Does anyone have this flat car, and if so, can anyone tell me what kind of load it came it when it was new? Or did Varney package these with various loads? I received this as a gift in the late 1960s, but I can't remember.
The stake slots on my model seem smaller than on most flat cars. There are 12 on each side. Also, there are a total of 8 tiny slots on the top of the car - 2 on each end, and 4 in the middle forming a square.
I tried to look on HO Seeker, but the Varney gallery is not working now.
Thanks in advance.
Didn't know any Varney came with loads.
rrebellDidn't know any Varney came with loads.
So would the top slots have been intended for stops to hold vehicles or similar?
My Varney catalogue shows two flatcars, one an all-steel model which looks very similar to Athearn's early offering in metal. The kit comes with sprung trucks and sprung couplers, separate brake gear components, and metal sill steps, all for $2.45.
The other one is a plastic body with a cast metal underframe, with moulded-on sill steps and rather pronounced stake pockets. There are no holes in the deck, but one photo shows a load of lumber, held in place by side-stakes inserted into the stake pockets. Cost of the kit was $2.00.There's a second photo of a loaded flatcar, shown on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid, and while it's difficult to discern the make-up of the load, it also appears to be on the plastic version of the flatcar.
I'd guess that perhaps your flatcar is a modification of the Varney plastic car, made by LifeLike, which was Varney's successor.
Varney touted the prototypical aspects of their offerings, which were quite nicely done for the time, while LifeLike catered more to the toy train market, at least in my opinion.
Wayne
It's a small world. I was sitting here reading the forum and there's a thread about a Varney box sitting right next to the computer. It's the first HO kit I ever bought, from Bob's on Walneut just north of the square in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. I'd traded in some Lionel I'd inherited from an uncle who no longer wanted it for the money I bought it with.
The descriptionof the plastic version of the Varney flat seems to fit from memory. The body of the car might still be around, not sure. The box is marked "Varney, ERIE black - with tractors, Flat Car 2733K." there was a $1.89 price penciled on the label, which has a flourescent pink "Close Out - 98 cents" sticker affixed.
I have a pair of crude plastic tractors around that MIGHT have been the tractors involved. I honestly don't recall at this point. We're talking half-a-century ago now. But I suspect tractors might have been one load and that there were others, given the specific ID made on the box.
Thanks for the memories!
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanIt's a small world. I was sitting here reading the forum and there's a thread about a Varney box sitting right next to the computer. It's the first HO kit I ever bought, from Bob's on Walneut just north of the square in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. I'd traded in some Lionel I'd inherited from an uncle who no longer wanted it for the money I bought it with. The descriptionof the plastic version of the Varney flat seems to fit from memory. The body of the car might still be around, not sure. The box is marked "Varney, ERIE black - with tractors, Flat Car 2733K." there was a $1.89 price penciled on the label, which has a flourescent pink "Close Out - 98 cents" sticker affixed. I have a pair of crude plastic tractors around that MIGHT have been the tractors involved. I honestly don't recall at this point. We're talking half-a-century ago now. But I suspect tractors might have been one load and that there were others, given the specific ID made on the box. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you! The tractors may be a reasonable assumption. Based on the positions of the holes I described on the top of the flat car, there may have been stops installed to keep the tractor wheels in place. There are two wholes on each end, and then four in the center.
Many thanks!
First. The flat car I have is ERIE #8086 one piece black plastic body and frame with three holes on the under side for brake rigging and with 12 stake pockets on each side of the deck w/round holes. Nothing hole or slot wise on the deck.
Second. The Varney is still in the blue box with white stripes noted on the box end is ''#2909 Flat Car With Logs, St. Louis & S.F.''. Car #94314 yellow plastic body with three holes on the underside for brake rigging, (no holes or slots on the deck) has a metal frame, non sprung ridged metal trucks w/ plastic wheels and axles, the axles tips are ''pinched'' in the frame w/part #P-15D396, 12 stake pockets on each side of the deck w/round holes. Oh, and three 5/8'' brown wooden ''logs". It has a hook horn x2f coupler but the other Varneys have hook and loop couplers.
All the other Varney (gondolas, two bay open hoppers, box cars) have sprung metal trucks and hook and loop couplers.
The box is printed ''AUTHENTIC, FULLY DETAILED ROLLING STOCK BY VARNEY / FIRST NAME IN HO SINCE 1936''
Shock ControlThank you! The tractors may be a reasonable assumption.
No problem. Merry Christmas!
Here's the tractors in question. Except for the black on the tires, the finish is the original.
This one had a rear wheel go astray over the years, so I propped it up on some blocks.
If they are the Varney tractors, why did they choose different colors? Mostly, you see yellow, green or red tractors together with only their same kind, not a mix loaded on the same flat. But that's nitpicking a little.
And how old are those tractors? Nitpick, not me, but heres one for you to think about, the tire on the right side of both tractors are on backwards, so if Varney made the tractors they had one mold for both tires. Look at the ''V" tread.
12/23/20 1114 hours. I have to add this, one of the fun things I like about this Hobby is the History of Model Railroading or should I say Evolution of Model Railroading?
PC101 but heres one for you to think about, the tire on the right side of both tractors are on backwards
Makes them easier to turn to the right!!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Life-Like "Scenemasters" picked up by Walthers offered a pretty decent "generic" tractor that would make a nice flat car load. I recall seeing them loaded diagonally with the narrow front end nested with the wider rear.
I don't have a photo of a new one but this old mule wound up in the junk yard:
Jaites_Scrap by Edmund, on Flickr
https://www.walthers.com/farm-tractor-2-pack-assembled-green
I enjoy having many varieties of flat car loads on the layout because they are so interesting visually.
Good Luck, Ed
PC101And how old are those tractors? Nitpick, not me, but heres one for you to think about...
Well, they're in the half-century old range, most likely looks about 1950-ish. I'm not going to let the tire treads bother me. Items like these have a lot of nostalgia for me. They've been through thick and thin. I certainly buy new (Ed's tip is a good one if you want something more in keeping with present day standards) when it's available at reasonable cost.
As a historian (who also happens to be a model railroader), I can tell you the first place you find yourself going wrong when assessing the past is doing it through the lens of the present. In the context of its creation, it was a fair model, likely treasured by many who had no better alternative at the time, and I'm not going to second-guess whose ever decision it was to save a little money on tooling costs by doing both tires in the same mold.
rrebell Didn't know any Varney came with loads.
I have a Varney flatcar in a blue and white box with transparent plastic showing the car, a Canadian National flatcar numbered 63484. But the Varney catalog number is 2909 "flat car with logs." The logs are real wood, stained in a reddish-brown, and held togther with black adhesive cords. The back of the box offers Varney kits including 2801K "flat car with load." This is from when Varney was located in Miami Florida so it migtht still have been Gordon Varney's company.
What is funny is that the stake pockets are rounded, not squared off like the prototype. If I recall the Fleischmann flatcar also had rounded flatcar stake pockets.
I also have a few of the stamped metal Varney flatcar kits. They came with stakes for the stake pockets, which are also rounded. They also some with small cardboard boxes that you'd assemble, and then apply a printed paper cover which was printed to look like a crate with lettering and wood grain.
On HO Seeker they have catalog pages from the early 1960s that show three Varney flatcars with loads: 2801 is PRR with autos; 2801 (same number!) is CNW with autos, and 2909 is SLSF ("Frisco") with logs.
A sales brochure also on HO Seeker resolves that oddity of the same number for two different products: the actual numbers were 2801PRR and 2801CNW, and 2909CN with the logs.
I have seen by the way Varney tractors in plastic, but not as part of a supplied flatcar load.
Dave Nelson