Hey guys. Did the Rio Grande actually use the cookie box car or is it just a fantasy car?.
They really did but there are so many models out there that are about as wrong as you can get as far as car type and color scheme. The Branchline Yardmaster one is a good example, it the correct silver scheme, but it's a 1937 AAR car, clsoe but no cigar. There's a Life Like one (train set level) that is REALLY bad, it's some outside braced car.
There weren't many of them painted in the Cookie Box scheme. It was (so it seems) to service a Keebler plant somewhere along the line. As such, there seem to be few if any photos of the prototype. But they were real.
Mentioned here but no photo of the cookie box scheme:
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/other_cars/drgw_cars/drgw_number/068000-069899.htm
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Here's one...
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw60037jpa.jpg
Have Fun, Ed
They were used to ship cookies/etc. from the Keebler bakery in Denver. It is odd to see an insulated car with sliding doors, most such cars are plug doors.
rrinkerThey really did but there are so many models out there that are about as wrong as you can get as far as car type and color scheme. The Branchline Yardmaster one is a good example, it the correct silver scheme, but it's a 1937 AAR car, clsoe but no cigar. There's a Life Like one (train set level) that is REALLY bad, it's some outside braced car. There weren't many of them painted in the Cookie Box scheme. It was (so it seems) to service a Keebler plant somewhere along the line. As such, there seem to be few if any photos of the prototype. But they were real. Mentioned here but no photo of the cookie box scheme: http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/other_cars/drgw_cars/drgw_number/068000-069899.htm --Randy Add Quote
Thanks for all the good information. Telling us about the wrong cars is fine but do you know of any that might be correct?
oldline1
oldline1Telling us about the wrong cars is fine but do you know of any that might be correct? oldline1
I think "wrong" cars are all you'll find commercially, based on years of reading reviews of Ri Grande stuff and reading the Rio Grande forum. You'll have to bash or build it yourself if you want a truly accurate model, but, hey, that's true with many prototypes.
That said, there have been a number of nicely and accurately decorated models offered (already described in art above) and the car itself was rather generic looking, enough so that I'm fine with my stand-ins.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Many thanks for the replies. I had been wondering about that car for a long time. I've got one but I never use it but I think I will now... Thanks again!.
As mentioned in the page I linked, Sunshine makes, or made, a proper car for that series. They're CLOSE to 1937 AAR cars, but a bit taller, which is why Branchline did one based of their '37 AAR kits.
The cookie box cars I'm thinking of are the ones made from the many many Pressed Steel 40' box cars the D&RGW ran:
https://i.imgur.com/SMwkKxml.jpg
I'll check my Rio Grande Color Guide but if memory serves me, the above is true. I'd sure like to see a manufacturer offer the Pressed Steel car.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
OK I have my Rio Grande Color Guide book in front of me now. There is a photo of a 40' Cookie Box box car with the caption as follows:
"D&RGW 60028 XI Series 60000-60076
The Rio Grande's famous "Cookie Box" cars were used in Keebler baked goods serice out of their Denver plant to regional distribution centers throughout the West. The cars were converted from random 67500-69899 series Pressed Steel box cars, with the 60000-60036 being rebuilt in 1954-1955, the 60037-60046 in 1959, and the 60047-60076 in 1961. An eye-catching all-silver paint job with black lettering was applied to most cars, with the distinctive "Cooke Box"logo in red as worn by the 60028, photographed in Denver in November, 1966. A few cars may have had black ends and some were painted all-white with the same lettering."
The D&RGW had hundreds of the 40' Pressed Steel box cars so it would be great if a model company would offer them for sale. They could be painted in brown with Rio Grande lettering, Grande Gold/Silver single stripe, silver Cookie box and white Cookie box. Two different doors were used as well.
Here are some constructions details:
The post WWII versions had Improved Dreadnaught 2-piece end with eight large roller-pin shapped ribs and continuous minor ribs in-between. The cars rode on ASF A-3 Ride Control trucks and both Youngstown and Superior doors were used. The underframes were equipped with Duryea sliding center sills which restricted them to on-line service when those underframes were banned from interchange in the early 1970's. The cars were used in company service in the mid-late 1970's and into the 1980's per photographs.
Although used to haul everything and anything, a few cars were stencilled for assigned service hauling lead, zinc, or copper bullion. In 1967 forty cars were set up as articulated pairs and renumbered 67431-67450AB for hauling wood chips from South Fork on the Creede branch to a paper mill at Nekoosa, Wisconsin.
So there you have it.
riogrande5761 In 1967 forty cars were set up as articulated pairs and renumbered 67431-67450AB for hauling wood chips from South Fork on the Creede branch to a paper mill at Nekoosa, Wisconsin.
Now that sounds interesting. Just did some searching around. rrpicturearchives doesn't have any of that series, darn!
Mike.
My You Tube