Hi all Anyone know of a site that features classic N scale freight cars? I know of the A1G site, but was wondering if there are any other sites out there? Thanks for any info. Thom
Model or prototype? For the prototype see: http://www.steamfreightcars.com/ There are a couple of my N scale models shown there. :embarassed:
Thats a great site! Im looking for sites with older N cars such as AHM, Roco etc, from the 60's and 70's.
I wish there were more sites like A1G out there, and I'd do them myself if there were not Multiple Competing Priorities preventing that. I have not come across any in N Scale, though-- there are several covering HO rolling stock-- so they're either not out there or they are hiding very well! The nice thing about looking after a site like A1G is that updates are not often required. Once in a while a variation becomes known to me, and if I can get pictures suitable for posting I will do that. But the roster of cars doesn't change a whole lot other than that! Those of you that follow A1G, I am slowly "upgrading" the photos to single "pop-up" shots of individual cars vs. the "group shot" which was literally a scan(!). I think I'm about half done now.
Adding Roco, Trix, Bachmann, ConCor, MDC etc to the AIG site could make it something similar to the Spookshow Locomotive site, only larger. There may be other makers like Lima that show up from time to time. I can see where it could make a full time job.
Glenn, I agree on both counts: would be nice, would be full time job. So there are no plans to expand A1G beyond its current coverage. To be somewhat self-serving on this, the A1G site gets about five percent of the traffic that the UMTRR site gets, so resources need to be focused where the "return" is... even if it's just page hits. There is no question that Early N Scale is worthy of some net based "preservation." It's been around roughly forty years now! In general, manufacturer sites do not do a very good job of holding images of sold out items. For example (and they are not the only one but they are the first I thought of beyond Micro-Trains) Intermountain once had a good set of information on their earlier items down to road numbers, but that was years ago. Obviously the focus needs to be on what they can sell. It would be up to us "N Scale Historians" to pick up the slack. Oh, and handle our Day Jobs and other Multiple Competing Priorities. The N Scale Collector's Society (disclaimer: member and contributor to the magazine) is in fact interested in all manufacturers, not just Kadee/Micro-Trains which gets the bulk of their focus. Before anyone starts throwing stones, though, keep in mind that everything in the magazine comes from those of us who make the time to write (or in my case, edit down...). I am pretty certain that NSC would gladly accept reasonably well written articles on the topic. George Johnsen is around here someplace and I'm sure he'd agree. For now, the best reference remains "The Collector's Guide to N Scale" by the late Barry Wingard, unfortunately long out of print and rarely seen anywhere. (I doubt that the press run was very large.) If you can find a copy somewhere it's well worth picking up.
George I find your site very informative. I visit it often. I have a small collection of classic's that I'm slowly building. Many of my own, bought when new in the 80's, and now finding at different shows. Been finding a few of the AHM, ACF center flows, like the NYC "Flexi Flow". Thats the kind of info I'm looking for, info about the AHM cars, etc. Im going to try to find the book you mentioned. Sounds like it would be very good. Thom
AHM made in Austria Center flow hoppers 4441B ACF Gray w/black letters Rd#52000 4441C Burlington RED w/black letters RD#18517 4441D Union Pacific DK Gray w/ black letters RD#86100 4441E Great northern Green w/ white letters No number 4441F Shell plastics yellow RD# 5220 4441G Enjay Plastics White w/red & black Letters RD#52793 4441H GULF Gray RD#52463 4441I Rexall Plastics Gray,red yellow,blue w/black letter RD#52508 4441K FMC Corporation Lt. Grayw/Black letters RD#52793 4441L Stauffer Red w/white letters RD#52508 The other flex-flows you mention such as NYC flex-flows were Atlas Austria made stripped and repainted by ESM(Eastern Seaboard models) http://www.esmc.com/1100/Item1101.html
Great info Route 66. I have a red Stauffer Chemicals, same road number as the one you have listed, only red. Is the red one rare, or just a variation? Thom
http://www.trainweb.org/cons/SortbyBrand.html Although this for the C&O it does give a lot of the info you might be looking for.
My Mistake the Stauffer car is red I corrected it on my list If you need any other info let me know I will see if I have more information.
Incidentally on the Flexi-Flo cars, all of the AHM/Lima offerings are "fantasy schemes" as none of those roads/private owners ever owned or operated those cars. Many of them duplicate schemes done on the HO versions, but I don't recall ever seeing a Stauffer or FMC version in HO. Fantasy or not, they were eye catching. I sold all of mine off in an accumulation purge in several years ago, but kept the ESM ones. The ESM roadnames are all legitimate and based on prototype schemes. The New York Central, through its Merchants Despatch Transportation subsidiary (the same entity that had the MDT refrigerator cars) operated the prototype fleet first. I saw MDT-lettered Flexi-Flo cars into the 1990's.
Great info guys! Have a question about the case liner color. I have one case that has a yellow/orange liner color, and the rest have yellow liners. Does this mean these are different years, or? Thom
Kirk Reddie (N Scale Railroading) and I have discussed my doing an article on the "first generation" freight cars starting with the Roco (MiniTrix/Aurora Postage Stamp, Atlas, MRC, AHM, JCT, ESM, E-R, Con-Cor, Walthers, etc.), and continuing with Rivarossi, Mehano, Bachmann, Arnold Rapido/Revell, Lima, and Con-Cor. I need to dig out my Roco records and get a photo setup established. Thanks for the reminder!!! Charlie Vlk
