O Scale - Stock Cars

The ones that come to mind are the Atlas Trainman stock cars and the old Atlas-Roco stock cars. These had the steel roofs

MTH also did some in both Premier and Rail King, the latter appearing to be based on an earlier, smaller prototype. Can't remember the roof on the Rail King.

Lionel produced some a few years back that had four steers inside. I always thought the steers were a bit oversized, but they measure about 5 feet to the shoulder, so I think they're actually OK.

Bob,

Depending on the era to be modeled:

Few, of the manufacturers of 1:48 scale model trains either get all, or at least most of all, of the colors, detailing and markings correct.

Some, manufacturers, either put wrong detailing, leave off some detailing, or 'E'-All of the above!!!!!

Then, some release 'FANTASY' models, which sell, though wrong, because it looks cute and pretty!

It, is difficult, with the many manufacturers and their goods, to figure out which would be prototypically, or close to prototypically, correct and taking into consideration certain variables.

For the most part, I like 'Atlas 'O:'' 'Master Line Series' and/or 'Trainman,' because they do, or mostly do, replicate the prototype.

Good Luck,

Ralph

My personal favorite is the prewar Lobaugh kit.  Getting hard to find, they are reasonably accurate copies of SP, ATSF, and I think PRR, in 36 and 40 foot versions.  Some had small end doors.  Sides were cast aluminum, rest was wood and stamped steel.

Rich Yoder brought in some excellent brass ATSF stock cars.  He may be doing a second run.

It would be nice if Atlas or one of the other "mass" manufacturers did the Santa Fe stockcars (Intermountain has them in N and HO) as the Santa Fe had by far the largest fleet of stock cars and they were commonly seen on eastern railroads.

Allan

We have five recently produced O scale stock cars to chose from.

Atlas Trainman, MTH and Weaver all make similarly sized 40 foot stock cars that would fit in the late 1940s to the end of stock car usage.  The Atlas and Weaver cars share roofs and ends with their respective post-war AAR and PS-1 box car models.  The MTH stock car has a Stanray diagonal panel roof and is unique in the MTH premier line.

Lionel makes the most detailed O scale stock car model on the market today.  It has USRA like dimensions, a wood roof, 4/4 dreadnought ends and would fit in from the late 1920s to the late 1960s.  It also has a diecast floor, a good feature for a type of car that usually traveled a the head end of a train.

The K-Line 763 stock car is also worth a look.  It is less detailed but is similar in overall dimensions to the Lionel stock car.  It has a Murphy rectangular panel roof and dreadnought ends.

I like the Lionel and K-Line stock cars because they are sized like 1920s and early 30s box cars and not later AAR or PS-1 box cars.

However, the large majority of stock cars in use in the 1940s-1950s were rebuilt single-sheath boxcars with original flat or murphy roofs.

I agree, a stock car with 5/5/5 or 7/8 Murphy ends would be great! 

My favorite prototype stock car was rebuilt from old box car components and had three piece ends of two different types and the uppermost end section had a lumber door.  How is that for odd and different?

Hi guys, I only own two stock cars that managed to make it to my diesel era.

Lionel's true O scale 40 ton and a K-Line - Lionel classic O, slightly smaller circus car.

Don't know much about details and accuracy on these but I like them anyway by adding some variety.

SIRT,

You did a great job of weathering your cars, especially the Penn car. Who did you do it? Did you use chalk or paints?

I can till from you photos, you do a lot of detailing to your layout. Is this something you picked up from some books or just on your own by experimenting?

RAY 

My beef with the current scale stock car offerings is that I think they're all too modern. Yes, Atlas, Lionel, MTH and others make fine models--BUT. Most of their prototypes are of cars built (or converted) from about 1940 onwards.

I, for one, would like to see a kit for one of the older composite (wood and metal) stock cars built in the 1920's and 1930's. Those would not only be entirely appropriate for steam-era railroads, but many of those cars lingered on into the early second-generation diesel era, about the time when most stock car movements stopped anyway.

Lionel's 6656 may be very toy-like, but it resembles a widespread style of stock car that isn't available in scale from our vendors.

There is a great deal of info, including plans and directions for scratch building, in a 4-part series in Mainline Modeler.  See the Oct and Nov 1991 and Jan and May 1992 issues.  

ChipR

I agree, with Mister Lee.

Besides, the modern appearance, one other little detail that is missing are the 'Poling-Pockets' on some supposed older stock cars, which for the time period and builder, would have had them.

A well known modeler makes a beautiful car, but leaves off the 'Poling-Pockets,' when the car should have them, as per the prototype car.

Ralph

Lionel made one that had "ARMOR" on the side of it. It was for the old Armor Star meat Packing Company. The car was Orange in color and I think it was issued with the small black cattle that used the vibratory device to move in and out of the cars. Seems like I had one in the early 50's.