I recently purchased a huge lot of HO stuff at auction. It filled 5 good sized boxes. Six Diesel Locomotives, 8 GP 38 Locomotive shells only, 40 pcs of rolling stock, both freight & passenger, over 200 sections of Atlas track & switches, over 500 trees of all types (nice ones), 60+ automobiles, trucks & farm equipment, over 100 pre-wired streetlights, over 300 people, numerous pkgs of fencing, benches & other detail/landscaping materials, several unbuilt structure kits, both wood & plastic, and 2-1 gallon size zip lock bags bulging full of wheels, trucks, couplers, brake wheels, ladders & other detail parts. It's about a 50/50 mix of used & never opened NIB. It is a veritable gold mine and I can't believe I bought the entire lot for UNDER $100.!!! In the lot were these two little cuties (see photos below). They are very nice quality & beautifully detailed. The under carriages are exceptionally detailed. I have two questions: 1. Is this a fictional, fantasy line or was there an actual rail line called "Deer Run"? I've searched high & low & can find no references to any "Deer Run" road name. The road name & car #s do not appear to have been decaled on. The cars either came this way from the manufacturer or someone did one heck of a fine job of dry transferring. 2. Anyone have any ideas on which manufacturer might have made these? Can't find any reference to any kits or RTR on these types of cars with that road name. No markings on them whatsover. Any input or ides on these would be greatly appreciated. http://i45.tinypic.com/2ypndax.jpg http://i46.tinypic.com/elegsi.jpg
I recently purchased a huge lot of HO stuff at auction. It filled 5 good sized boxes. Six Diesel Locomotives, 8 GP 38 Locomotive shells only, 40 pcs of rolling stock, both freight & passenger, over 200 sections of Atlas track & switches, over 500 trees of all types (nice ones), 60+ automobiles, trucks & farm equipment, over 100 pre-wired streetlights, over 300 people, numerous pkgs of fencing, benches & other detail/landscaping materials, several unbuilt structure kits, both wood & plastic, and 2-1 gallon size zip lock bags bulging full of wheels, trucks, couplers, brake wheels, ladders & other detail parts. It's about a 50/50 mix of used & never opened NIB. It is a veritable gold mine and I can't believe I bought the entire lot for UNDER $100.!!!
In the lot were these two little cuties (see photos below). They are very nice quality & beautifully detailed. The under carriages are exceptionally detailed. I have two questions:
1. Is this a fictional, fantasy line or was there an actual rail line called "Deer Run"? I've searched high & low & can find no references to any "Deer Run" road name. The road name & car #s do not appear to have been decaled on. The cars either came this way from the manufacturer or someone did one heck of a fine job of dry transferring.
2. Anyone have any ideas on which manufacturer might have made these? Can't find any reference to any kits or RTR on these types of cars with that road name. No markings on them whatsover.
Any input or ides on these would be greatly appreciated.
http://i45.tinypic.com/2ypndax.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/elegsi.jpg
"I could never belong to any club that would have me as a member."
http://i45.tinypic.com/2ypndax.jpg http://i46.tinypic.com/elegsi.jpg I tried to make the links "live" To me they look a bit like the old Binkley Laconia cars. Are they wood? http://hoseeker.net/laconia/laconiasierracoach.jpg Deer Run was almost certainly the modeler's own layout name -- into the 1960s most layouts had made up names -- and yes someone did a darn nice job with the cars. Dave Nelson
I tried to make the links "live"
To me they look a bit like the old Binkley Laconia cars. Are they wood?
http://hoseeker.net/laconia/laconiasierracoach.jpg
Deer Run was almost certainly the modeler's own layout name -- into the 1960s most layouts had made up names -- and yes someone did a darn nice job with the cars.
Dave Nelson
Are these plastic models? If so I think they are the 34' shorty Roundhouse coaches made by MDC. These came in singles or sets of 4 in a number of roadnames.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Roundhouse-Kit-34-Overton-Coach-CB-Q-The-Fast-Mail-Item-3712-/200789169214?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2ebff7943e
Check with Athearn/Roundhouse I think they were re-released not too long ago.
OOPS! Sorry about the dead links. Posted this thread & got called to dinner. Didn't realize the links were not live. Guess I accidently selected the wrong link option at Tinypic.
Thanks so much guys for the info. The cars are plastic. The wheels plastic with metal axles. The detail parts (railings, brake wheels, ladders etc) are machined metal. They DO look like they are probably from the Roundhouse kits. They don't fit my layout location/timeline, but I just love 'em & have to keep them anyway.
There's another real little cutie in this lot that looks to be a scratchbuild. It's a little 30 foot work caboose with a horizontal mounted, cylindrical, wooden water tank on the front half. Looks like it was "scratched" from either a Tichy or Roundhouse flatcar kit. All the work done in wood. I'll get a quick photo of it & post it on this thread shortly. Also in this lot was a tiny little Yard Switcher (looks like one of the Plymouth diesels) in what are obviously some small industrial outfit's markings (SP & P in a shield). Still trying to research those intials with no luck, but that too may be a private layout marking as well.
Here's a qick pic of the little scratch built job. Not as nicely done as the Deer Run cars, but I still think it's kind of cute. Hope I chose the right link option this time.
I have a private name for my railroad-- but no rolling stock lettered that way. Santa Vaca and Santa Fe is a subsidiary of the Santa Fe. In my era, the Santa Fe lettered their equipment Santa Fe and ATSF even though property plats of the old lines still showed subsidiary names.
I am planning to use some old time/ non-fitting equipment as a movie train. I may even try to create a "accurate" models of the non-accurate ways movie companies lettered and "decorated" their historic equipment.
Your cars look somewhat similar to Sierra RR cars used and re-used in jillions of movies.
I saw the old blacksmith car that was modeled in HO in the 1950s, saw the original at Old Tucson movie set, they got it from the 1969 MGM studio auction I believe. MGM I think got it from Virginia & Truckee.
These definately appear to be the MDC/Roundhouse models of the Sierra Railroad cars. The previous owner appears to have done a nice job of adding glazing (window glass) as well as the painting. I have a set of these, and those old MDC "wood beam" passenger car trucks always rolled very smoothly. These kits were produced in great numbers in about the 1970's and still turn up in kit form at train shows.
The original cars were built for use on the Angels Branch of the Sierra Railway, a 19.3 mile branch to Angel's Camp from Jamestown. The line was very steep with 4% grades and 28 degree curves, so the small passenger cars were requested to reduce overhang on the curves. The two cars, Coach #6 and Combine #5, were built by Holman and Co. of San Francisco in 1902. Coach 6 was later sold to the Hetch Hetchy RR in the 1920s and the Angel's branch was abandoned in 1935. The cars survived, and have appeared in multiple movies and television shows. The source of this information is an article in the November 1977 Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette by Charles Givens. Scale plans appear there and have been published elsewhere. Additional information is available from sources such as Sierra Railway by Dorothy Newell Deane.
I believe that "Deer Run" is a private name railroad for the previous owner's model railroad. Custom decales would explain the neat result on the lettering.
There have been other threads on this site concerning these cars. Although other shorty passenger cars existed, these two were pretty much "one of a kind", and most anyone familiar with RR history will look at them and know that they are models of the Sierra RR cars. They have appeared lettered for all kinds of lines, large and small.
These cars have been produced several times as models. They were produced in HO scale brass by Westside Model Co. and in O scale brass by Sunset models. I believe that there was also a production run of them in cast white metal, possibly by Ulrich. A wood kit for these was also made. The MDC Roundhouse batch was very reasonably priced and also had removable roofs so that the interior could be detailed relatively easily.
Bill
AVRNUT Here's a qick pic of the little scratch built job. Not as nicely done as the Deer Run cars, but I still think it's kind of cute. Hope I chose the right link option this time.
Sorta reminds me of the old Ulrich track cleaning car:
That's it, in the middle, just above one of my favorite "back in the day" cars.
Ed
Thanks Bill & Ed for all the additional info. These are definetly the Roundhouse kits. They both have the removable roofs, but the former owner never detailed the interiors, save for the windows. That will make for a fun project on snowy winter days this winter. I'm also keeping the work/track cleaning car. Kind of think the former owner never totally finished it, as it could use some further detailing. There's no brake wheels or brake wheel rods etc. on it & the undercarriage could use some futher detailing too.
Still going through this huge lot that I bought. Some will be kept & incorporated into my layout, either as it is or repainted & re-marked to fit my location & time frame. Other stuff that doesn't fit (too modern), I'll likely sell off on Ebay this fall.