Model Railroading > Rio Grande Bulkhead "foobie"?

I recently found an Atlas Trainman D&RGW bulkhead flat car road #24003, stock # 20 002 665. It is orange with the stacked Rio Grande late-era logo. I cannot find any reference to such a prototype D&RGW car on the net or in books? Does anyone know if this is a "foobie" or fantasy paint scheme? Thanks in advance!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/17 14:56 by railwaybaron.

Is there a build date on it? Road number? I could check an ORER. 

DRGW road #24003. The Build date says: "BVRY 2 85". I hope this helps. Thanks again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/17 16:40 by railwaybaron.

I haven't seen anything like it in Jim Eager's fairly comprehensive Color Guild to Freight and Passenger Equipment. I believe the Atlas Trainman bulkhead is a foobie; at least it doesn't seem to be anything D&RGW originally bought or leased. I could ask on the Rio Grande Yahoo Groups to confirm.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

My April 1986 ORER Rio Grande listing skips from series 23000-23099, a 52'6" flat with 43'3" axle centers (wheelbase) to a string of ballast hoppers24804-24998.

D&RGW has various bulkhead flats from 22330 to 22761, with not all of the numbers used.

Nothing in Fallen Flags for that number used on the Trainman bulkhead. I've noticed when model companies offer a freight car in a fantasy scheme, they often pick number series that fall between the cracks of what the real railroads used. Of course lack of a find in FallenFlags or RailCarPhoto's isn't irrefutable evidence of a foobie. I couldn't find a Penn Central box car which Atlas offered but someone who had a Penn Central Color Guide found photo's of a matching box car, or very close. I do have Jim Eager's Color Guide and no bulkheads like the Trainman there either. I strongly suspect it is a foobie so far. Oh, and another thing that re-inforces it being a foobie; isn't the Trainman bulkhead a model of a bulkhead built in the 1990's? If so, likely the only way a freight car might be painted in D&RGW colrs that the RR never bought was to preserve the trademark/logo. But that was after Rio Grande ceased to exist as we knew it. Rio Grande merged with the SP/SSW in 1988 and in 1996 was assimilated into the UP.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

I inquired about some of the other roadnames Atlas has done for this car. Same response: if the date is older than the mid-1990s, it's a foobie. That means that even the Golden Spike Club car produced in the "TT" Trailer Train logo is a foobie, which is a shame.

BVRY might be the Brandywine Valley Railway. Short line that served Lukens Steel in Coatesville Pa. They don't build cars but they do use flats and bulkhead flats to ship out steel products.Interchanges with NS at Coatesville and CSX at Elsmere Del. -- Ken

I believe BVRY 2 85 means it was reweighed by that railroad in February 1985. If I remember correctly, this is a model of a car first built after DRGW ceased to be.

Yes, it's a "foobie". If it bothers you then don't buy it.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, it's a "foobie". If it bothers you then don't
> buy it.

Yes, it bothers me and I already bought it. Remember "truth in advertizing"?

"Truth in advertizing" can be a zinger!

Depends on how you plan to use it. There are 600-700 cars on the club layout and they are essentially playing pieces for the operations game. As long as it looks plausible and runs well, it's fine. If we were modeling a particular stretch of a particular line, it would be handled differently. Over time, we will get closer to prototype fidelity -- because it does ultimately make a difference -- but it's not among the top 10 priorities.

Those trainman bulkhead flats ONLY match a series of TTX cars built in the late 1990's and early 2000's from what I've seen. Any other scheme than this one below is a foobie on this car. It's really too bad Trainman didn't make a late 70's Thrall Bulkhead flat that would have offered plenty of available schemes. Exactrail also made a high end version of this TTX car.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

---

railwaybaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, it's a "foobie". If it bothers you then
> don't
> > buy it.
>
> Yes, it bothers me and I already bought it.
> Remember "truth in advertizing"?

In the 1970's and 1980's, most HO freight cars available were foobies, reason being the cost of tooling a model required companies to offer them in a variety of paint schemes that the prototype of the model never had in order to make producing the model profitable. For the past 10 years, there has been many models produced which are good matches to prototypes but foobes are still made for reasons of economic. I've been researching a lot of Atlas box cars and some are pretty close stand-ins but still not close matches, but if you do some research, some of them are pretty good matches.

There are enough good matching models out there on the market that if it is important to you to have a roster with few foobies, avoid impulse buying and do a little research first. With FallenFlags, RailCarPhotos sites, Color Guides and other resources, you can fine a lot out with a little effort. And you can ask questions on forums too, there are a lot of knowledgable people who will answer questions so you can avoid buying foobies, if thats important to you. For me, I have limited funds, so I try to avoid foobies as much as possible and sell off models that don't fit.

Cheers, Jim Fitch