My change in what I like in O gauge continues its evolution. I bought my K-line Porter 3 or 4 years ago when they came out. I modified a Marx slope back tender with Lionel trucks to pull behind the Porter. I have 2 Atlas Bobber cabooses. I have 5 red Lionel 9330 4 wheel dump cars and just bought a green 9330 on ebay thursday. So I have this side to me that likes short and cute in trains. What other stuff is out there that is primarily 4 wheel and short?
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
The Lionel (MPC) 9090 Mini-max car is short and has four wheels. It's from the early 1970's. At least some of them came from the factory with casting sprues running between the floor and roof in the doorway openings. A little slip of paper instructed the owner to remove them.Most also came with three small two piece pallets loaded with a cube. The color of these loads varied.
How about Marx 6" tin? It is usually four wheel, and they can be very affordable.
J White
Marx 6" tin came to my mind also. They can also be very colourful. My girlfriend loves and collects those herself.
I'm right where you are, Boyd. I'm a fan of short trains. In addition to the ore cars that came with the Plymouth (I have an extra string of KCC cars if you'd like 'em) and the countless 6' Marx, Lionel also has the Thomas 'troublesome trucks' and Annie/Clarabel pair which, while bigger than the others, are 4-wheeled and eminently customizable.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Prewar Flyer, Hafner, Marx, Ives, Bing, Dorfan, Fandor... just about everyone who had clockwork sets available made 4-wh cars at one time.
When I read 4 wheel and short cars, I thought I was going to read something about Marx 6 inch! Marx is definitely the way to go, it is common, cheap and affordable, and there is just so many cars and engines out there, you could go nuts buying it and still not have anywhere near a fraction of it after collecting for a while. The variations are endless, and some of the later 6 inch is extremely detailed and realistic! Check out my layout with all 6 inch running,
watch?v=mcx1CZmLchM&feature=g all c
Ebay is the best place to start looking, because for some reason, not much of it appears at train shows, at least not in my area.
Trevor
I would rather stay with cars larger than the tiny old Marx cars. I have had some, but they don't fit in my mind behind a short and wide Porter.
Marx also made bigger 7" 4 wheel tin cars that were similar to their 3/16 scale tin line of trains. Later they produced 4 wheel versions of their regular plastic freight cars.
When I was in On30 I built several 4 wheel ore cars. A simple styrene box with an upside "V" bottom and appropriate details mounted to a single truck. The sides of the bodies usually hung down low and covered up the truck sideframes a bit.
Here's a website that has plans for tin-plate 4-wheelers from salvaged tin cans and/or olive oil tins; littleglitterhouses.com
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