The old 32 to 40 foot wood and steel reefers

wjstix

Member
DoctorWayne,
Thanks for the photos. I suppose there are a few Train Miniature cars that are not quite up to correct height. There is some justification: I recall the olden days of wooden box cars and recall that while watching a freight train go by, there were noticeable differences in height between cars. In later years the height of cars seems to have become more uniform. But there are marked height differences between some Train Miniature cars and those produced by other kit manufacturers. When running trains, I try not to mix those that are too short with those that are tall. Here is a comparison of T-M with an older Athearn box.
-Ed

BTW, I found this website for Train Miniature beer car collectors: http://www.hobeercars.com/manufacturers/tm.html

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Both cars are correct. I think you're confused because you're assuming the woodsided car is older than the steel one, but it isn't!!

The Athearn car is based on a woodsided car built in the early-mid 1940's. By the mid-late thirties the the norm for new boxcar's height was 10'-6" like the Athearn car, so these were built to that height too. During world war 2 steel was limited, so new boxcars were built with wood sides -probably the first woodsided boxcars built in 15 years or more.

The Train Miniature car is based on a steel car designed and built in the 1920's when car heights were lower by a foot or more. In fact, when 10' boxcars first came out in the thirties, they were referred to as "high cars" because they were so tall compared to the then-standard 8-1/2 or 9' high house (box, reefer, stock) car.

BTW if you take a typical woodside caboose (MDC for example) and put it next to the TM boxcar, you'll see their roofs are about the same height, so someone sitting in the cupola could see ahead over the tops of the cars. Once the taller 10'+ cars came along, the view was blocked, so many RR's began using bay window cabooses and later extended-vision cabooses.
 

tetters

Rail Spiking Fool!
BTW if you take a typical woodside caboose (MDC for example) and put it next to the TM boxcar, you'll see their roofs are about the same height, so someone sitting in the cupola could see ahead over the tops of the cars. Once the taller 10'+ cars came along, the view was blocked, so many RR's began using bay window cabooses and later extended-vision cabooses.

That totally makes sense now! I always wondered why the cupola's on my caboose do not have a clear sight line over the roofs of my rolling stock. I always assumed that they (cupola) were built for that purpose in mind and thought it was odd that they didn't.
 

Dave1905

New Member
The "X" on the end of the initials does not mean "leased", it means that the party responsible for the car is not a railroad company, i.e. a private owner. There are thousands of "railroad" cars that are leased and thousands of "X" cars that are not leased.

Dave H.
 

Dave1905

New Member
DoctorWayne,
Thanks for the photos. I suppose there are a few Train Miniature cars that are not quite up to correct height. There is some justification: I recall the olden days of wooden box cars and recall that while watching a freight train go by, there were noticeable differences in height between cars. In later years the height of cars seems to have become more uniform. But there are marked height differences between some Train Miniature cars and those produced by other kit manufacturers. When running trains, I try not to mix those that are too short with those that are tall. Here is a comparison of T-M with an older Athearn box.
-Ed

BTW, I found this website for Train Miniature beer car collectors: http://www.hobeercars.com/manufacturers/tm.html

View attachment 75008

There's nothing wrong with the height of either car. The Train Miniature car is supposed to be a model of an ARA/USRA steel boxcar, which has an IH of about 8' 6" or so and the Athearn car is a 1937 AAR car with an IH of 10' 6". So the Athearn car is supposed to be about 2 ft taller than the TM car.

Dave H.
 

sgtcarl

Member
height differences

Yeah, I noticed that, too. (and I thought I knew a lot about trains. oh, well, so much for thinking.) This thread has been very educational! Thanks guys!
 

toptrain1

Well-Known Member
reefer A&P 23054 9 24 06 011.jpg post 28
Here is another Old wood reefer

The Atlantic And Pacific Tea Company Train Minature 40' Reefer
 
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toptrain1

Well-Known Member
reefer Gerbers 1001b 9 24 06 002.jpg p-29

Here is another nice reefer


Trainminature Gerbers Baby Food reefer is little boy Blue.
 
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Mountain Man

Active Member
Wasn't the government - it was the money. Standard paint jobs are cheaper.

The advertising of yesteryear was based on something long gone from America - pride in what was made. Once mass production of thousands, if not millions of units per day became standard, followed by America ceasing altogether to make most of what it once did, advertising became pointless.

The sales outlet advertises today, not the manufacturer. WalMart sells it, or Home Depot swells it, but essentially it all comes from somewhere far away made by people who couldn't care less where it's going or who it is for.

What ad could you possibly put on a shipment of merchandise destined for WalMart? A Chinese flag?

We don't adorn public buildings architecturally, either, something that stopped with WWII. Now we build them all to a single ulitarian standard, Bauhaus Industrial. That is why we gaze longingly at the old structures from decades gone by - they had character and style, and they said something positive about the people who built them.

And that's why I will never like diesels or modern trains. They have no spark...no soul.
 

toptrain1

Well-Known Member
tyco reefer 40' Gerber's GSVX 1001 b.jpg Gerbers Baby Girl car

post 31

Hey Mountain man, Don't let it get you down!
Here is the Tyco 40' wood reefer. Gerbers done in Pretty Girl Pink.
 
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sgtcarl

Member
Mt. Man:
I can empathize with you. My gripe isn't cookie cutter diesels, it's cookie cutter autos. When I was kid, I could sit on the front porch and tell you the make and model of every car that came by our house. Both from the tailights, and the hood and grille. I grew up with the front of our house facing a major highway, and the back of our house facing the railroad tracks. Just beyond was the Mississippi River.
 

johnflys2

Member
36 foot truss rod reefer

If I may, here is a screen shot of a reefer I finished recently. It is a virtual model made for Train Sim. It is shown here passing the London Ontario freight shed on the London & Port Stanley R.R. in 1927. John
 

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Mountain Man

Active Member
Mt. Man:
I can empathize with you. My gripe isn't cookie cutter diesels, it's cookie cutter autos. When I was kid, I could sit on the front porch and tell you the make and model of every car that came by our house. Both from the tailights, and the hood and grille. I grew up with the front of our house facing a major highway, and the back of our house facing the railroad tracks. Just beyond was the Mississippi River.

I'm with you 100% ! All through high school I made dozens of those AMC car models, both stock and custom. :thumb:
 

toptrain1

Well-Known Member
post 37

reefer Brookside Dairy MTC 1883b 9 24 06 033.jpg post 37

My favorite TrainMinature 40' Reefer


The First National Stores Inc.

Brookside Fresh Milk and Cream, Bellows Falls Co-Operative Creamery.

This is a very collorfull car. It is Red with a black roof and sides. Their are two black panel on the sides lined in white. Their are thicker yellow lines along the top and bottom. The lettering is also yellow and white.
Their were other supermarket cars made by TM.
First National
IGA Independent Grocers Alliance of America
A&P Alantic and Pacific Tea Company
Grand Union Stores
frank
 
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johnflys2

Member
Heinz

I'm finding this thread to be very interesting and love seeing some billboard reefers I haven't yet seen. I'll stick my neck out again and post a picture of a Heinz reefer I built in "06. I feel this is more of a "show and tell" about billboard reefers than guage. John
 

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toptrain1

Well-Known Member
reefer b Robin Hood 5307 9 24 06 048.jpg post 39

next up is Robin Hood Beer


The Robin Hood Beer is again a Train minature reefer. I have others but they are Branchline.
 
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toptrain1

Well-Known Member
post 40

HPIM0470.jpg post 40

next Lionel-Riverossi IC steel reefer.


Next up --------. Lionel's IC reefer. Lionel to get their HO going in 1957 had a agreement with Rivarossi to produce certain cars of the Rivarossi line for sale by Lionel. Not a old wood but very nice, and with the Rivarossi version of the same car. The one on the left is lionel, silver and green marker with the Lionel "L" in a circle. The one on the right is Riv, silver and black. This car was see and listed in the Lionel 1957 catalog.
frank
 
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CNJ999

Member
I'l throw a couple into the mix. The first is a custom decorated car for Bay State Beer:

BayBeer.jpg


Then here's one for the Armour Refrigerator Line, advertising their Cloverbloom Butter:

Armour.jpg


And how about this colorful example from Evansville Packing?

JulyIntChg05.jpg


Although not a billboard reefer, this unusual one is of the same vintage they are - a Mathieson Dry Ice Reefer (from a kit long, long out of production).

DRYICECAR02-1.jpg


CNJ999
 

toptrain1

Well-Known Member
Reply

CNJ999 : Very nice Accurail reefer. You did a good job detailing it. Who made the decals?
The Cloverbloom is a Trainminature car, but they never made A Cloverbloom that I seen. Just standard Armour cars. Could it be a Walters release Or did you just do a great job with some Clover House dry transfers?
Ah ! May Bloosem Lard. Is it a MDC car. And the A&P next to it a trainminature? You should post it's pick to.
That day Ice car you put together. The seams are perfect. And the finish like new.
very nice frank
 
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