Horse-Baggage-Automobile Cars in O Gauge

Martin,

3rd Rail made horse transport cars a few years ago in brass.  I purchased two of them in PRR colors.  They are superb.

Good luck trying to find one in any road name.

Norm

thank you for the information

In their listings, Walthers once offered O scale kits, very similar to their widely available passenger car kits.  These were re-offered under the All-Nation label.  In former Chicago March meets, and languushing in basements, can be found a lot of these two brands.

I wanted one so badly, I made this one.  It was in the "BC" era (before computers were common and information was more difficult to find). All I had were a few photos of UP cars taken at angles.

A Walthers roof, roof vents and  six baggage car doors were bought, along with a pair of All Nation 6 wheel trucks, passenger car brake and generator detail. Both ends are built up in wood, with the standard end covered with a sheet of thin soda pop can aluminum with rivets embossed with a pounce wheel and straight edge. The opening end had hinges which were cut down to suit.

The car sides are made from aluminum roofer's flashing, sold in rolls at hardware stores.  I made a paper pattern which was glued on with rubber cement to guide cutting out the door openings and making rivet lines.  Scale Coat paint was used along with a set of Champ decals. Central Locomotive Works couplers are on it.  Kadee O scale couplers had not yet been made.  All told, not too bad a job. 

BUT the model is a scale 10' too short!  I could not find the length of the UP baggage car I modeled and made a 'guestimate' about that based on the photos.  So here it is, built in 1975.

S. Islander

Norm posted:

3rd Rail made horse transport cars a few years ago in brass.  I purchased two of them in PRR colors.  They are superb.

3rd Rail made both horse cars and theater cars.  Really wish I had bought one of each when they first came out. Now they rarely come up for sale, and when they do they are very expensive.

Lionel made several horse transport cars like operating 3356 Santa Fe horse car with corral, and later 9224 long body both work with horse corral. 

Also the red ATSF 9280 and yellow 6473 short body with the horse heads bobbing out two windows in the side.  Lionel also use flat cars like 1877 with side and end fences to hold horses with some General 1892 Civil war era sets..

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Lionel made several horse transport cars like operating 3356 Santa Fe horse car with corral, and later 9224 long body both work with horse corral.  Also the 9280 short body.

Charlie

Lionel's horse cars bear no resemblance to prototype horse cars, which is what's being referred to by the O.P.

Rusty

Wow, this is very interesting. At first I thought it was meant to be "horse drawn" but I understand now. These are way different than a regular stock car. So are these used for race horses, or other such horses by a single owner that wouldn't use a stock car? Please educate me on these.

Yes, mainly race horses, travelling between race tracks across the country, or other fine, highly prized stock. A horse team and wagon or carriage could be transported, all of which could fit into one car.  Stalls were collapsible inside, usually three across.  Feed and water were available on the car.  The horses or other stock had attendants that traveled with them, usually in the same car. Time was of the essence, so they traveled in scheduled passenger trains. It cosrt more, but took much less time and was safer for the horses.

S. Islander   

CAPPilot posted:

Norm posted:

3rd Rail made horse transport cars a few years ago in brass.  I purchased two of them in PRR colors.  They are superb.

3rd Rail made both horse cars and theater cars.  Really wish I had bought one of each when they first came out. Now they rarely come up for sale, and when they do they are very expensive.

Seems like a good time to rerun them then, all the design and tool expenses are paid for?

the attached link has a number of smaller scale (i.e., not O gauge) excellent photos showing the horse transport cars of various railroads.

http://www.wheelsotime.com/80-ft-baggage-horse-car/

Here are two 3rd Rail examples. Very ! nice. They make an excellent addition to a consist. 

Santa Fe is Horse Express car

Penn car is Theater car “Othello”

TrainBub

Hijack alert: a thread I started a couple of years ago - the photo is a horse pulling a horse transport car in England.....at a horse racetrack loading yard..... but that's a horse of a different colour... 

https://ogrforum.com/...orses-switching-cars

On my railroad the horse car carries entrants with considerably more than 1 horsepower:

This is a Sunset Brass horse car

John Sethian posted:

On my railroad the horse car carries entrants with considerably more than 1 horsepower:

This is a Sunset Brass horse car

My what a stable of horsepower. And I’m sure the Ferrari still being held back in the horse (power) car is raring to escape. 
nice tongue-in-cheek “repurposing” - horse car to auto car. 👍

Once upon a time, I experimented a kitbash of a k-line baggage car into a more accurate door of a prr b70. It failed my quality test. But I have admired the PRR theater cars and the interesting end door design and arch roof. In my recent interest in mail trains I found a photo of PRR # 6077 B60a American Railway Express car, blt 4-12-29, with arch roof and 6 wheel trucks and the large end door. Hagley Dig. Archives. However on closer inspection of the photo, it looks dimentionally more like a PRR b70b no diagrams of b60s show 6 wheel trucks!?

Later I found a photo on the net crediting S. Berliner of an end loading b60a #6262 round roof, porthole windows 4 wheel trucks, marked Railway Express Agency.

I don't have the skills to scratch build or kitbash well enough and would not invest $150 in a Weaver or Lionel b60b to try. I will continue to search for a walthers kit just in case I get brave again.

This is a Seaboard Air Line horse /baggage car. It was built using a Walthers car kit with scratch built sides of thin tin. O scale 2 rail.

Nice body work and paint.

Lionel's recent catalog has horse cars.  I was not going to get one because I thought PRR's were all 3-door, but found out later they had 2-door cars like Lionel's.  Similar cars were used for scenery items so I expect Lionel to release one of those soon.

It was not unusual for the horse's owner's automobile to be in the car.  John

@CAPPilot posted:

Lionel's recent catalog has horse cars.  I was not going to get one because I thought PRR's were all 3-door, but found out later they had 2-door cars like Lionel's.  Similar cars were used for scenery items so I expect Lionel to release one of those soon.

I hope Lionel does a PRR theater baggage car, but they may not get the doors on the sides dimensionally correct and correctly located. Each doorway of the doubles should be 10ft 10 ins. and the single doorway is 6 ft. The diagram of the PRR B70a shows the double doors located on opposite ends of the car, not across from each other. I do admire the round roof and the end door detail. But I understand that Lionel makes rolling stock for other RRs and the door placement and dimensions vary. The different design elements makes model railroading so interesting.