What is your favorite freight car and why?


N

NP2626

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What is your favorite Freight; or, Passenger Car and why?

So, what is your favorite Freight; or, Passenger Car?

This question also includes Cabooses. Mine favorite freight cars are Box Cars! So many colors and road names and different types. Specifically for me, I love the single sheathed-outside braced wood box car. Although at the end of their service life, when I remember seeing them on the tracks, I just liked how busy these looked with the bracing and all. Although somewhat lacking in fine detail, my favorites are the Accurail cars of this type. Seeing how I really only allow cars built from kits on my layout, this precludes my use of Intermountain; or, other manufacturers of outside braced wood box cars excepting one and that is Tichy Train Groups fine kits for these types of cars. Don't get me wrong, I like all older box cars especially the 40 footers. I do have some 50 foot box cars on my layout, also. Being as I model 1953 on the Northern Pacific, which I look upon as a "Granger Road", I remember seeing trains of pretty much nothing but 40 and 50 foot box cars hauling every type of load that could be housed in a box car. All of my Box Cars must have roof walks and solid bearing trucks. I guess you could maybe call me a Box Car Aficionado! Of the 150 + freight and passenger cars on my layout fully 1/3rd of the cars are Box Cars. Don't get me wrong, the idea here is to attempt to model the N.P. in 1953; so, all the cars that might be found on the N.P. at that time, need to be modeled and I have done so. I have hoppers, flats, reefers, tank cars, MOW, etc. etc. on the layout. I also like Cabooses a bunch!

Anyway, what is your favorite?
 
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As much and as many coal hoppers I have they aren't my favorite. I've always been intrigued by difco side dump cars. So much so that I have one in my flight car collection myself. If I would have to pick it would be that.

Justin
 
Intermodal for me: Wells cars, and spine cars. I work just behind the UP mainline going into Rochelle intermodal yard, and get to see a lots of these coming and going. This is the main reason I chose the modern era.
 
I think that my favorite freight car would also be box cars. So many railroads used them as billboards advertising their railroad. I like to try to have an example of all of the railroads, but that would be difficult and I will admit that I am lacking more box cars from eastern railroads. I am working on it, but am starting to get short on room as I do keep all of my rolling stock on the layout.
 
My first choice for a favorite type of rolling stock would be ore cars from upper Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. I have acquire a fleet of over 300 ore cars, mostly Walthers, but some Roundhouse and others. 40+of the ore cars are weathered, rather heavy, have KD couplers, metal wheel sets and Chooch ore loads covered with Wood Scenics ore.

A second would be the Western Pacific box cars with the feather logo, especially the silver theme. Sort of a hold over from my early HO days.

Greg
 
Is the caboose anyone's favorite? So many styles and varieties...!

Albeit not a freight car.

Greg
 
PFE box cars. When I was kid, and we moved from So Cal to Texas, we would come to Ca during dad's vacation, and all the long freights had these box cars. For some reason they just stuck with me, and now my modern rr still uses these cars.
I also like tank cars, of which I have quite a few. My next favorite are the intermodel cars, and I don't have any of those as they are just too expensive for a nice string of them.

PFE.jpg
 
Greg@mnrr said:
Is the caboose anyone's favorite? So many styles and varieties...!
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Exactly how can one choose a favorite? I can say that if caboose were freight cars - which they aren't - it would easily be my favorite type. But since it is not, hmmm, hard to eliminate the lowly depressed center flat with Buckeye trucks, but that is so specific I'll eliminate flat cars as a type. Nothing like a long string of aluminum coal gondolas - but they aren't so nice as a single car so I'll eliminate them. Tank cars everything from a barrel on a flat to the whales of the 1970s. They have many sizes and styles especially the more modern ones, but hard to choose as a favorite. The basic 40' box was car the workhorse of the railroads for almost 100 years, that in and of itself makes them hard to pass up. Love the outside braced wooden ones but can't go to favorite there. Speaking of outside brace I love the wooden war emergency gondolas, my favorite model, but not favorite car. I really like the 23000 cuf covered hoppers for grain (especially when painted in the Canadian wheat schemes). Just not ultimate favorite material. Likewise for the shorty covered hoppers used for cement. Nice car, not favorite. Sooo....

The winner is - Reefer cars. Especially the 40' wooden ones with ice hatches on the roof. The bringer of the concept of rolling billboards. Operationally there is extra switching to get them properly iced and then cleaned out between loads. I have a fairly large collection of fantasy orange crate reefers. Oranges, apples, pears and more. Yup, that has to be my favorite.
 
I'm more on the same wavelink with Iron Horseman. If I ever do have a chance to have a RR again ... nothing will be longer than 40 ft. For a favorite - I would have to say that the billboard reefers would head the list followed by tank cars, OB boxes, 2bay hoppers, and flats. Did I miss any? I like them all!
 
If your favorite is the caboose, then say it is your favorite. Hey, if you like passenger cars, say they are your favorite, Didn't mean to cut anyone out! I have attempted to go back to the first post and correct this problem. However, the website doesn't really allow this; so, I have made a correction here!
 
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NP2626 said:
If your favorite is the caboose, then say it is your favorite. Hey, if you like passenger cars, say they are your favorite, Didn't mean to cut anyone out!
Click to expand...

Well, in that case I might have to switch to the Observation car especially the dome observations. I had the opportunity to by the ex D&RGW "Silver Sky" in 1983 for $6000. Still regret not doing that.
 
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Here are a few of my crummys. The first drovers caboose is a wood kit put together over 25 years ago. Built two of these.

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This second one is also a wood kit of a Great Northern Caboose.

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The last one is a worked over undecorated Athearn blue box kit.

ac4aadt.jpg


All sit on Kadee sprung trucks, but the coil springs have been replaced by leaf springs as on the prototypes. Have a few more, but no photos of them.
 
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