Favorite freight cars.

Good question Jim

Lionel 40 ton ACF stockcars (I can do without the cows)

Lionel Dbl. Sheathed Boxcars

Railking 3 dome tank cars

My favorite box car is a kit built, l think All Nation, double door Rio Grande (D&RGW) auto box car on three rail trucks.  I am a Colorado RR fan and an auto hobbiest, and have thought of putting maybe a vintage auto or truck plant on my layout.   Stock cars, of course then, are the black Rio Grande standard gauge cars, while tank cars would  also be the black ones, UTLX, etc., seen in long lines outside refineries in perod photos. (Rare instances I which l like black... not on autos)

All of them!

My favorite is a PRR X29 boxcar.    Second is a PRR door and a half X28.   Both with plain ends and panel doors and the old style brake wheel sticking above the roof line.

My fav's are 40-foot reefers.

So far:

Box cars: Lionel PS-1 box car, Atlas steel-sided, rebuilt USRA box car, MTH double-sheathed USRA box car.

Tank cars: Atlas 8k gallon

Hopper: Weaver 2-bay

Covered hopper: Lionel PS-2 with opening hatches & rotating bearing caps.

Reefer: Altas wood-sided and Lionel steel-sided

Gondola: Weaver wood-sided

Ore car: MTH Premier (Great Northern w/Bettendorf plain-bearing trucks)

What are your favorite box car, stock car and tank car?

Box car: purely nostalgia - Lionel/MPC era 9700 series Milwaukee Road.  It was the first box car I purchased with my own money (12 years old - saved up lawn mowing money)

Stock car - again nostalgia - Marx 6-inch stock car Union Pacific #59.  It was part of my dad's set when he was a kid and my grandfather would always set up the set under the tree each Christmas.  Something about the UP #59 caught a little kid's fancy.  I now have that set and it's still my favorite in car from my dad's trains.

Tank car - hard one here, but probably the K-line 632 series of oil tank cars.  I think these are based on the old Kusan molds. No specific road/company name, but preferably a black tank with oil company logo.

You didn't ask, but a freebie - favorite gondola:  Postwar NYC 6462 in blue.  My first set as a wee lad was a used Lionel Alco set that included this car.  It was the most fun in the set since it could be loaded with hot wheels, Lincoln logs, etc. and it was.

Way back in the old days as a lad I wanted a train of boxcars. I saved my allowance and bought one to go with my trainset one. Never got more than that for many years. As for the rest I have no special preference.

MTH premier single and double sheathed boxcars.

Gene

The Lionel PS-5 gondola by a long shot.

My favorites are the diecast coal and covered hoppers from any of the manufacturers. I love the heft and the coal loads are more detailed. Atlas Reading fishbelly bought from a fellow forumite pictured below.

Two I painted…

Tom

Weaver outside braced box cars.

This is before I got 3 Atlas x29s so I can't decide.

Looking more carefully, I don't see any tank cars. But my favorite tanker is any one of nine cheap K-line finds I repainted and decaled for a cool tanker train.

My favorite would be the MTH Premier 36' Woodside Reefers. I have about a dozen of them along with several hard to find ones.

From the varied responses, I’m guessing a lot of you used to color outside the lines in kindergarten!🤨🤨🤨

From the original question, I thought this referred to real freight cars.    Then that would lead to who does the best model of the favorite freight car.

I can see how Jim’s question could be interpreted either for model or 1:1 scale trains.

Whatever I'm currently building - right now that's a pair of Stillwell Oyster Cars.  They'd qualify as tank cars or reefer cars, or in an extreme interpretation, perhaps even as stock cars,

My favorite box car is a MPC #9772 Great Northern.

My favorite stock car is a MPC #9437 Northern Pacific.

My favorite tank car is a MPC # 6305 British Columbia.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

From the varied responses, I’m guessing a lot of you used to color outside the lines in kindergarten!🤨🤨🤨

Worse than that, I refused to color all together. Okay, so I saw the title and didn't read the post. That's what I get for participating.

As to tank cars, I have 10 of them, 9 MTH Premier single dome tank cars and 1 Weaver. The Weaver wobbles, so I guess the MTH are my favorites. Stock car is even easier - just have the 1 which is Lionel CP Rail ACF 40-ton stock car with cattle. Box car, hmm? The recent MTH Premier Rutland double sheathed box car is a beauty.

My K-Line , Atlas, and MTH diecast hoppers and boxcars.