wood car kits

[Anonymous]

i would like to make wood cars from kits. i model in ho scale 1800's . don't know where to start. what mfg. what kits. how do i tell if in right time frame? any help will be appreciated. lynne

[IRONROOSTER]

1800's is a pretty long time frame.
This site has some 1860's boxcars and flatcars http://www.btsrr.com/bts9507.htm
This site has some that are more late 1800s to very early 1900's. http://www.labellemodels.com/main.htm
Enjoy
Paul

[orsonroy]

Westerfield:
http://www.westerfield.biz/

Funaro & Carmelengo:
http://www.fandckits.com/

Old & Weary Car Shops:
http://www.theoldandwearycarshop.com/

Accurail:
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/

LaBelle Woodworking:
http://www.labellemodels.com/

Tichy Train Group:
http://www.tichytraingroup.com/

American Model Builders:
http://www.laserkit.com/
http://www.rgspemkt.com/index.html

All of the above manufacturers make freight car kits appropriate for the 1800s (late 1800s, mostly). In addition, Bachmann, IHC and Roundhouse (now part of Athearn/Horizon) make RTR and kits of cars which will work for your period. Most of the above manufacturer's offerings are resin car kits, with LaBelle and AMB making wood kits. (real wood doesn't look like "real wood" in scale; the grain's too big. But most of us "feel" that real wood looks better. Which meduim you use is a tossup).

As for figuring out which cars are appropriate, it's called doing research. Probably the best place to start is to go to the NEB&W freight car database, pay $7 for a month's subscription, and start reading. The NEB&W site is THE best place to find general freight car data, either on or offline.
http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/

Also dig through the Library of ongress' website, looking for pre-1900 photos. Don't just look at train-related images though; some of the best photos with trains aren't listed as being train-related:
www.loc.gov
There are now thousands of good historical photo collections online, most of which contain SOME train imagery. It's worth digging around online.

[Anonymous]

thank you. lynne