A friend just sent me photos of boxes of model train stuff from a recently deceased FIL. One of the boxes was full of those Model Railroader 50th Anniversary box cars. Were those sold or offered as a premium with a subscription, how many were produced? I am just wondering how this guy ended up with so many.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Are you talking about the gold Athearn 40' boxcar? If so I know there is one stashed in my collection too. At the time I didn't subscribe to MR as the public library did. But I recall getting mine at Hawkin's Rail Service in Lafayette, Indiana, so I know they were sold. How many of these do you have? There could be some interest in them at the club I am a member of.
Good Luck, Morpar
I bought mine at my local hobby shop after reading about it in a 1984 issue of Model Railroader.
Found on e-bay. It's a kit with horn-hook couplers. Looks cool, but I'm passing.
Never had luck with car kits (Walthers tank cars). Not going again. Ever!
kasskaboose Found on e-bay. It's a kit with horn-hook couplers. Looks cool, but I'm passing. Never had luck with car kits (Walthers tank cars). Not going again. Ever!
I believe that the one in the photo is an Athearn car. Not sure what Walthers has to with it. Basically throw in a screwdriver and shake the box.
I have no idea how many were made, but 40 years later they are still about as common as sand on the beach.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
I like the 40th anniversary car better.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
kasskabooseFound on e-bay. It's a kit with horn-hook couplers. Looks cool, but I'm passing. Never had luck with car kits (Walthers tank cars). Not going again. Ever!
If your kitbuilding experience is based on the Proto 2000 tank cars, that's a challenging kit. An Athearn car would be much easier to assemble.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Yoohoo! Over here!
<<<< this poor fellow doesnt have one, and would love to get his hands on a pristine, unassembled one of these without it costing like its 'real gold' paint.
Been fishing the bay, but i must be using the wrong bait.
PMR
PS: I have Republic Credits!
Here is a N scale one that I bought from Bobbye Hall's Hobby House in the mid 80's.
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
I seem to recall being told that the Model Railroader 50th year cars were overproduced and eventually once the 50th year hoopla had quieted down, quietly sold off at discounts, presumably to wholesalers but eventually to buyers who intended to strip them and repaint. I also recall reading that Gordon Odegard of MR found a box of the N scale cars at the office and repainted all of them either for his layout or one of the MR project layouts. The reason I remember that is that David Popp talked about it on one of the earlier MR Video Plus videos, because Popp had been looking for one.
My memory is getting fuzzy on things like this but it might be that the NMRA's 50th year the year after MR's 50th year might also have involved a special freight car from the NMRA and that might also have cut into the demand for the MR cars once the 50th year was actually over.
Dave Nelson
Page 244 of the MR Jan. 1984 issue
Page 196 of the MR Jan. 1984 issue
The advertisements for the 50th anniversary models of the MR appeared in the O and S scale, but I can't find the HO scale. I believe the HO was sold by Athearn, not Kalmbach. It seems that the HO that was found in bulk was purchased by a model shop and forgotten to be displayed in the showcase.541
Found it for $12 and built-up:
https://yardsaletrains.com/collections/what-new/products/32360-346599
Anyone know of this site's reputation?
kasskabooseAnyone know of this site's reputation?
It did say down at the bottom that the site code was updated 2023. My guess is that it's trying to shovel content across the connection in the background. None of the content pictures could be opened on my system.
On the up side -- I had no idea there were lotsa 65th Anniversary cars.
dknelsonThe NMRA's 50th year the year after MR's 50th year might also have involved a special freight car.
There were many NMRA 50th anniversary cars. Even passenger cars and a GP-35 locomotive.
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
That GP-35 is in one of the worst paint schemes ever.
I have seen a few of the golden 50th anniversary boxcars at hobby shops and train shows. Did not realize how common they were. That GP35 looks pretty nice even though the lettering is extremely faint.
kasskaboose Found it for $12 and built-up: https://yardsaletrains.com/collections/what-new/products/32360-346599 Anyone know of this site's reputation?
Have had business with them 4-5 times over last several years. Never a problem, always used PayPal.
Site deals in N Scale.
Do you want to see more 50th anniversary cars? OK, I'll show you my collection.
NMRA 1985 1186
Miniature Railroad Club of York, PA 1993
Model Railroad Club of Union, NJ 1999
New York Society of Model Engineers 1976
Highland Park Society of Model Railroad Engineers 1998
Pasadena Model Railroad Club 1990
Bobe's Hobby House 2004
Original Whistle Stop 2001
Al's Hobby Shop, Elmhurst IL 1997
Bobbye Hall's Hobby House 1996
Atlas 1999
Athearn 1997
MDC Roundhouse 1988
Walthers 1982
Tyco 1976
BN7150Do you want to see more 50th anniversary cars? OK, I'll show you my collection.
And quite a collection it is -- the Walthers car, second from the bottom: interesting that they chose a kit from the old Silver Streak line of double sheathed wood car kits that they acquired. As I have remarked before on these forums, that is an example of a kit that when it was introduced in the 1950s was marketed as easy to assemble, and by the 1980s was sold by Walthers as a craftsman kit!
I remember when the MR 50th Anniversary cars came into the shop I worked at. We got them through a normal distributor, probably Trost, Cleveland or Walthers. We sold a few dozen of them before the local demand tapered off.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
maxman kasskaboose Found on e-bay. It's a kit with horn-hook couplers. Looks cool, but I'm passing. Never had luck with car kits (Walthers tank cars). Not going again. Ever! I believe that the one in the photo is an Athearn car. Not sure what Walthers has to with it. Basically throw in a screwdriver and shake the box.
Thank you! Where to get the MR 50th anniversary cars built-up? I think it's cool to show respect to MR.
kasskaboose Where to get the MR 50th anniversary cars built-up?
Ebay Buy It Now for $11.24 including shipping
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley