Heinz pickle car

Not Lobaugh probably, maybe someone scratchbuilt it?

Not Lobaugh.  Priced correctly.  Nice lettering.

At one point I had a Lobaugh and a Walthers.  Sold the Walthers for an obscene amount of $ - everybody has his/her price, I guess.

Definitely not the Lobaugh car; almost certainly a scratchbuilt car.

I have a car that is very similar.  This is a KLine that was a Christmas present from the early 90’s.  I believe mine came from the Grove City Outlets when Heinz had a small shop there.

I have a K-Line pickle car that has exposed vats ans is lettered for Keokuk Canning Co., so apparently K-Line made two variants.

@PRRMP54 posted:

I have this nice older pickle car that I think may be a Walthers kit from many years ago. The car has metal (Athearn?) trucks with insulated metal wheels and older working mechanical couplers using a somewhat prototypical cut lever although bottom-operating instead of top-operating. The build quality is exceptionally nice and so is the decalling. I picked it up at a train show for a minimal amount (not hiding it, I just do not remember what it was ) although I suspect that it was around $25 or less. Any help identifying the kit maker would be appreciated. TIA.

I suspect that this car would look slightly out of place behind an ES44AC!

I admire the attention to detail.  Tons of rivets and grabs.

It's got the release rod and and a retaining valve as part of the brake detail.

Weather that bad boy up and add some realistic size draft gear pockets and it would look fine in a train of everything from plastic to brass to resin kits.

The under frame looks like  Scalecraft .

@PRRMP54 posted:

I have a K-Line pickle car that has exposed vats ans is lettered for Keokuk Canning Co., so apparently K-Line made two variants.

K-Line made at least seven Heinz vat car variants, some of which you can find by searching for "K675" on the Legacy K-Line site. Here is their #66 car, K675-5204, which I picked up at my local Greenberg show a couple of weeks ago:

K675-5201 is a yellow, open-vat, Heinz "57 Varieties" car.
I have also seen the white and green closed-vat car that says "Picklers and Preservers" along the car side listed as K675-5201.
K675-5202, #103, is the same as the K675-5404 pictured above, but has red lettered "Pickles."
K675-5203, #56, is the same as K675-5202, except that the car-side is brown, not yellow.
K675-5204, #66, is pictured above.
K675-5205, #50, is white and green with two pictures of pickles, with "Heinz" written inside, on each side of the car.

Then there is K675202, #70, pictured in @Steve R.'s post above.

In addition to the Heinz vat cars, there are Vlasic, Coke, and a number of what Lionel calls "fantasy" schemes.

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Good thread, and nice model you have Dave!

This is an Overland Pickle Vat Car:

Yes, it’s a bit more expensive than the fine models shown here, but I had to have it for sentimental family reasons.  You see my daughter hates pickles, She claims they make her sick.  I don’t believe this, by the way. So whenever she comes by with her kids (AKA my grandkids) to run the trains, I hide it in one of the trains. Could be in a freight, in a passenger train, or even being pushed with a GG1. My grandkids always squeal with delight when it appears.  Look Mommy, thee PICKLE car. And of course my daughter reacts with feigned nausea.

I plan to bequeath it to her in my will. I shall stick small love notes in each vat. (On the Overland car the vat lids all open separately.)

On a totally different note, there was an excellent article in the September 2011 issue of Railroad Model Crafstman entitled “Modeling: Railroads and The Pickle Industry.”  The article showed a photo of the Heinz car, pretty much as configured in 1950.  It showed a photo of the vat without the “coffin” sides in 1953. That’s good enough for my layout which is set in the mid 50’s time frame.  It really does not matter, I would have gotten the car anyway for the reasons above!

Nice story there, John.

@Matt_GNo27 posted:

K-Line made at least seven Heinz vat car variants, some of which you can find by searching for "K675" on the Legacy K-Line site. Here is their #66 car, K675-5204, which I picked up at my local Greenberg show a couple of weeks ago:K675-5201 is a yellow, open-vat, Heinz "57 Varieties" car.
I have also seen the white and green closed-vat car that says "Picklers and Preservers" along the car side listed as K675-5201.
K675-5202, #103, is the same as the K675-5404 pictured above, but has red lettered "Pickles."
K675-5203, #56, is the same as K675-5202, except that the car-side is brown, not yellow.
K675-5204, #66, is pictured above.
K675-5205, #50, is white and green with two pictures of pickles, with "Heinz" written inside, on each side of the car.

Then there is K675202, #70, pictured in @Steve R.'s post above.

In addition to the Heinz vat cars, there are Vlasic, Coke, and a number of what Lionel calls "fantasy" schemes.

I was surprised to see this thread revived and noticed that I had not posted a photo of the K-Line vat type of pickle/other products car:

Even though only one vat says "PICKLES". they could be in all/any/none of the vats; in my service the whole car is dedicated to pickles. And later this year two-railed.

John, I can't eat pickles anymore myself.

John, what trucks do you have on the flatcar in front of the pickle car? I always like to see your layout.

@harley rider posted:

The under frame looks like  Scalecraft .

You made me get the car and look, it is not a Scalecraft cast centersill. It is a properly-shaped piece of wood with a rivet-embossed strip of metal applied. The original builder paid a lot of attention to detail, that is for sure! Unfortunately I will (probably) never know who it was.

@harley rider posted:

John, what trucks do you have on the flatcar in front of the pickle car? I always like to see your layout.

HR,

Those are 1st Gear Farmall Works Ford F-800 tractors.  They are very nicely detailed, as you can see:

Thanks for the words about my layout

John, those Ford F800 Big Job trucks are very nice, and look good on the Wabash flat car.

K-Line sure did like those pickle vat cars.  In addition to the Heinz series and the Keokuk Canning Company, which was a K-Line Collectors Club, KCC, they also did the competition, Vlasic in open side and closed.  Very colorful.

Now I know more about pickle cars than I ever thought I needed to know. Good job.

@harley rider posted:

Now I know more about pickle cars than I ever thought I needed to know. Good job.

Barely scratched the surface!

Get a copy of:  Pickle and Vinegar Makers of the Midwest: History and Operations by David J. Leider

If you want to know even more about pickle cars check out Pickle and Vinegar Makers of the Midwest: History and Operations

Jan

My K-Line pickle cars, sharp cars.