Mystery Brand

[BakerJohn]

Does anyone know what company made these cars? The seller does not know. I only really want the B&M Boxcar, so if I do buy it, someone could definitely take the other two off my hands!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273275719831?ViewItem=&item=273275719831

 

[trammayo]

Looks to be three different underframes! But, hey, what a bargain!

 

[BakerJohn]

Looks to be three different underframes! But, hey, what a bargain!

Yeah, If I really buy them. The idea is to turn the B&M boxcaar into a track cleaning car my Forney can push around the railroad. But, I may just wait until Piko's new loco comes out in November.

 

[stockers]

Unknown loco against three wagons for $29 - no contest.
or just do both.

 

[BakerJohn]

Unknown loco against three wagons for $29 - no contest.
or just do both.

Actully, I may, Stockers. I could also buy the boxcar and fit it with RC so it could clean on it's own! Though, the Piko car runs on batery power by default. (See https://www.onlytrains.com/model/trains/1038501.html) Providence & Worcester has a loco like this, so I could repaint it, and it would fit my theme.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Might be MDC (what Piko bought)... the seller should be able to read the manufacturer on the undersides.

Greg

 

[Fred Mills]

Two of them, the reefer, and the B&M box car may be Bachmann cars. The third, is probably a USTrains car.Fred Mills

 

[BakerJohn]

Two of them, the reefer, and the B&M box car may be Bachmann cars. The third, is probably a USTrains car.Fred Mills

Thanks Fr. Fred. I think I'd agree with you (based on my minimal experience). They'd take some cleaning, but I may purchase them tomorrow.

 

[Madman]

Two of them, the reefer, and the B&M box car may be Bachmann cars. The third, is probably a USTrains car.Fred Mills

The B & M car's trucks don't appear to be Bachmann. The Virginian car has two different trucks, but both cars have the typical Bachmann foot stirrups. The B & M car's truck side frames seem to be held in place with screws further down in the assembly than Bachmann's usual method of side frame attachment. The Santa Fe trucks have those large washer looking things. Definitely not a Bachmann detail.

Bottom line is that the previous owner kit bashed these cars at the truck level. What does this all mean ? Absolutely nothing. Even at the buy it now price they're a bargain.

 

[BakerJohn]

Update: I bought the three cars. They'll need some love, but - as you all said - it's a great price. I'll touch up the B&M and add cleaning equipment to it then probably repaint the other two. Maybe they'll have the LHRR logo on them...

 

[Greg Elmassian]

So, please solve the mystery and what are the manufacture of the cars?

Greg

 

[BakerJohn]

The boxcars arrived today! They clearly spent many hours outdoors, and will need work. But, it'll be a fun project.
There's a lot to say about each of these pieces... so I'll break it down one at a time.

BOSTON & MAINE
The two largest problems with the B&M car: 1) The grab rails are all very fine metal and are bent and/or corroded. 2) The brake wheel appears to be melted. The rodd is actually two pieces (poorly) glued together under the step.


I hope to replace both of those issues. My only other concern with this car is the Kadee couplers (which all the cars have).


Overall the trucks are in fine condition. (I think we can call this car WELL-WEATHERED.) It is nothing that needs to be addressed immediately. Actually, all the cars run very well.

I feel like this car may be an early-model USAT or a similar tooling. It has a lot of the same design as my USAT SR&RL boxcar such as the step around the brake line, design of the coupler area, and way the roof is attached/detaches (screw on each wall). Perhaps someone else would know about that more than I. Oh. The bottom says "MADE IN THE U.S.A. and CHARLES xx MANUFACTURING CO. INC. (where xx is two symbols I cannot read).

VIRGINIAN
I love the color of the Virginian box car. I am tempted to not repaint it, actually. This is possibly the best looking of the three pieces. But, it does need some work, all of it on the trucks. 1) The trucks are not the same when you look at the undercarriage. Though they both appear to be all/mostly metal. You can see in the photos that the black was scrapped away from the sides of the trucks but not the bottoms or tops. It looks sloppy. Also, one of them appears to be partially melted?

One more thing. I feel like something is missing here...


As I said above; all the cars run smoothly. They could use a bit of lubrication though.
As for the brand: All I can tell you is that the bottom says DELTON LOCOMOTIVE WORKS - MICHIGAN USA .


SANTA FE REFER
One very cool thing about this refer is that all 6 doors open - the side loading doors and the top 4 vents/access doors (correct me if I'm wrong). Otherwise, I don't like it. The roof is flimsy and the paint job is way too glossy. Also, a previous owner attempted to repaint the catwalk. It doesn't look half bad until you look closely and see all the spots they missed.


Again, I'm not sure how I feel about the Kadee couplers that came on all of them. But, I'm not familiar with them all so someone please enlighten me!


TESTING ON THE LHRR

 

[Greg Elmassian]

So the Santa Fe reefer appears to be a Charles Ro, which is USA Trains "American" series 1:24 supposedly.

The Delton one may be real Delton, as I don't think the markings stayed when Aristo took over, but not sure.

Have fun!

Greg

 

[G-force1]

Don't worry about the bent grab rails; the full-size ones almost always were, though never really understood how/why.

I'm no expert but Kadees are supposed to be one of the best couplers.

 

[Fred Mills]

After years of converting just about every make of Large Scale (North American) freight cars to body mounted Kadee Couplers, and using the Kadee #1 Gauge couplers, as the standard on our railroad. My only comment on the Kadee couplers on those cars, is: The person doing the conversion took the easy way, and did the job VERY poorly.
The pictures also indicate, that for some reason, some of the grab irons have been replaced with wire substitutes, and some of the trucks are not the originals, and are rather crappy. One truck shown, has one pair of metal wheels, and another of plastic.
Proper replacement (Bogies) trucks, for those cars needing them, are available, as are most of the other missing parts.
You may find that the cars perform "OK", but they would be better if properly lubricated with a plastic compatible gear lube, and the trucks on at least one of the cars replaced.
Properly mounted Kadee couplers, would also be advised, if a person cares about making them look prototypical. The general coupler I would use would be the Kadee 1906...or the larger 906. It would involve doing a bit of cutting, but would reap rewards in appearance, and operation, on minimum curves of over 5 foot radius,

The bottom line, of course is; they are now your cars...as long as what you do with them, pleases you...that's all that really counts.
Have fun...
Fr.Fred

 

[Fred Mills]

When in service, rolling stock with bent or broken grab irons, and brake rigging, were NOT allowed to be in service, due to safety rules All cars requiring such replacement or repairs, especially in INTERCHANGE service, would be "Bad Ordered" (BO), and dropped off at the closest "Repare in place" (RIP) track.
Fred Mills

 

[BakerJohn]

Thank you, Fr. Fred. Ill look into finding replacement parts after (during??) work today!

 

[BakerJohn]

So, I've looked closer at my boxcars and started pulling them apart. I pulled all the wire grab rails off the B&M and started replacing them with plastic USAT pieces that fit perfectly. (Could this be an Aristo model?) I will need more pieces as well as a brake line and step for that boxcar. Not sure where I'll find the step, but the rest I can get from USAT directly.

The trucks definitely need some work. I'm thinking of going with USAT pieces since both the B&M and Virginian seem to be compatible in most respects. However, I do have a question about USAT Trucks. Does anyone find that they tend to run against the undercarriage? Mine do on the SR&RL boxcar I bought new. I switched the trucks between the B&M and SR&RL and now the same wheels are rubbing on the B&M.

 

[BakerJohn]

So, after some more work on these cars I noticed that the Santa Fe trucks are modified. The washers on them are glued on to add weight. Under them it says "Bachmann USA". So, all in all it looks like...
~ the Santa Fe is a Bachmann.
~ Virginian is a Dalton.
~ B&M is a Charles Ro.

I have found replacement parts for all but the trucks. The only set of USAT trucks I have are not great. Any other suggestions for replacement trucks? I think I will replace the Kadee couplers too. F Fred Mills You said you use 906 for most things. That's a straight coupler, right? I do not like that these are offset. Will they work with LGB Couplers or USAT?