1870-1890 freight cars

1800's can be hard to find. 

Here are a couple of links from previous posts I saved as sometime I'd like to maybe do an 1800's layout that may or may not get you started:

B.T.S. War Between the States Series - USMRR Nine-Stake Flatcar

Early Rail 28 ft. PRR Catlle Car

Hope helps some. MAybe SpaceMouse will chime in with more help.

 Bitter Creek will have some HO models some time this year. Go to the below link and scroll down to the lower right side and look for BC Models catalog to see what will be avaiable. I bought from the former BC Models in the 1990s. New owner. Jeff is now Bitter Creek.

http://www.hoseeker.net/misccatalogs.html

Bitter Creek. Some parts and trucks available.

http://www.bittercreekmodels.com/

Jeff told me he will be selling the below model I am building. It is circa 1900.

I bought this 1870 UP Photographer's car from BC Models arounf 1998. Jeff is upgrading it and will release it also this year.

Rich

 http://www.amesvilleshops.com/

http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/ASMMain/VentilatedBoxCar.html

http://www.silvercrashcarworks.com/

http://www.earlyrail.org/freight-cars.html

Rich

UncBob

 Any sources for 1870-1890 HO freight cars

Scratchbuilding is fun & easy with old, small wooden cars!

Plans can be found for free on Google Books. Look for "car builder's dictionary".

 Thanks for all the replies

That one site has some great cars only thing is by the time you get the trucks --couples--wheels  etc you are up to about $50 a car

 Unless you scratch build, it will be relatively expensive if you want anything different.

This guy has info on how to improve some old time Mantua cars.

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/1879/lower_mantua/

Selling nicely detailed rolling stock is not cheap if you want to survive. Try it sometime.

Rich

 I might do some kit bashing on the Roundhouse line of 34 foot truss rod freight cars, the ones with the diecast metal floors.  Arch bar trucks would be appropriate to the era.  I'd want to find as many photo's of period cars as possible, and see what I could do.  Railroad cars have a 40 year service life, so cars built in 1890 might still be in revenue service as late as 1930. Like wise in 1870, the railroad might still be running cars build in 1830, nearly the beginning of US railroading.    

dstarr

I might do some kit bashing on the Roundhouse line of 34 foot truss rod freight cars, the ones with the diecast metal floors. 

Arch bar trucks would be appropriate to the era. 

 Railroad cars have a 40 year service life, so cars built in 1890 might still be in revenue service as late as 1930. Like wise in 1870, the railroad might still be running cars build in 1830, nearly the beginning of US railroading

Maybe.  modern cars have a 40 year life, all wood cars have a considerably shorter lifespan.  The majority of wood cars probably lasted in the 20-25 year range, coal cars maybe less.

I would also look on E-bay for Mantua, AHM, IHC and Bachmann old time cars.  They are in the 30-34 foot range and appropriate for the era.  They sell a couple types of boxcars, flats, gons, stock cars, ventilated boxcars and tank cars

 I have two old time 4-4-0s for  my layout and I wanted some freight types to go along with my Overland passenger and Overton passenger cars but looks like that will be what I stay with unless I decide to pay $50 or more for my  stock 

I can run them as Fan Fare museum restored types 

 You can often find old Central Valley Old-Time car kits on the famous (or infamous) auction site.  Here's a couple I built many years ago....

These are 36' cars, which might be kinda large if you're going back into the late 1860s or early 1870s, but should be good for the 1880s.

Here are a few of the Rio Grande Models that might fit your time frame:

This one may be a little past the era.

All models are 35.00 or less most include trucks, no couplers.  While they are not shake the box prices they do make very nice models.

Guy

Cyril Durrenberger has done some excellent kitbashes of the old-time Mantua cars into Duluth and Iron Range or Duluth Missabe and Northern boxcars and reefers. They've been shown in the Missabe Road Historical Society magazine and in programs in their annual conventions. You could contact the society about getting back issues, they might even have copies of his handouts from the conventions available.

http://www.missabe.com/

UncBob

 I have two old time 4-4-0s for  my layout and I wanted some freight types to go along with my Overland passenger and Overton passenger cars but looks like that will be what I stay with unless I decide to pay $50 or more for my  stock 

I can run them as Fan Fare museum restored types 

I'm sorry I'm not seeing $50 for the vast majority of the craftsman kits cited.  Most are priced in the $20-$25 range less trucks and couplers.  Kadee sprung arch bar trucks are $8.30 at my LHS, and Kadee couplers are less than $2 per car.  That keeps all but a few to less than $40 - for a detailed, craftsman kit.  A few kits that are priced at $31-$32 would come out slightly over $40.

That said, which 4-4-0s do you have?  Roundhouse sells their Old Time 4-4-0 with their Overton and Overland passenger car sets.  But the Roundhouse 4-4-0 is really sized to represent an 1890s design, and has appliances that would be added in the 20th Century (similar to their Old Timer freight cars).  Bachmann makes an 1870s 4-4-0 that is included in both passenger and freight train sets that are heavily discounted at TrainWorld.  Bachmann 1870s cars are also available at TrainWorld at a discount.

The Bachmann cars would be your cheapest bet for new production.  As mentioned in another post, IHC, Mantua (Tyco), Con-Cor, and Model Power have all made plastic 19th Century freight car models in the past, and are often available on eBay or at train shows for less than $5 each.  All these will probably need new trucks and couplers.

The next step up in quality and price is the Roundhouse Old Timer freight car series.  Again, they are a better fit for 1905 than 1880, but truth be known 9 out of 10 model railroaders assume anything that models a wood car with truss rods will fit from 1870 to 1910.  Roundhouse kits can still be found on eBay and at train shows, while current production is all RTR.  The kits will probably need new wheel sets and couplers, and perhaps trucks as well.  New production should be fine out of the box.

my thoughts, your choices

Fred W

 Thanks for the info--I'll check TrainWorld for the freight cars 

I have 5 old timer 4-4-0 s

2 are on  a display stand for the meeting of the rails May 10 1869--The Jupiter and 119

One a Sante Fe is on a display shelf a  next to a 484 Sante Fe for comparison

The other two I repainted the tenders for the ME&O 

They are a mix of IHC--Bachman and Rivarossi 

Here are a couple of pics 

 River City, an ebay seller still sells 36' old time Roundhouse billboard and reefer  kits. I have bought some. He sells though Buy It Now. No bidding. There are 27 freight cars and 61 reefers. You need to supply your own wheels and couplers. He supplies the arch bar truck frame.Prices are around $7.00.

I use the Kadee old time 711 coupler. The #5 are grosly oversize on these smaller cars.  I installed weathered Reboxx 33-1-1.025 metal wheels.

He is slowly selling out the remaining MDC/Roundhouse stock he bought up bought up when the old MDC/Roundhouse was bought out.

Rich

Hi UncBob

I forgot the links. Save them in your Favorites folder. Tell the two in the Bachmann folders who model 1900. They might be interested.

http://www.rivercityrailroad.com/

Jay's Trains has old time stuff.

http://www.jaystrains.com/HO-HOn3/Rolling%20Stock/HO%20Rolling%20Stock/hors.htm

I have bought from both.

Rich

I would check out Clover House

http://www.cloverhouse.com/

You can download their catalogue, or order a paper copy if you prefer. They have many late 19th c. - early 20th c. dry transfer decal sets available. If nothing else, their catalogue will give you a good idea of what types of cars were in use then and what they looked like.

As a side note, I've noticed a fair number of Athearn and Roundhouse cars lettered in schemes originally only available as Clover House sets. I don't know if that's a coincidence or if Athearn worked out some agreement to use the Clover House info in decorating their cars??

In addition to Clover House, Art Griffin decals sells thousands of 1880-1920 decals including hundreds of billboard reefer decals.  All of them are prototypicall accurate since they are taken from photos.

dstarr

 I might do some kit bashing on the Roundhouse line of 34 foot truss rod freight cars, the ones with the diecast metal floors.  Arch bar trucks would be appropriate to the era.  I'd want to find as many photo's of period cars as possible, and see what I could do.  Railroad cars have a 40 year service life, so cars built in 1890 might still be in revenue service as late as 1930. Like wise in 1870, the railroad might still be running cars build in 1830, nearly the beginning of US railroading.    

the master car builder's association reported that the average lifespan of cars of the era was sixteen years

the Roundhouse cars are clearly post 1900 in design and details,

very few freight cars were air brake equipped in the 1880s

i'd suggest a check of John White Jr's "American Freight Cars" for designs and historic accuracy if that's really important to you