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HO Rio Grande stock car

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  • Member since
    March 2018
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HO Rio Grande stock car
Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Sunday, June 3, 2018 10:45 PM

Ok, so I got a HO scale Rio Grande stock car, more than likely athearn BB. It is very close to prototype pictures, but mine is numbered 64127. Is that anything close to what it should be numbered, or should I renumber it?

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

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Posted by j. c. on Sunday, June 3, 2018 11:26 PM

if i remember correctly the D&RGW stock cars were the 36*** and 39*** series.

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Posted by gmpullman on Sunday, June 3, 2018 11:33 PM

j. c.

if i remember correctly the D&RGW stock cars were the 36*** and 39*** series.

 

I agree:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw36411ajs.jpg

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw39431jpa.jpg

64127 would probably be a box car:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw64113jpa.jpg

Good Luck, Ed

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Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Monday, June 4, 2018 10:18 AM

Thats exactly what I saw. Guess I'll have to renumber.

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

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Posted by ACY Tom on Friday, June 8, 2018 3:47 PM

According to the Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER) for January, 1953, Rio Grande's standard gauge 40'6" stock cars were numbered 39400 through 39499 (100 cars). These did not appear in the July, 1948 ORER, so it is presumed that D&RGW obtained them between 1948 and 1953. Both 1948 and 1953 ORER's show several hundred somewhat shorter and earlier cars in the 36'6" - 9' 1" range, which were numbered 36000-36199 (200 cars) 37000-37599 (404 cars existing in 1953), and 39000-39399 (395 cars existing in 1953).

I understand the Athearn car is actually based on a fairly late UP prototype, but I don't know how accurate it is for either UP or D&RGW. 

64127 does not appear in either the 1948 or 1953 issue, but I agree it would have been a boxcar. 

Tom 

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Posted by 7j43k on Friday, June 8, 2018 4:26 PM

ACY Tom

I understand the Athearn car is actually based on a fairly late UP prototype, but I don't know how accurate it is for either UP or D&RGW. 

 

 

The Athearn stock car is a model of a Union Pacific stock car, class S-40-12, built around 1950.  UP numbers were UP 46800-46999 and UP 47400-47699.  It's a double deck car, even though it has a single door per side.  It would have hauled hogs and/or sheep.  Or maybe sheepdogs or geese.  Ya never know.  But not cattle.  The cars lasted 25-30 years.  They tended to stay on the UP.

The model is crude but accurate.

The Rio Grande cars I'm looking at don't look similar.  The diagonal brances slope the wrong way, for example.

 

300 of the 500 cars were equipped with roller bearings.  The trucks looked the same as plain-bearing trucks, except the journal box lids were painted yellow.

Back when roller bearings were just getting some real enthusiasm, a railroad might hesitate to go with RB, because THEY were investing extra money in the car.  If the car went off-line, ANOTHER railroad was reaping the benefits.  So they tended to put RB's on cars that stayed on line.  Like these.

 

Ed

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Posted by ATSFGuy on Saturday, June 9, 2018 6:39 PM

Can we see a picture of your Athearn BB Stock Car?

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Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, June 9, 2018 7:18 PM

ATSFGuy

Can we see a picture of your Athearn BB Stock Car?

 

Probably someone else's:

 

 

Ed

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Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Saturday, June 9, 2018 8:53 PM

Yup, that is it.

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • 7,500 posts
Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, June 9, 2018 11:18 PM

BNSF UP and others modeler

Ok, so I got a HO scale Rio Grande stock car, more than likely athearn BB. It is very close to prototype pictures, but mine is numbered 64127. Is that anything close to what it should be numbered, or should I renumber it?

 

 

You can renumber it, but it's still a UP car.  And not a Rio Grande.

There's no one here that's gonna dump on you.  Do what makes  you happy.

 

I do.

 

 

Ed

 

PS:  When I was looking for a photo of your car, I went first to the Athearn website.  They show photos of 10 Rio Grande stock cars.  All have the 364xx number.  FWIW.  I see also that two of the entries are for 6 packs.  Interesting.

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Posted by xboxtravis7992 on Sunday, June 10, 2018 9:43 AM

I have a friend who actually has been putting a lot of research and work into building a Rio Grande Western (one the predecessor lines of the DRGW) stock car recently. I figure some of his posts on Facebook on the subject might be useful, especially if you want to model stock movements in the early1900's: 

 

https://www.facebook.com/Tintic-Range-Railway-924599314374614/

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Monday, June 11, 2018 8:59 AM

The D&RGW standard gauge ran stock trains into the late 1970's, which is pretty late, but the stock cars were more modern looking than the Athearn model.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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