QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box?
QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? The only company I know of that does this is Intermountain. All the others must be researched.
Originally posted by BRJN You are not the only person to ask such a question; I keep looking for cars with BLT dates before 1900. [:0] Please share your sources for pre-1900 cars! Reply Edit orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:01 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by BRJN For a mid-50s layout, you could use anything that says 'AAR' or 'USRA' or 'War Emergency' in the car description. These are First World War or Second World War vintage cars. Most USRA cars had ben either retired or extensively rebuilt by 1940, so most USRA cars won't work. QUOTE: I think PS-1 boxcars and PS-2 covered hoppers will work PS-1 40' boxcars will work, since the first ones were built around 1947. 50' PS-1 boxcars won't, and neither will PS-2 covered hoppers. QUOTE: Most of your cars should be steel-sided, but some wood-sided cars will look OK too. By 1950, the national car fleet was about 70% steel and 30% wood. Most of those wood cars were 36' reefers and 36' and 40' boxcars. QUOTE: Wooden reefers look appropriate because metal is an awful insulator and in 1950 mechanical refrigeration was not common. Well, sort of. By 1950, all new reefers were steel, and mechanical refrigeration WAS being intoduced. PFE, the largest by far reefer fleet, was almost 100% steel by 1950. In general, most of your 40' reefers should be steel, and most of you 36' reefers should be wood (by 1950, 36' reefers were mostly used for meat and beer service) QUOTE: The wooden-side cars should look older (dirt, rust, splashes, spills, dents, &c) than the steel ones. Not true. Old paint technology wasn't all that great, and freight cars were painted every seven to ten years. So you could realistically have a shiny wood car next to a grungy steel one. Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:03 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? The only company I know of that does this is Intermountain. All the others must be researched. Not Intermountain; Branchline. Some other manufacturers are starting to copy BL with this info. SOME Athearn cars now have the dates on the box, as well as SOME Intermountain. It's still VERY hadrd to tell what era the car represents, just by looking at the box (or even the car!) Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:06 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by jnkbritz Originally posted by BRJN You are not the only person to ask such a question; I keep looking for cars with BLT dates before 1900. [:0] Please share your sources for pre-1900 cars! Atlas 36' trussrod reefer (1890s) Most Roundhouse cars (at least the short ones) Bachmann (Civil War sets) Funaro & Carmelengo (dozens of cars) Westerfield (dozens of cars) LaBelle (dozens of cars) Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:21 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney Hi, I haven't had the opportunity to visit a well stocked hobby shop to really look at the boxes, but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? I am hoping to model a pre 50s type HO setup and want to be sure I don't have cars newer than the era I am modeling. Pre-1950 modeling: In general, your motive power should be steam. Yes, there were lots of diesels out there, but they were still restricted to either switching or passenger service. If you MUST have freight diesels, buy FT or F3 cab units, which were the most common (the F7 wasn't the most common until right at 1950 or so). As for freight cars, they should be a mix of lots of different car types, all painted drably. There were more freight car designs in the 1940s than today, and it was very uncommon to see two identical-looking cars next to each other in a train (except for coal hoppers). Boxcars should mostly be 40 feet long (with a few 36-footers, which still made up about 10% of the national car fleet), and all be different heights (a signature of steam-era freight trains is the "stepped" appearance of the rooflines). All cars should be some color brown (dark, medium, oxide red). Manufacturers to lean heavily on for a basic roster should include: Accurail (any wood or composite boxcar, their AAR 40' steel box, their twin hoppers, wood reefers) Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) Roundhouse (36' box and reefer) Red Caboose (X29, 1932, 1944 AAR steel boxcars, flat, 36' reefer) Intermountain (1944 AAR boxcar, USRA composite gondola, reefers) Bowser (anything Pennsy with the "circle Keystone" herald, covered hoppers) Branchline (40' boxcars) Life-Like Proto 2000 (tank cars, 52' gondolas, 50' boxcars, flat cars) Walthers (anything "old"; check the writeup in their catalog) Remember, the key to making a believable 1940s layout is in keeping the freight car fleet BLAND. Brilliant paints schemes, streamlined lettering, and big cars didn't show up until almost the end of steam (post-1958). You'll undoubtedly buy a few cars that aren't correct (everyone doese once in awhile), but so long as you keep to a few basic car buying principles, those cars won't be noticeable. If you ever become truly interested in building a period-correct layout, I highly recommend joining the NEB&W website. It's got more information on freight car history and 1940s modeling than a full year's worth of buying EVERY hobby magazine printed. http://railroad.union.rpi.edu Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply pcarrell Member sinceFebruary 2005 From: In the State of insanity! 7,982 posts Posted by pcarrell on Sunday, December 11, 2005 10:22 AM Any of the cars here would work; http://www.steamfreightcars.com/index.html Philip Reply Texas Zepher Member sinceOctober 2004 From: Colorful Colorado 8,639 posts Posted by Texas Zepher on Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:04 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? The only company I know of that does this is Intermountain. All the others must be researched. Not Intermountain; Branchline. Thanks I seem to always transpose those two names. Reply jxtrrx Member sinceJanuary 2005 From: Southern Colorado 752 posts Posted by jxtrrx on Monday, December 12, 2005 5:50 PM The book "Model Railroaders Guide to Freight Cars" answers a lot of your questions. I really enjoyed it. http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12450.html -Jack My shareware model railroad inventory software: http://www.yardofficesoftware.com My layout photos: http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/jxtrrx/JacksLayout/ Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 12, 2005 6:19 PM QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country[:I]) Reply Edit dehusman Member sinceSeptember 2003 From: Omaha, NE 10,617 posts Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 12, 2005 6:36 PM Actually F&C offers only 2 pre 1900 freight car kit series. #3801 1890's boxcar (of questionable accuracy) #6220 Rutland hopper bottom gondola The rest of their kits are post 1900 or pre 1900 cars that have been modified to meet post 1911 safety appliance laws. Westerfield offers a few of the early steel or composite cars. 1300 series XL boxcars 2300 GL hoppers 2400 PSC hopper 3400 PSC ore car 10500 36' box, very close 10600 gon. Plus there are several more post 1900 cars with pre-1911 safety appliances. Dave H. Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com Reply fwright Member sinceNovember 2002 From: Colorado 4,074 posts Posted by fwright on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 9:18 AM Other resources for the pre-1900, Ye Old Huff 'n Puff offers some kits in HO - none have any particular protoype that I know of. Also, Trout Creek Engineering is another source - these do have specific prototypes. When you can find them, the old Central Valley and Binkley kits fit the era. IHC has inexpensive old time cars in both RTR and kits - mostly available as MOW right now. Mantua (Tyco), Bachmann, Model Power, and Con-Cor have or had RTR old timer series of cars that are larger than scale for their purported 1860s era, which better fit the latter part of the 19th century. yours in 1900 and earlier Fred Wright Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:46 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country[:I]) Not quite. The whole reason for the billboard ban was that the cars were originally used in general service. Hence, a car painted for Hershey Chocolate could actually contain hot dogs, or even worse, Mars Chocolate. Shippers didn't like advertising their competition, so the ban was put in place. Afterwards, flash paint schemes WERE still allowed, so long as the car was in captive service to the shipper that leased the car. So later periods ended up with brilliant schemes like the Swift red cars (1949-1960 or so), but those cars were ONLY used by Swift. They're not considered "billboard" cars. Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 11:13 AM PS-1's were built in the late forties, but I believe nobody makes that model, Kadees,Accurails and Intermountians all are based on a fifties style car.I think McKean models made one a few years back. Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 3:42 AM QUOTE: QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country) Not quite. The whole reason for the billboard ban was that the cars were originally used in general service. Hence, a car painted for Hershey Chocolate could actually contain hot dogs, or even worse, Mars Chocolate. Shippers didn't like advertising their competition, so the ban was put in place. Afterwards, flash paint schemes WERE still allowed, so long as the car was in captive service to the shipper that leased the car. So later periods ended up with brilliant schemes like the Swift red cars (1949-1960 or so), but those cars were ONLY used by Swift. They're not considered "billboard" cars. -------------------- Modeling the NKP in Peoria, circa 1950 "Steam: the only choice!" Ray Breyer Thanks for your help Ray. Heartbreaking news for me 'cause I have to put a lot of that colorful cars aside [|(]. I'm modeling the C&O's transition era. Regards, Andre Reply Edit waltersrails Member sinceJuly 2005 From: CSXT/B&O Flora IL 1,937 posts Posted by waltersrails on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 8:35 AM Athrean and model power has several cars for that era. also if you look on the car it says when it was built. at least on most of them. I like NS but CSX has the B&O. Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 1:07 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails Athrean and model power has several cars for that era. also if you look on the car it says when it was built. at least on most of them. Athearn has many cars DECORATED for that era. They only have a VERY few freight cars that are correct for the era (or for ANY freight car ever in existence), most of which are their twin hoppers. Their pre-modern (and pre-Genesis line) boxcars, gondolas, flats and reefers are incorrect for any freight car ever built. Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply CMSTPP Member sinceAugust 2005 From: Along the old Milwaukee Road. 1,152 posts Posted by CMSTPP on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 2:39 PM Alot of the forty foot long cars that are lettered for the milwaukee road, northern pacific, great northern, and many others that I could name are usually from the 50's era. If you have a smaller railroad I would go with mostly forty foot cars. Like I said they usually come from the 50's era. James The Milwaukee Road From Miles City, Montana, to Avery, Idaho. The Mighty Milwaukee's Rocky Mountain Division. Visit: http://www.sd45.com/milwaukeeroad/index.htm Reply Subscriber & Member Login Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more! 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QUOTE: Originally posted by BRJN For a mid-50s layout, you could use anything that says 'AAR' or 'USRA' or 'War Emergency' in the car description. These are First World War or Second World War vintage cars.
QUOTE: I think PS-1 boxcars and PS-2 covered hoppers will work
QUOTE: Most of your cars should be steel-sided, but some wood-sided cars will look OK too.
QUOTE: Wooden reefers look appropriate because metal is an awful insulator and in 1950 mechanical refrigeration was not common.
QUOTE: The wooden-side cars should look older (dirt, rust, splashes, spills, dents, &c) than the steel ones.
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
QUOTE: Originally posted by jnkbritz Originally posted by BRJN You are not the only person to ask such a question; I keep looking for cars with BLT dates before 1900. [:0] Please share your sources for pre-1900 cars! Atlas 36' trussrod reefer (1890s) Most Roundhouse cars (at least the short ones) Bachmann (Civil War sets) Funaro & Carmelengo (dozens of cars) Westerfield (dozens of cars) LaBelle (dozens of cars) Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:21 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney Hi, I haven't had the opportunity to visit a well stocked hobby shop to really look at the boxes, but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? I am hoping to model a pre 50s type HO setup and want to be sure I don't have cars newer than the era I am modeling. Pre-1950 modeling: In general, your motive power should be steam. Yes, there were lots of diesels out there, but they were still restricted to either switching or passenger service. If you MUST have freight diesels, buy FT or F3 cab units, which were the most common (the F7 wasn't the most common until right at 1950 or so). As for freight cars, they should be a mix of lots of different car types, all painted drably. There were more freight car designs in the 1940s than today, and it was very uncommon to see two identical-looking cars next to each other in a train (except for coal hoppers). Boxcars should mostly be 40 feet long (with a few 36-footers, which still made up about 10% of the national car fleet), and all be different heights (a signature of steam-era freight trains is the "stepped" appearance of the rooflines). All cars should be some color brown (dark, medium, oxide red). Manufacturers to lean heavily on for a basic roster should include: Accurail (any wood or composite boxcar, their AAR 40' steel box, their twin hoppers, wood reefers) Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) Roundhouse (36' box and reefer) Red Caboose (X29, 1932, 1944 AAR steel boxcars, flat, 36' reefer) Intermountain (1944 AAR boxcar, USRA composite gondola, reefers) Bowser (anything Pennsy with the "circle Keystone" herald, covered hoppers) Branchline (40' boxcars) Life-Like Proto 2000 (tank cars, 52' gondolas, 50' boxcars, flat cars) Walthers (anything "old"; check the writeup in their catalog) Remember, the key to making a believable 1940s layout is in keeping the freight car fleet BLAND. Brilliant paints schemes, streamlined lettering, and big cars didn't show up until almost the end of steam (post-1958). You'll undoubtedly buy a few cars that aren't correct (everyone doese once in awhile), but so long as you keep to a few basic car buying principles, those cars won't be noticeable. If you ever become truly interested in building a period-correct layout, I highly recommend joining the NEB&W website. It's got more information on freight car history and 1940s modeling than a full year's worth of buying EVERY hobby magazine printed. http://railroad.union.rpi.edu Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply pcarrell Member sinceFebruary 2005 From: In the State of insanity! 7,982 posts Posted by pcarrell on Sunday, December 11, 2005 10:22 AM Any of the cars here would work; http://www.steamfreightcars.com/index.html Philip Reply Texas Zepher Member sinceOctober 2004 From: Colorful Colorado 8,639 posts Posted by Texas Zepher on Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:04 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? The only company I know of that does this is Intermountain. All the others must be researched. Not Intermountain; Branchline. Thanks I seem to always transpose those two names. Reply jxtrrx Member sinceJanuary 2005 From: Southern Colorado 752 posts Posted by jxtrrx on Monday, December 12, 2005 5:50 PM The book "Model Railroaders Guide to Freight Cars" answers a lot of your questions. I really enjoyed it. http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12450.html -Jack My shareware model railroad inventory software: http://www.yardofficesoftware.com My layout photos: http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/jxtrrx/JacksLayout/ Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 12, 2005 6:19 PM QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country[:I]) Reply Edit dehusman Member sinceSeptember 2003 From: Omaha, NE 10,617 posts Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 12, 2005 6:36 PM Actually F&C offers only 2 pre 1900 freight car kit series. #3801 1890's boxcar (of questionable accuracy) #6220 Rutland hopper bottom gondola The rest of their kits are post 1900 or pre 1900 cars that have been modified to meet post 1911 safety appliance laws. Westerfield offers a few of the early steel or composite cars. 1300 series XL boxcars 2300 GL hoppers 2400 PSC hopper 3400 PSC ore car 10500 36' box, very close 10600 gon. Plus there are several more post 1900 cars with pre-1911 safety appliances. Dave H. Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com Reply fwright Member sinceNovember 2002 From: Colorado 4,074 posts Posted by fwright on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 9:18 AM Other resources for the pre-1900, Ye Old Huff 'n Puff offers some kits in HO - none have any particular protoype that I know of. Also, Trout Creek Engineering is another source - these do have specific prototypes. When you can find them, the old Central Valley and Binkley kits fit the era. IHC has inexpensive old time cars in both RTR and kits - mostly available as MOW right now. Mantua (Tyco), Bachmann, Model Power, and Con-Cor have or had RTR old timer series of cars that are larger than scale for their purported 1860s era, which better fit the latter part of the 19th century. yours in 1900 and earlier Fred Wright Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:46 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country[:I]) Not quite. The whole reason for the billboard ban was that the cars were originally used in general service. Hence, a car painted for Hershey Chocolate could actually contain hot dogs, or even worse, Mars Chocolate. Shippers didn't like advertising their competition, so the ban was put in place. Afterwards, flash paint schemes WERE still allowed, so long as the car was in captive service to the shipper that leased the car. So later periods ended up with brilliant schemes like the Swift red cars (1949-1960 or so), but those cars were ONLY used by Swift. They're not considered "billboard" cars. Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 11:13 AM PS-1's were built in the late forties, but I believe nobody makes that model, Kadees,Accurails and Intermountians all are based on a fifties style car.I think McKean models made one a few years back. Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 3:42 AM QUOTE: QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country) Not quite. The whole reason for the billboard ban was that the cars were originally used in general service. Hence, a car painted for Hershey Chocolate could actually contain hot dogs, or even worse, Mars Chocolate. Shippers didn't like advertising their competition, so the ban was put in place. Afterwards, flash paint schemes WERE still allowed, so long as the car was in captive service to the shipper that leased the car. So later periods ended up with brilliant schemes like the Swift red cars (1949-1960 or so), but those cars were ONLY used by Swift. They're not considered "billboard" cars. -------------------- Modeling the NKP in Peoria, circa 1950 "Steam: the only choice!" Ray Breyer Thanks for your help Ray. Heartbreaking news for me 'cause I have to put a lot of that colorful cars aside [|(]. I'm modeling the C&O's transition era. Regards, Andre Reply Edit waltersrails Member sinceJuly 2005 From: CSXT/B&O Flora IL 1,937 posts Posted by waltersrails on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 8:35 AM Athrean and model power has several cars for that era. also if you look on the car it says when it was built. at least on most of them. I like NS but CSX has the B&O. Reply orsonroy Member sinceMarch 2002 From: Elgin, IL 3,677 posts Posted by orsonroy on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 1:07 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails Athrean and model power has several cars for that era. also if you look on the car it says when it was built. at least on most of them. Athearn has many cars DECORATED for that era. They only have a VERY few freight cars that are correct for the era (or for ANY freight car ever in existence), most of which are their twin hoppers. Their pre-modern (and pre-Genesis line) boxcars, gondolas, flats and reefers are incorrect for any freight car ever built. Ray Breyer Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943 Reply CMSTPP Member sinceAugust 2005 From: Along the old Milwaukee Road. 1,152 posts Posted by CMSTPP on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 2:39 PM Alot of the forty foot long cars that are lettered for the milwaukee road, northern pacific, great northern, and many others that I could name are usually from the 50's era. If you have a smaller railroad I would go with mostly forty foot cars. Like I said they usually come from the 50's era. James The Milwaukee Road From Miles City, Montana, to Avery, Idaho. The Mighty Milwaukee's Rocky Mountain Division. Visit: http://www.sd45.com/milwaukeeroad/index.htm Reply Subscriber & Member Login Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more! Login Register Users Online There are no community member online Search the Community ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Model Railroader Newsletter See all Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox! Sign up
Originally posted by BRJN You are not the only person to ask such a question; I keep looking for cars with BLT dates before 1900. [:0] Please share your sources for pre-1900 cars!
QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney Hi, I haven't had the opportunity to visit a well stocked hobby shop to really look at the boxes, but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? I am hoping to model a pre 50s type HO setup and want to be sure I don't have cars newer than the era I am modeling.
QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher QUOTE: Originally posted by btdowney but are the years the car were actually manufactured listed on the box? The only company I know of that does this is Intermountain. All the others must be researched. Not Intermountain; Branchline.
QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes)
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country[:I])
QUOTE: QUOTE: Originally posted by andre-ingels QUOTE: Atlas (36' meat reefers WITHOUT billboard schemes) I tought billboard schemes were authorized again somewhere in the 50s, could it be? Andre Brussels, Belgium (The Beer Country) Not quite. The whole reason for the billboard ban was that the cars were originally used in general service. Hence, a car painted for Hershey Chocolate could actually contain hot dogs, or even worse, Mars Chocolate. Shippers didn't like advertising their competition, so the ban was put in place. Afterwards, flash paint schemes WERE still allowed, so long as the car was in captive service to the shipper that leased the car. So later periods ended up with brilliant schemes like the Swift red cars (1949-1960 or so), but those cars were ONLY used by Swift. They're not considered "billboard" cars. -------------------- Modeling the NKP in Peoria, circa 1950 "Steam: the only choice!" Ray Breyer
QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails Athrean and model power has several cars for that era. also if you look on the car it says when it was built. at least on most of them.