Truck Era Resource

[Anonymous]

The availability of truck models has been increasing lately and I would like to add some HO model trucks to my layout. My problem is identifying which models would be prototypical for a certain era. The trucks are advertised by the manufacturer and model no. like White 3000 or International R-190, etc.

Does anyone know of a resource on the web for determining when those models were produced?

[Anonymous]

Here goes nothing, I am about to proclaim my ignorance that is all-encompassing in it's coverage of a subject that I have lived a part of my life as a driver.

The International R-190's should be the late 50's The Whites is about the same time period. The new Athearn R Model Macks that are coming out date back to at least the 60's. I have driven some of these macks with a stamped build date of 1967 (Whew) Too bad they dont have Diamond Reos and Marions

The Trailers such as the 30+ footers you see with the R-190's certianly fit the late 50's I think these lasted well into the 60's before ICC demanded airbrake systems in the early 70's because trailers were getting to be 40' then 45', 48 and finally 53. Each of the 4 trailer lengths are seperated 1970, 1980, 1990 (48') and about 1994 53'

Ulrich I believe is a maker of tractor trailer models at one time, I have seen a few on ebay (regrets not buying them when oppertunity knocked) they focused on the 40's time period. I think there are alot of FSM Macks for the 20's floating about out there.

1918 was the end of ww1. And the birth of trucking as we know it today. It would take many years before paved roads and other improvements evolved. However, horse drawn teams, CASE Tractors fired by coal and early gasoline engines drove vehicles.

I distinctly remember a late 30's mack tractor. It rode on wooden wheels driven by chain. The steering wheel was solid oak 2 inches thick. It was also an open cab. The steering wheel was about 4 feet across to gain mechanical advantage. The big and beefy owner struggled and poured sweat while trying to do a figure 8 that took up a great deal of room. I am pretty big myself but dont have the consitution needed to control one of these monsters.

Alot of the ready to run truck models are very nice however I would like them to get down past the 60's and really look at the 50's, 40's and 30's because there is a demand for it.

I have purchased a few of the R-190's tractor Trailers and other trucks to fill out the collection. It is my hope with specific models such as freight houses and such on the railroad I can give a impression of Truck/Rail cooperation.

[Anonymous]

Just a little add in on trucks.... The R190's by International Harvester Corp. were introduced in 1956 I believe and were unchanged for a number of model years. Lots of them lasted into the '70s and '80s and in my neighborhood there is still one dump truck running around hauling potatos in the summer and plowing snow in the winter. The era for the White 3000 is the same.

As for trailer lengths, I drove trucks over the road until 1984 and by then even 53' was common, if not preferred by shippers of lightweight goods. (I hauled lots of empty aluminum cans, a whole 53 foot trailer load was only 5000 pounds, including the pallets and other dunnage! Was like hauling around empties all the time.)

Anyhow, back to the trucks... The wooden wheeled, chain drive Mack are from the teens and early twenties. By the thirties they had matured significantly, and if memory serves me right, they offered quite a modern vehicle in 1933.

The new models that Athearn is introducing, the B and R model Macks both originated in the mid to late '50s and a few of them are still around today.

If you are into resin kits, check out Sylvan Scale Models for some variety on your road.

http://www.1-87vehicles.org/directory/sylvan_scale_models.php

Also the IMEX vehicles include 1948 Internationals, Peterbilts and 1952? Fords.

When it comes to trucks, their use and length of service life varies as much as railroad locomotives. Some companies traded to newer models regularly while others were rebuilt until there was nothing left to rebuild.

Go to the Walther's site and look up vehicles in the advanced search and enter trucks in keyword and you will be astounded at the number available.

http://www.walthers.com

Just another hint. Unlike cars, it is not uncommon to see 20 year old+ trucks still working every day. So that should help you with matching your era.

Good luck and happy trucking!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the correction up_santafe I hauled everything except class 7 (Nuclear) and Class 1 (Explosives). Had alot of fun. I was not aware that the 53' was around that long. I did not get to haul those because the bulk of my hauling was seafood and foods into Hunt's Point and other areas of the Northeast. Later in my driving I was able to run them.

I wipe a tear from my eye when I recall my old Superliner Mack with the under drive 13 that was converted from trailer service to a dump truck. Yes it was oldie but a goodie.

A word on leasing, one of my previous employers FFE out of Texas ruthlessly leased freightliner centurys until they reach the end of the lease and traded them right back in for new copies of the same. The senior drivers got the new ones first, followed by the trainers and teams and finally to the newer driver as they accumulated miles and not so valuable to maintain in a perfect condition. After about 10 months in Reefer team service my brand new rig went from 17 miles to about 230,000 miles and was beginning to exhibit problems that required shop time. (All covered by the warranty but costly in terms of lost revenue)

They flat dont build em like they used to... then again.. they sure make em comfortable these days.

I recall a few older rigs with gas engines that you literally had your foot on the floor all day. It took you that long to get any kind of work out of them. Gasoline does not have the "HAUL" that desiels did.

[penncentral3]

A little info on the trucks! Hope this helps!
First the Athearn trucks:
The Freightliner cabover is correct for 1965 through 1973. The door handle location changed in 1974. Shaving the long double grab handles from the cab sides and replacing them with shorter ones will back date this truck all the way to the late 1950's.
These are still quite common on the road today!
The athearn kenworth is correct from 1973, (first year for the flush mounted door handles), till 1979, the last year for the double round headlights. Again, still common on the road.
The athearn Macks: The "B" model was manufactured from 1953 till 1966. The "R" model replaced it, and was available with the hood style that Athearn uses untill the early 1990's.
Atlas: The Atlas Ford tractor is an early 1970's trough early 1980's, when the headlight style was changed.
The international R-190 was introduced in 1953 and discontinued after 1966.
The White 3000 was first produced in 1949 untill around 1957, when they released the model 5000.
The Imex Ford is from the late forties and the Imex Peterbilt is from the early fifties.
If you have any other questions of any other truck models please let me know and I'll be glad to help if I can! I can be reached at : [e-mail]
Happy Modeling! Paul.

[nobullchitbids]

One minor observation from an historian not a trucker: Interstate and similar long-distance trucking really did not catch on until after passage of the Interstate Highway Act in 1954. Once Uncle Sam in effect began to subsidize the trucking firms, their competition became a genuine headache for railroads, rather than a nuisance.

[jpryke]

QUOTE: Originally posted by douort

The availability of truck models has been increasing lately and I would like to add some HO model trucks to my layout. My problem is identifying which models would be prototypical for a certain era. The trucks are advertised by the manufacturer and model no. like White 3000 or International R-190, etc.

Does anyone know of a resource on the web for determining when those models were produced?

Many Model Trucks are made by a number of small manufacturers that you will not find in the big Catalogs. When I built the Union Freight Urban Switching Layout (see MR issues 9/00 - 12/00), the layout was set in the fall of 1948, so I needed vehicles from a specific period. The manufacturers that made trucks for this period included: Sheepscott, Alloy Forms, Greg's Garage, and Smokey Mountain Castings (this latter firm went under for a while, but a recent add indicated that they were back in business under a similar (but different) name. Sheepscott makes trucks of the 30s and 40s in kit form using metal castings and hydrocal castings (for the trailer bodies). They are located in Maine, and have a web address of Sheepscott.com (If memory serves me correctly). Alloy Forms makes trucks from the 30s, 40s and 50s as kits which consist of well detailed metal castings. Alloy also now manufactures the old Ulrich truck line which had tractor trailers of the 50s. Allow is in the Walthers Catalog. Greg's Garage is a broad line of cars and trucks from the 30s, 40s, and 50s made of epoxy castings. Their parts are a little "rough" but with a little work they build up into nice models. The line is made by Greg Brown on Maple Street in Saginaw, MI. He will send you a catalog and price list for $1.00. You can get his current address from national 411. Smokey Mountain's line is made from well detailed urethane castings. trucks from the late 30s, 40s and early 50s are included. I do not have the current address of this firm, but you can probably locate their current ad which appeared sometime in 2004.

In addition, there are trucks made by the big European manufacturers (Busch, Herpa, Wiking, etc.). These are in the Walthers catalog. Busch makes a few trucks of American prototype, the other companies have stuck to european trucks, which could be kitbashed into modern US trucks with a little work. To find out the full breadth of each manufacturer's line of trucks, you can look in the Walthers Catalog, at Trade Shows, or in Ads (when they appear). Most small manufacturers (like Sheepscott) will gladly send you sheets on their truck offerings. either for a SSAE or for a small charge (like $1.00). The manufacturer's literature will usually tell you what era each truck is from.

Hope this helps.

[Roger38]

For newer trucks try these web sites: www.promotex.ca or go to 1-87vehicles.org, and type trucksnstuff in the Google search window.

[Anonymous]

MACK "Cherry-pockers" Cabovers are from '50, replaced with a shorter version about '52. What we called the "sidesaddle" (conventional cab, "pushed over" to the drivers side, came on the scene about '69

INTERNATIONALS.. "Cornbinders"...... k-models date from the mid-40's, and the
L-models came on line about '52........
GMC put their conventional "auto transmissions" out about '55........

Anyone ever heard of the "Corbett"????????/ built (and looked) like a tank, windshield little more than "slits".......hard to steer, but oh, could it pull......but it didn't survive the interstate systems

LEM

[trainnut57]

I am having the same problem locating era-specific trucks. As Highiron2003ar pointed out, trucks during the late 40's to late 50's didn't change much in appearance, only mechanically. Finding a source is difficult unless you are willing to lay out big bucks to specaialty companies. I have found a few resin kits in the Walther's catalog theat loosely resemble 50's era Ford truck-tractors, but that's been about it. THe only diversity offered is color. Hopefully these "car makers" will soon discover tha there is just as much call for 40's to 70's as there is for the modern vehicles. I just hope it's in my lifetime lol!!

[Anonymous]

Check out www.hankstruckpictures.com , lots of interesting truck info and old photos of truck makes. also Sylvan makes whites from both 50's and 60's,plus some 50's gmc's,resin unlimited has a late 50's gm also. Don Mills does an L series mack.Walthers has a r mack and a mid 60'sinternational.Also some older matchbox trucks from the sixties are usable,but mainly just the cabs.Early freightliners like athearns need to have single headlights (late 50-early 60 models)

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HighIron2003ar


Ulrich I believe is a maker of tractor trailer models at one time, I have seen a few on ebay (regrets not buying them when oppertunity knocked) they focused on the 40's time period.

Ulrich is still around . . . kinda. Check out:

http://www.railstop.com/default.asp