

[SeeYou190]

Thank you for all this detail!

I replied to your PM.

-Kevin