Model Railroading > Work train cars history -?

Greetings! The attached photo shows an odd grouping of the commonly-seen HO scale work train cars from various shake-the-box kits. Most of these fall in the "swap meet salvageable" category. One of the Hart gondolas is a distinctly different shade of grey than the others so could be from a different generation of the models.

I believe these are currently part of the Walthers family of products, but I'm not sure. I recall buying some of these in my early days under the Train Miniature brand. What I'm curious about is if anyone knows anything about the earlier history of these kits. Was TM the first company to design and manufacture these kits, or did they come from an earlier lineage such as Ulrich, Red Ball or some other brand?

Any information that can be passed my way would be fantastic.

Thank you!

Jeff Johnston
trainvideosandparts.com

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Tru-Scale, I believe. A long time ago. Tru-Scale owned Silver Streak, but I don't think these were part of that line although there were some plastic models near the end. Sold off to Walthers and the chunks sold off to other companies. I remember having one of the cars and likeing it a lot.

I remember them as Tru Scale.

Somewhere out there there is probably a prototype for each of those cars...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

If the Hart convertible gondola on the left with knuckle couplers is made of wood and some cast metal parts it is probably Silver Streak.  They had some other style work cars in box car shape but those shown do not resemble the S.S. style.  I would attribute these to Train Miniature that later was absorbed by Walthers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/20 16:31 by boejoe.

Hi, Boejoe, the car in question is plastic like the others. It has Kadees, unlike the other cars, which were accumulated over the years by both me and my wife Pam from various places. Finally brought them together by a virus-induced cleaning and organizing session. We plan to give them all a going-over to get them ready for layout service, starting with getting rid of those crazy X2F couplers and plastic wheels. Gads.

Jeff Johnston
trainvideosandparts.com

When I was first into model railroading in the mid-late 1960s I would use various catalogs as my wish books.  I remember seeing these under the Tru Scale brand along with a couple buildings that were later issued by Life-Like.  Tru Scale was more known for their track and wood road bed.  The plastic kits were a bit of a side line for them, so I don't know the history of the molds. Train Miniature obtained the work car kits from Tru Scale, the Walthers' got the molds when they bought out Train Miniatures.  For most of their lives these molds have not had major changes.  Yes, they were either based on a prototype (or several RRs' equipment) or were based on some modelers's work train.  They share similar parts and really can be grouped as "the house car" and "the flat car" with a few extras thrown in.  

I have enjoyed these cars through most of my life in various guises.  I have shamelessly repainted them into CB&Q or UP colors for my work trains (at least the flatcar has similarities to UP's F-50-5).  The work equipment can be detailed up or left alone.  It's just a fun bunch of cars, so enjoy.

Gary B.
Waverly, NE

The Hart is a Silver Streak,  Still have one. all long stored.  No more eyes to work at 87 yrs old.