Does anyone over here dabble in the early metal Athearn kit cars? specifically tank cars...

Looks like I have a couple of Mantua diecast tankers as well...They certainly need some work.  Does anyone run these with newer trains.  What type of couplers have you found work on these?  I am familiar with the older standard of Kadee #5's but not sure if they will fit the cast in boxes.  I also see Kadee has introduced versions with the springs integral to the coupler shank.

It never ceases to amaze me what you have stashed away in that closest of yours. Are those HO? Good looking cars.

Yes ho.  I ahh have kept some (or a lot) of ho stuff over the years.... My first new trains were Athearn ho from about 1970 or so. Still have those although they did not survive well at all.  Hey, at least these are tin and diecast, and so somewhat tinplate

most important trains!

I don't have any of the vintage Athearn or Mantua metal cars... yet.

BUT, I've taken a fancy to Varney's tinplate cars. They look surprisingly good. Just recently I purchased these three Varney's:

I have already fitted Kadee coupler boxes and Kadee's to the PFE and ATSF car, as well as installed steel wheels and attended to "issues" that I saw.  The MDT reefer is going to take a bit more work on account of the pot metal coupler pocket. These look plenty good enough to run among newer plastic models of such era equipment. I was specifically impressed with the sharp printing on the sides which is better than found on Athearn "Blue Box" injection molded cars!

I still find myself checking eBay for some deals on more Varney metal cars.

Andre

I think those are actually lithographed and yes they do look great!

Yep. 

I always felt that this era of H0 was the best: maybe because that's when I got started. To my mind you just couldn't beat these and others (Silver Streak, pre-plastic Mantua, Ulrich, etc.) for superior printing, free-standing details, durability (metal, after all). Sure, you had to build 'em, but that's what I liked doing.

Remember the Walther's annual "H0 Railroad Catalog & 'Craft Train' Reference Manual" of those times; a large portion of it was dedicated to parts and details, as well as all those wonderful structure kits.

Very much like post -war Lionel and Flyer, parts were always available, as were matching paints, trucks (think Central Valley), and I think the Kadee type you mentioned were number 58(?); an H0 version of their 0 scale coupler. I'll have to double-check on that.

Mark in Oregon

I dug out some more of my litter, think these are Silverstreak. They aren’t too bad but I am missing two buffer beams and one tank wnd between the four cars. I’ll have to clean them up up a little. Construction is a diecast frame, ends, and dome with a wood dowel tank and a metal foil wrap glued to the dowel. They have real nice sprung metal trucks as well.

Also found my Varney metal sided Gerber reefer. Neet to clean it up and get some trucks and couplers on it.

I think this D X tanker is a Globe but the frame is not marked.

*****Correction, I found this one in a Thomas Industries catalog and verified the details, it is indeed a Thomas ho tank car.  Really nice one too.

Catalog page courtesy of HO Seeker.com.  BTW, the HO Seeker literature page is excellent!!!!!!!

*************

I also picked up this fairly nice Magnolia tanker. It’s an Athearn shorty all metal tank car same as the Crystal car line above.

Dennis Holler posted:

I also picked up this fairly nice Magnolia tanker. It’s an Athearn shorty all metal tank car same as the Crystal car line above.

Oooo! Lovin' me a Magnolia tank! 

My mythical "Kansas City & Gulf" runs from Kansas City, down through Arkansas to New Orleans (the KCS needed some competition!), and passes through Magnolia, AR in the process. (I'm modeling a portion of my KC&G's Ozark Sub as it could have been in the early-mid 1960s.) The KC&G's main shops are at Magnolia, referred to as the "Magnolia Shops" by the railroad/railroaders.

In reality, there was a significant amount of oil industry around Magnolia up into the 70s, I think.

Gotta' have me one of dem' dare Magnolia tanks!

This is a really fun thread. Even by today's "good 'enuf" standards, these old metal cars look good 'enuf!

Andre

Speaking of Varney, I also won this one off the bay a couple of days ago...

I also got over excited and bought these two Globe Warren all metal tank cars.  

Dennis Holler posted:

 

I also got over excited and bought these ..........(fill in the blank with ANY train related item..."

Dennis that's so unlike you.......  

Really like the tanks n' boxcars n' reefers n' stuff that's in this thread. Gonna start watching for more such goodies in the future.

Andre

I picked up a few things. The Globe Warren cars came and look good. I need to figure out if the built one is just dirty, maybe nicotene, or was it weathered. I’ll want to change the red trucks as well. Also managed to buy a couple of unused Mantua tank wraps as well!

I guess the question will be wether I am man enough to try to install a wrap on my wrapless Mantua tankers.  Nothing to lose really they only cost $3 each.  Maybe I should scan them in first.

you got too many tankers laying on that bench Dennis

That bench is my layout, now that is the real problem!  I got to quit using the layout as my bench....

Found these two Varney tin litho Reefer kits, $4 each.

The roof's need repainted, but the Litho sides look perfect

well since I have nothing but time....how about flying me out there...I can be a Richard Rawlings and organize that layout and closest of yours.....

and as payment I get to keep whatever "falls on the floor"....

But you don't work on Ford's do you?

I saw some the old boxes.  all the Athearn HO I had were in the blue boxes that they were using into the 1980s at least.  I built many many a kit as a kid.  I loved doing that.

not since 1984 when I gave them up. It was a long four years with that one......but depending what falls on the floor I could again....

jbmccormick posted:

I saw some the old boxes.  all the Athearn HO I had were in the blue boxes that they were using into the 1980s at least.  I built many many a kit as a kid.  I loved doing that.

Same for me. My first new trains were Athearn  Blue box  SF GP 35 and F7 in 1972. Before it was my dads Marx and after it was Lionel . Now it is a mix of everything.

Found a few other vintage ho kits.  The first ones are Globe ho metal side box car kits, this time a PRR Merchandise car  and a 40 foot auto box car

Also broke down and picked up a couple of new MTH ho reefers... my first new ho cars in probably 35 years lol...  Darn I must be getting old..  I love the graphics and man those grab irons are so tiny, but I still love the old metal Athearn cars just as much or better.....

I have this nice Globe metal Mobilgas tanker coming now.  Will have to get rid of those couplers  but I love these old metal colorful tank cars!

Also picked up this neat Bowser K4.  Based on the instructions and sheet metal frame, this was a 1980's ish version.  I've like to fins some of the earlier Bowser and Pennline PRR engines.  I threw the MTH K4 I found for $25  just to compare lol.  I think with a nice Green/black paintjob the Bowser would look pretty nice.

Got another neat one.  This one is an early ho Union Pacific Black tank car in the early Black box with Red sticker.  I think this is the first box that Irv used for the ho trains in 1948/49.  Of course he had been selling O scale cars for 4-5 years by then.

Got about 150 vintage metal Athearn/Varney and wood Silver Streak/Amroid freight cars:

I'm a big fan of these vintage cars from the 50's.  Nicely detailed.  They, usually, need Kadees and Intermountain wheel sets.

Page down to date 2-5-18 for pictures:  Look for individual freight car pictures. 

https://ogrforum.com/...hern-railway?page=14

page down to date 10-15-18 to see more:  Two different postings on this page.

https://ogrforum.com/...hern-railway?page=19

Last batch at 4-29-19:  posting near the bottom of this page.

https://ogrforum.com/...hern-railway?page=26

Here are a few stacked on the Lionel factory. Mix of Athearn, Mantua, Silver Streak, Thomas Ind, Globe, and even a Hand lettered Walthers early prewar kit build car. Love em but have nowhere to run them lol. If I count Blue Box Athearn I bet I have 150 plus cars, maybe getting close to 50-60 early metal ones. If only I could focus on quality and getting nice boxes although I do have quite a few boxes as it is.

Found this on the sidebar.  I was hoping somebody had found an Athearn O Scale tank.  I really liked my HO version - long lost.

I don't do HO, and I don't do plastic, but I still have eight of those Varneys.  Six had metal underframes and roofwalks.  Three of those exploded!

So I took one, sent it to Bob Stevenson, of Stevenson Preservation Models, and he made a mold and cast me enough in brass to replace the exploded ones.

They are not perfect, but way better than the early wood , and later plastic underframes.  And way, way better than the exploded ones.  If you need any of these, check with Bob.

So being nostalgic, I have replaced all my HO stuff including Bowser K11, Mantua Shifter, and all the Varney box cars except the grey CN ice car, and the Dockside, in either O Scale or 17/64.

And good news, the Dockside just got main frames cut in 17/64.

Dropping in, and dropping out.

Bob, I wish Athearn would have actually made the tank car on O scale they began as well.  I've seen the ad's in MR and RMC.  I like the idea of having several matching sets of the ho and O versions of their boxcars and reefers.  I know not Lobaugh, but still very cool.

I have very few Lobaugh boxes and reefers - I prefer All Nation, which are similar to Athearn, but with steel maybe 20% thicker.  They remind me of the HO Varney cars.

I have zero HO tank cars, but indeed that long lost black triple dome UTLX sparked an interest, so I now have some forty similar cars in O Scale.

While we are drifting into box  cars, here are some of my obsessions.  For the Carnation, one of my very favorite Varney cars, I had decals made from a photo of the HO car.  Ditto the PRR Merchandise car.  But the rest were produced in O Scale almost exactly as if Gordon Varney had decided to duplicate his cars in O Scale.  I did search long and hard for the EJ&E, and as mentioned, still have not duplicated the grey CN ice car.  Herewith:

I did put captions on them, but somehow they do not show up.  The top cars are O Scale, with the two green cars Athearn or All Nation.  The green and white matches the early Varney car.

The third photo is HO Varney.  Still have not created decals to duplicate that grey ice car - in the works, soon.

The bottom photos show the original Mantua HO Shifter, and my somewhat larger 17/64 scale version.  I have done the same for my Bowser K11 and just cut the frame for a 17/64 Dockside.

Bob, How'd you manage to get all the wheels of that Shifter on the track??? LOL Your slipping 

I managed to trip over this early wood and metal Athearn Timken  Roller Freight box car with its correct Red box...