Since I don't consider a caboose or mantenance of way equipment (cranes, pile drivers, etc.) to be freight cars, it is really hard to choose. The more one researches the types the variations are amazing. Take the ubiquitous box car. Probably more variations on that than anything else. I like the ones with the holes in the end for loading long lumber. But all things considered I have to join the prior few posters who said Pickel Car. I am especially fond of the open sided ones. I did not realize how common they were until I was doing research for Space Mouse's layout design contest a few years ago. My entry then, of course, had a "Dillary" just for the pickel car.
Gotta be cabeese - I still get a bit freaked when I see a train without one. I keep wanting to flag the train to tell them they lost the rear of the train.
The favorite car I own? This 1950s Athearn metal flat car:
One just like it was one of my first HO cars. It's been upgraded with a new deck, instead of the embossed plywood one that was the original.
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
In N scale, Government of Canada cylindrical grain cars. Saskatchewan grain cars, Take A Break in Alberta grain cars, the salmon and yellow wheat sheaf cars, or the Canadian Wheat Board cars, all of them, in long bunches. In box cars it has to be the Great Northern's reds, blues, and greens, with or without the goat. Boy, those were some beautiful box cars.
-Paul
NYC Pacemeker freight cars. Not the proper caboose in the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DedSRztwI
I found the proper caboose and a fellow in our club painted and decaled it for me.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Hi!
Gotta show my age here................ I'm a special fan of any and every freight car built in the 30s thru the 50s. Boxcars, hoppers, gondolas, tankers, stock cars, flat cars, reefers, and of course the caboose - all are really special to me. Each one has its own purpose, and each was very interesting to me.
During that time period, most all freight trains were mixed, with cars from so many different railroads, cars with roofwalks and all the details that made them so unique. While there wasn't a lot of color to the cars of the 30s and 40s, the color spectrum hit the fan in the 50s, when each road seemed to have a special paint job for their new boxcars and the like.
Most all the trains I've seen in the last 20 years are still impressive, but the cars are either identical or very similar to one another that it can (almost) be boring.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Any Freight Car that haul's Freight.
Russell
I love most freight cars, with the notable exception of intermodal and such things.
40' Brown Boxcars are my all time favorite.
Matt ;-)
Proudly modelling the Quebec Railway Light & Power Co since 1997.
http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com
http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com
I would have to say gondola cars. Just outside of the mill town I grew up there was the end of a yard that stored empties (PRR) In our pre and early teens (late '40 & early 50"s) we would check the empty gondola cars for scrap metal left in them. One day carrying a bag full of scrap the engineer in the shifter gave me a ride. We weren't worried about the railroad police because they knew us, our names and where we lived. Yes, we would climb on the box and tank cars but never entered a box car, nor would we take anything that didn't look like scrap. We appreciated that they let us get the scrap and respected ther property.
I like gondolas. You can see what is in them and all kinds of possibilities.
RMax
Have always liked the ubiquitous 40', 1950s era boxcar [ in all their heights, colors] and since am in need of same, will definitely seek some out at tomorrow's big, local Concord MRR Club Train Show, here in Concord, NH @ the Everett Arena. TTFN.....papasmurf
LATE P.S. Got three '50s era, 40' Fallen Flag boxcar kits for $13 at show and sold $120 worth of surplus HO.......YEE HAA!
I LOVE covered hoppers, Of the 110 freight cars I own, 55 are covered hoppers, with 40 of them grain hoppers.
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
Any make 40 ft boxcar that has the Canadian Pacific 'Spans the World' logo. Talk about narrow minded eh?!
Dave
P.S. I also have a thing for MOW stuff, especially snow plows, but any other things like blacksmith cars, fire fighting, or work cranes will also tickle my fancy.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Pickle cars are my favorite too.
I don't know of any in S, but I also have the book Easy-to-build Model Railroad Freight Cars with Eric Stevens article so I will eventually scratch build one.
Enjoy
Paul
My favorite freight car has to be my pickle car. The model was scratch-built from plans feature in the now out of print "easy to build freight cars" article by Eric Stevens. I named the car after my pet Beagle who sadly passed away last October.
Have Fun.... Bob.
For some reason I love loaded coal hoppers, not really anything special about a single one, but a coal drag w/ 30+ hoppers looks fantastic running the rails.
Secondly, something w/ some real character: just love flats, bulkhead and centerbeam. Have a great time working on "removable" loads.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Boxcars!! Just love pickin' up, kitbashin', paintin' and decalin' 40' boxcars. Here is one I completed in times past, an MDC humperdill.
My favorite freight cars never existed in the 1;1 scale world. They are 7 axle articulated coal hoppers, class SeKi550, of the Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo.
My second favorites are the SeKiFu300 class coal hopper-brake vans that run with them in unit train service.
Both satisfy my personal need for things that might have been, but never were.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with fingers crossed and tongue in cheek)
My favorites are the 60' and 86' Auto Parts Cars that I have built:
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
"Reefers." Lots and lots of refrigerator cars. My Yuba River Sub hauls tons of California produce eastbound between May and October, so I need as many 'reefers' as I can get, LOL!
After that:: Stock cars, boxcars, automobile cars, gondolas and flat-cars. But only up to 1953.
Here's one of my older 'reefers', an Athearn metal kit from the late 1950's.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Boxcars...I plan my industries around boxcars..
However,to breakup the boxcar boredom I use covered hoppers,tank cars and some gons.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Wreckers. Granted they are maintenance of way cars rather than revenue freight cars, but I still like them
This one is the Athearn kit and so is the wreck caboose.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I have 2 favorites that I cant decide on. First is my RD4 coal cars. Right now I have over 70 of them and when I build a train with them all it looks impressive, I love it. The other set is my intermodal well cars.
Massey
A Veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."
I think tank cars are my favorites- so many different types and different owners.
I have wanted a tank car from each of the 1950s TEXAS affiliates of national major oil companies.
Have them all now except Humble/ Esso.
Tanks for specialized commodities, exclusive to a particular industry...
Railroads had their own tank cars for company service.
And THIS is a tank car too... "BOX-TANK" AAR Mechanical designation XT
acid tanks, insulated tanks, wooden tanks for pickles and vinegar, helium tanks....
Alvie thats one huge flat car!!!
"Mess with the best, die like the rest" -U.S. Marine Corp
MINRail (Minessota Rail Transportaion Corp.) - "If they got rid of the weeds what would hold the rails down?"
And yes I am 17.
Non Profit Train Video Review Information.
William
I have a soft-spot for the PRR's heavy-duty flatcars in particular this one below:
http://mountvernonshops.com/QM.html
I hope one day to either build or acquire a model.
Alvie
My favorite?
Any car that doesn't derail!
But if I really had to choose, grain hoppers, especially my Accurail ones followed closely by the autoracks.
Gord
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
My layout can be switched from the 1900's to the 1950's. To swithch era's I simply swap out a few buildings and the main locomotives and rolling stock.
My favoirite freight cars are the 36' box cars with the truss rod construction and also the early billboard refers with their company advertising.