Model Railroading > Beets!

this little gem was just posted on Face Palm by Athearn. Sweet!   I gues I don't know how to imbed the image but the link does work. sorry (added)
 https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/581404191_857538593297315_7078700993668886285_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=uk_h9IdmM_EQ7kNvwFtmhzX&_nc_oc=AdkWsr3pwuAg_8wZWio51MkCWyyjIp5fD48O9vQ2p7F1hZ9N4OdiggbBlu2Z0Rit42s&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&_nc_gid=WhWhTEnX6xw176o4gDm5JQ&oh=00_AfjIKiedTqOEa0ywrkJQMVTsMUWecIPyUWIpnAAB3k-pXA&oe=69241E39

inyosub Wrote:
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> this little gem was just posted on Face Palm by
> Athearn. Sweet!   I gues I don't know how to
> imbed the image but the link does work. sorry
> (added)
>  https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808
> -6/581404191_857538593297315_7078700993668886285_n
> .jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=uk
> _h9IdmM_EQ7kNvwFtmhzX&_nc_oc=AdkWsr3pwuAg_8wZWio51
> MkCWyyjIp5fD48O9vQ2p7F1hZ9N4OdiggbBlu2Z0Rit42s&_nc
> _zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&_nc_gid=WhWhTEnX6
> xw176o4gDm5JQ&oh=00_AfjIKiedTqOEa0ywrkJQMVTsMUWecI
> PyUWIpnAAB3k-pXA&oe=69241E39

Nice, but wish the cars were empty. Those molded beet loads look like the cat threw up in the car

Our cats would be chasing those loads around the layout. 

Maybe they could be painted and detaled to look like the real thing?

Victor Baird

WAF Wrote:

> Nice, but wish the cars were empty. Those molded
> beet loads look like the cat threw up in the car

we'll see

There is nothing wrong with the loads. Most likly they pop right out, and its a good base to put some glue on it and sprinkle you favorite imitation beet like material on them and then youll never see the base. Dave Maffei has beautiful beet cars and if you do a search he tells what he uses for beets in his cars.

The cars look good.   The beets need work.   Just a darker shade would help.   I messaged Athearn.   Let's hope they make a change.

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center
Northridge, CA.

FINALLY!!! WOW. I have all 28 pre-ordered. Only took 6 years. Maybe I should get some more. 

They look good. I'm planning on just adding a custom load of anese seeds to them, so they look better. It is nice to have a base in the model at least as a starting point. Athearn site says February 2026. So maybe by the summer? 

Also looking at the image, it looks like the load is low enough, as it is a coal load without the extensions, this is a good thing to add some custom load above it, to reach the upper screen part. Can't wait! 

Went to FB and here are more images. According to Athearn, these loads are the production ones coming with the cars. So add anese seeds and they'll look really good. 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/25 10:54 by mcdeo.

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ChrisCampi Wrote:
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> .
Dont know what they are supposed to be but are not even the right color. to some degree as once in a while a carrot colored one would show up, but they are white when clean for the most part.  A load would be full to the top from what I saw sixty years ago when I hauld them.
 

My sugar beet cars. The beets are naturally freeze dried crabapples plucked from my backyard tree last spring.

-LD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/25 09:01 by LarryDoyle.

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Good grief, don't call yourself a model Railroader if you can't pop the loads out, and make or modify your own! 
As Tom Says, there are some great tutorials to do so. Thanks also to the person who actually got the image to post. (I can't do diddly to work here)
Note: These are PRE-Production Samples. I suspect the loads are simply the coal loads that used to come with these cars; but cast in brown
plastic. The point of the extensions was to to fill the car up to there, So I suspect these are just a stand-in or something to ship with cars that is
better than Mty. I'm not going to share my load method till I try it out (wink) I have I think 10 cars on order, with the intent of moving some of the screens 
to Holly cars I've already built. We'll see if that actually works out. I would like Athearn to offer the extensions as a separate item but not expecting it.
PPS, Bowser posted a C415 tease on FacePalm. A box of them ready to ship. humma humma Going broke this month.

TomG Wrote:
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> There is nothing wrong with the loads. Most likely
> they pop right out, and its a good base to put
> some glue on it and sprinkle you favorite
> imitation beet like material on them and then
> youll never see the base. Dave Maffei has
> beautiful beet cars and if you do a search he
> tells what he uses for beets in his cars.

I recall from past posts on the Red Caboose / Intermountain beet gons of an earlier time from, anese seeds were used for beet loads.

Thanks for the link, but can someone give the historical background on these Ortner cars?  They don't look anything like the older SP Beet gons that Intermountain did a few years ago.

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> Thanks for the link, but can someone give the
> historical background on these Ortner cars?  They
> don't look anything like the older SP Beet gons
> that Intermountain did a few years ago.

These are the replacements for the old SP GS gons. 

Here's a photo I took of a loaded ITGX car at Mojave, CA on April 23, 1998.  Note how 
high in the car the load is.

Don Marenzi

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Another shot the same day (and train) for the modern era SP / UP modelers.

Don Marenzi

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Looks like the Athearn load is a bit low, but you can top them up.

I asked Tony Thompson about these HO Sugar Beets from Juweela. He said:

"Thank you, Arved, I had not heard of these, but the color, size and shape look quite good. Not sure how easy they are to buy, as it’s a German company and they say 'only in retail stores,' but no doubt info will emerge."

I bought a couple packs off eBay, but hopefully we'll see a US importer soon. Just need to "muddy them up" so they look freshly harvested, and not washed.

Kindest regards,

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> I recall from past posts on the Red Caboose /
> Intermountain beet gons of an earlier time from,
> anese seeds were used for beet loads.

They work great as beets

The deeper story about the SP beat gons, is they were getting really old and SP didn't want to run them anymore, but there was a market out of the Salton Sea area that still wanted to get them to the CA refineries. So SP sold them to a leasing company, and then turned around and said, none of them are good enough to be run on the railroad. If I recall, many of them still had friction bearing trucks. So the Ortner cars were used quickly to replace them, with many getting the extensions. Much like the original SP cars, that didn't have extensions, the sugar beet density is lower than many commodities, so can put more volume in the cars and not be over weight. 

I'm going to model these in modern day era as if the refineries are still active and run loads/empties on my layout. Didn't get to do it on the old layout, but the new one will. I moved 6 months ago and had to tear down the old layout. Got 43 operating sessions in, so that was fun. 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL