Need HELP identifying O gauge / scale rolling stock

On the freight cars, these appear to be Weaver trucks.  Clue is how the coupler arm is attached to the bolster.  Weaver used the same truck for 2 and 3 rail.

The stock car definitely looks like an 1970's-era Atlas car. The trucks are Weaver (they have the equalized bolster that allows each sideframe to twist independently of the bolster).

I'll leave the ID of the passenger cars to someone else, as it looks like a combination of kit and commercial (and possibly scratchbuilt parts, especially that center sill and some underbody details visible in the photo).

---PCJ

The freight trucks are Weaver. Be careful stressing the side frames. The pins that hold the side frames to the bolster tend to break easily, and you cannot glue them back together.

The 6 wheel passenger trucks are likely Walthers. The car could also be a Walthers kit.

BTW, nice cars!

Chris

LVHR

@Hi-Rail Bob posted:

I purchased a circus train over 15 years ago from Caboose Hobbies in Denver. Recently, I decided to open the packages and see exactly what I have.

Maybe if you had decided to open the packages while Caboose Hobbies was still in business, someone there could have told you what you bought.  Fifteen years, really?

The observation car is a Walthers kit for the tinplate market.

@Hi-Rail Bob posted:

The train also includes a number of passenger cars. I cannot find any markings on the cars that might indicate the brand and/or how old they might be. The trucks on the passenger cars have also been changed out to 6-wheel, 3-rail trucks. The car in the picture is 15" long, from coupler to coupler, and weighs in at a whopping 1 pound, 15 ounces! I'm guessing that this may have been a kit. I have not been able to find any examples of either the roof or window detail in a bit of research on-line.

As stated above, the pictured pass car is from a Walthers kit - shortened versions were produced for the tin plate market. Walthers trucks as well. Walthers sold 3 rail tin plate wheelsets for these kits.  Still fairly common and available on the secondary market. Almost all, if not all, of the white metal detail parts are also still available from Scale City Designs.

The original Atlas plastic cars from the 80s were neither fish or fowl so to speak.    The flanges and wheels as delivered were closer to 3 and the couplers were dummy about the size of Lionel couplers.     the wheels were plastic so the cars could and did run on 2 rail track without shorting, but if the modeler used smaller more scale size rail such as Code 125 or coder 148, the flanges would hit the heads of the spikes and bounce a lot.

The current Atlas O trainman cars appear to use the same molds for many of the car bodies with new diecast underframes.

Thanks to everyone for the information on the circus cars. And actually, it's been 17 years since I bought them and had them shipped to my home while I went skiing. Have a great weekend!

Bob