Tyco / Mantua 40 foot wood reefer car, does it have a prototype?

[dknelson]

If the question is, is the Mantua reefer (the tooling of which I think dates from the 1950s) an EXACT model of anything, then the answer is, as posted above, most likely "no." If the question is, is the Mantua reefer rather similar to actual cars -- meaning wood wides, steel ends and roof, fairly small doors, ice bunker hatches and the like - then yes, there were cars that looked more or less like that.
The NEB&W website, which is an invaluable resource for accurate information about freight cars of the 1950s, is making its comments based on a high level of knowledge and demand for accuracy. If "good enough" is your guide, then I suspect the old Mantua tooling is "good enough.

Where to go for prototype pinting and lettering information? Well one place might be old Trains magazines from the era you model and hope to see photos of yards or trains that include such cars. A more likely source is to find a Car Builder's Cyclopedia from the 1930s. This publication was aimed at the railroads, not at fans, so they tended to feature the newest and latest cars. The problem is, that would show how the cars looked when new but not necessarily how they looked by the mid 1960s, when most ice bunker wood side reefers were being phased out.
Another place to do such research -- both Walthers and Champ Decals published books of paint schemes. These show up at swap meets, often quite cheap.
Dave Nelson

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Scott218
By the way, I am not a rivet counter so I don't need my car to be an exact replica of a prototype.

I didn't say you were. I didn't say I was, either. But you DID ask a specific question on whether or not the Mantua car was a prototypical match for anything. That's a historical/technical question and NOT a judgement call on your modeling desires. I gave you a specific and factual answer to your question.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy

The Mantua wood side reefer is a bad copy of the Athearn woodside reefer, which is the Athearn steel reefer with wood sides. As such, it's really a totally freelance car. According the the NEB&W website, the Athearn car most represents the PFE R-40-24 class of cars, in their post-1955 rebuild configuration.

The biggest problem with the Athearn, Tyco and Mantua wood reefers is that the car is too tall, by over a foot. Compare your Mantua car side by side with an Accurail reefer (the best shake the box reefer on the market) and you'll see just how much of a caricature of a real freight car the Mantua is.

I'm all for adding diversity to a freight car fleet, and adding details to make a good car better. But the Mantua model really isn't a "good car", in that it doesn't represent anything realistic. You r best bet is to leave the car as-is, sell it off to a Mantua collector, and rebuild a Train Miniature wood reefer, At least that model is of a real car!

I just made a side by side comparison between my Mantua reefer and an Accurail reefer, they BOTH are the same hight (9' 6") measured from the floor to the roof eves. I also have an Athearn woodsided reefer wich is six scale inches taller than either the Acurail or Mantua cars. By the way, I am not a rivet counter so I don't need my car to be an exact replica of a prototype.

[orsonroy]

The Mantua wood side reefer is a bad copy of the Athearn woodside reefer, which is the Athearn steel reefer with wood sides. As such, it's really a totally freelance car. According the the NEB&W website, the Athearn car most represents the PFE R-40-24 class of cars, in their post-1955 rebuild configuration.

The biggest problem with the Athearn, Tyco and Mantua wood reefers is that the car is too tall, by over a foot. Compare your Mantua car side by side with an Accurail reefer (the best shake the box reefer on the market) and you'll see just how much of a caricature of a real freight car the Mantua is.

I'm all for adding diversity to a freight car fleet, and adding details to make a good car better. But the Mantua model really isn't a "good car", in that it doesn't represent anything realistic. You r best bet is to leave the car as-is, sell it off to a Mantua collector, and rebuild a Train Miniature wood reefer, At least that model is of a real car!

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for prototype information for the old Mantua 40 foot wood reefer car. This is the same car that Tyco produced in the 60's and 70's lettered for Gerbers Baby Food, Purina Pet Chow, Heinz, and Hershy's Chocolate. Despite the gaudy paint jobs they were produced with, the detail on the shells of these cars are actually quite good. I am interested in reworking one of these cars into a relalistic model by stripping off the factory paint and replacing the molded on grab irons, stirups, and toy like brake wheel with scaled down replacements. The only problem is that I don't have any information as to who owned cars that were similar to the Mantua model. I model the WWII era so a possible vintage paint scheme would have to fit that time period. Does anyone have any info that may help?