Any ideas as to who made these cars?

@lionelflyer posted:

I picked up a collection of mostly Lionel O Gauge.  There was some O Scale in with it including a General Models NW2, 2 brass hoppers (I think Rail Craft), a Gondola (I think Scale Craft), an Illinois Central bobber Caboose (Unknown manufacturer), and several other cars ( boxcar, reefer, stock car).  My question is on the last pieces as I have no idea who made them.  All but one is wood, the other is brass.  I have included pictures.

Thanks for any help.

I just tossed a bunch of  reefers and box cars just like those pictured, too far gone for restoration , so I salvaged detail parts and to dump they went

I figured they have no real value. I might keep and run the one with the pre-war Lionel box couplers.  I think the rest might make an interesting static display in the yard of a service facility.  I was still wondering who might have made them originally as I suspect they were kits.

My first guess was Westbrook.    but in the photos the  underframes center beam appear to be wood.   Westbrook were diecast and had "westbrook" stamped into them.

My guess older than Westbrook, going back to the beginning of O scale kits in 1930s.

Definitely kits.  Likely WWII era Walthers kits.  Too bad they aren't in better condition.  I have several of this style that look great with new trucks and couplers and just a little touch up work.  However, the condition of them does make them excellent candidates for various static displays as old cars could be found all over in yards, on farms, or in the corner of industrial facilities being used for storage.  Up until shipping containers became prevalent, old railroad cars were often used for cheap storage containers.

These cars are for the most part Westbrook. You can see a small W on the lower part of some of the sides near the build date. While the cars don’t have the cast metal under frames that Westbrook is known for; the kits were available in sections where you could just buy the body without the details or the separate under frame kit. I think that since the original builder was making hi-rail cars he did not use or perhaps did not buy the separate under frame.

@lionelflyer posted:

I figured they have no real value. I might keep and run the one with the pre-war Lionel box couplers.  I think the rest might make an interesting static display in the yard of a service facility.  I was still wondering who might have made them originally as I suspect they were kits.

The ones i tossed just weren't saving

@GG1 4877 posted:

Definitely kits.  Likely WWII era Walthers kits.  Too bad they aren't in better condition.  I have several of this style that look great with new trucks and couplers and just a little touch up work.  However, the condition of them does make them excellent candidates for various static displays as old cars could be found all over in yards, on farms, or in the corner of industrial facilities being used for storage.  Up until shipping containers became prevalent, old railroad cars were often used for cheap storage containers.

Not always old cars:

I took this photo in west Texas in 2014.

I usually put the worst ones on prewar trucks and now have a nice long train of them....