Model Railroading > How do you ID manufactours of freight cars?

I have a lot of freight cars.The only ones I know
for sure are KD cars,because the trucks have
brake beams.
None of the others have any kind of ID as to
who made them.Seems to me that the mfg.
would make their name known.

Yes,I know that some cars are popular enough
that you do not have to guess.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

For older shake-the-box boxcar kits, the Athearn cars' weights were typically between the floor and the underframe, while the Roundhouse cars' weights went inside the car. The Athearn design allowed their cars to have sliding doors that opened without revealing a weight inside; the Roundhouse cars had better-looking (albeit not high-fidelity) undercarriages.

The Roundhouse two-bay cement/sand hopper had a metal frame, while Athearn's bigger covered hoppers had their weights inside.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/21 13:28 by toledopatch.

If you post some images here of the freight cars your looking to identify I'm sure the TO members can help.

best regards,
Mark G.
Sacramento Valley Model Railroad Historical Society

Standard Guide to Athearn Model Trains by Tim Blaisdell and Ed Urmston

This is an excellent book for the collector of Athearn blue box kits. Can be found at swap meets or Amazon.

You can identify the models by the roadname and number. I carry this book to swap meets as sometimes I find cars with no boxes. 

As a general rule, ready-to-run Tyco models typically have truck mounted couplers. 

Mark
Salem, Oregon

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atsf5701 Wrote:
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> As a general rule, ready-to-run Tyco models
> typically have truck mounted couplers. 

That was also true of the AHM and Rivarossi stuff my father bought for the layout he built for my brother and me during the early 1970s.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/21 13:28 by toledopatch.

I hope we can keep this going.
We know about Athearn,Roundhouse,KD
and Walthers.,

What about Tangent,Atlas,ExactRail
AccuRail,any more?

UJ

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hope we can keep this going.
> We know about Athearn,Roundhouse,KD
> and Walthers.,
>
> What about Tangent,Atlas,ExactRail
> AccuRail,any more?
>
> UJ

Rapido, Scale Trains, Moloco,  LBF, Intermountain, . I'm sure there are more.

SantaFeRuss

This is a tough one for many of us. My older brother used to buy cars and throw away the boxes, whereas I not only keep my empty boxes, but have an Excel spreadsheet listing all of my equipment with relevant information. He passed away earlier this year and now I am tasked with trying to figure out what everything is. Most of the larger manufacturers have archives on equipment they've produced (Athearn, Atlas, ExactRail, Intermountain, Kadee, Moloco, Tangent, etc.), but it's a time consuming task to try to figure it all out. But it beats the alternative...

For those who know their rolling stock, we can pretty much tell by looking.  My knowledge of older models not so much.  Like more than 40 or so years.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For those who know their rolling stock, we can
> pretty much tell by looking.  My knowledge of
> older models not so much.  Like more than 40 or
> so years.

Guess I'm lucky. I can just look at a freight car and tell what it is.Everything from Athearn blue box to Tangent and pretty much everything in between.

SantaFeRuss