Amazing how much stuff was squirreled away in MTH's warehouse . Yet another auction from their archives surfaced May 8 and I was there with a keen interest in prototypes and samples: As with my previous entries in this series, descriptions lie below their respective photos:
First up is this engineering sample of the Rugged Rails gondola. Two or three of these appeared in the auction. I figured I'd have the fewest competing bids if I picked the third one. The second one sold for a few dollars less than this one . Anyway, the handwritten tag indicates this is the first engineering sample, which was rejected. For what, I don't know but this happened Sept 1, 2000.
Next up is this engineering sample of the Rugged Rails hopper, noteworthy for being essentially a three-bay version of Lionel's famous "quad hopper". MTH's example is a "traditional-sized" version of a Pennsylvania RR class H30 hopper. Weaver Models did a scale version in their Ultra Line. For some reason, my camera (Canon Powershot SX100IS) wouldn't focus on the handwritten tag, attached to the car or not (unlike the other examples), but it read:
"RR Covered Hopper/ 1st Engineering sample/ Rec 9/18/00 / Approved w/corrections / See fax 9/18/00 T"
Interestingly enough, Lionel's 'quad' hopper has a little-known prototype. I've seen a photo on this very forum, but I can't find it right now (google image searches turn up the Lionel model or the five-bay H32 prototype).
Rugged Rails livestock car. Pretty sure this one is also an engineering sample, but the lot it was included in (along with a premier stock car, a coalporter hopper and woodside caboose) did not include any tags to that effect, This one sure seems to be an early version since one of the sliding doors keeps falling off its track (as shown in the auction photo ), so maybe the tolerances are a tad off. I'll have to get out the digital calipers next time I have this one out.
Rugged Rails boxcar "first" engineering sample, which was approved mid-Sept 2000 according to the tag. This car, along with the other RR cars above, had a number of examples appearing in the auction as single-car lots (a single RR stock car escalated past what I was willing to pay, so I 'settled' on the example pictured above included in a lot with three larger cars). This one looks smaller than a 6464-style boxcar, but it matches the other Rugged Rails cars sizewise (other than the woodside caboose). Measurements will be forthcoming when I re-do my post illustrating the varying size of traditional 6464-style boxcars (Lionel, RailKing, Industrial Rail, K-Line, etc).
RailKing woodside caboose, possibly an engineering sample. I'm leaning toward "test shot equipped with trucks to make it more sale-able" . Why? The trucks have no pickup rollers, there's no interior wiring (although the bulb mounts and bulbs are present inside), and the handrails/grab irons are missing, as is the smokestack. Will it join my gaggle of unpainted cabooses? Yes. Will said gaggle of cabeese become part of a larger train of unpainted samples from these warehouse auctions? Sure looks that way . By the way, there's a larger "MT539" sticker on the roof, concealed behind the roofwalk.
Premier 40' livestock car. No tags on this one, but it kinda looks like an engineering sample owing to the modernized trucks with T-bar couplers (though now that I think about it, this car should have solid-bearing trucks). It was part of a lot that included the woodside caboose, coalporter and Rugged Rails stock car.
There were 14 cars in this shipment. I'll save the remaining eight for the next post (all Premier)
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