Weaver freight cars.

Weights were designed for the two bay hoppers. 

There was also a relatively heavy coal load that was available at the time.

Here are two of my favorites...

The C&I pretty much ran through my backyard, and having grown up in Cambria County, I sorely miss the sounds of the early morning coal drags from the mines.

Usually I'm not much for glossy paint schemes, but this one is just so sharp looking.

Jim, I believe this was one of your custom runs?

@Bob posted:

My favorites are the Curve Beer and Altoona Lager reefers.  I have 14 of them, all different numbers, done as special runs for a great train shop in Homer City, PA.  Thanks Jim! 

I even had to build a version of Altoona Brewing Company so all those reefers would have a place to go.  This is an old photo, before the reefers were weathered.

Same here! With the exception of not having all 14 cars.

BTW, the Bunny Bread car is also an eye catcher too!

Here's another of Jim's custom runs.

Thx, Jim.

CNJ#1601, Yes that was one of our custom runs. Orange was always my favorite color. Therefore, I decided to do the New Haven PS-2 covered hopper. Weavers, PS-2 covered hopper was always my favorite car.  We also did this New Haven PS-2 covered hopper.

I thought so Jim...thanks for confirming!

When RadioRon made me second guess myself with his post above, I thought, "Why not?  I could see Jimmy doing that car just because he liked the New Haven's colors"...so I almost nailed it...LOL!

I have always liked the Weaver cars. In fact, they were what helped me decide to branch out into 2 rail O scale. I recently won an auction and got a lot of cars hat included 13 Weaver, 2 rail cars. Several are cars I want to keep, and the rest I will sort out and sell off to cover costs. Even though they are not highly detailed, the Weaver cars look very nice in a train.

Jeff

rplst8,

Do you have these two Cambria and Indiana 2 bay hopper cars? If you don't and since you like the Cambria and Indiana Railroad this will give you something to hunt. Both of these hoppers have the built by Bethlehem Steel Johnstown PA. logos on them.

Here are a few of the Weaver cars I got through the auction. I have two of the cabooses, and it looks like they are both custom weathered. The D&H covered hopper is some type of special run, or custom paint,  the tank car is a custom paint,(has a lot of damaged handrails), and I got 4 of the Railbox cars, all with different numbers. All are weighted, and set up for 2-rail.

Jeff

Mowingman,

I love your 50' Rail Box box car.

@jim sutter posted:

Mowingman,

I love your 50' Rail Box box car.

Thanks. There are 4 of these. This one is assembled, but the other three are still in kit form like they arrived from Weaver. The yellow is a little bit "translucent",  in my opinion, but they do look nice. I will probably weather the ones I decide to keep.

Jeff

These are two of my favorites ...

Another favorite. Posted previously elsewhere...

Weaver was a major loss to the hobby...wild variety and trucks ..

Detroit,

I love your Penn Central box cars.

WITZ41,

Your Chicago Northwestern box car reminds me of  one of my favorite box cars from Gilbert (American Flyer).

Here's my offering. Love these two Chateau Martin Wine cars! Weaver makes some nice stuff.

Mowingman's D&H covered hopper looks like one I worked on and later sold to Steve Neill.  His collection has recently been auctioned.

I added an air brake pipe along the side sill, uncoupling rods and painted the ends, running board, corner platforms and roof black, leaving the hatch covers gray, following a prototype photo.

Here it is:

S.Islander 

@S. Islander posted:

Mowingman's D&H covered hopper looks like one I worked on and later sold to Steve Neill.  His collection has recently been auctioned.

I added an air brake pipe along the side sill, uncoupling rods and painted the ends, running board, corner platforms and roof black, leaving the hatch covers gray, following a prototype photo.

Here it is:

S.Islander

S.Islander, Yes, this has to be the one. It is customized exactly as you mentioned. I got it in a lot I won at that auction. It is in perfect condition. I have $11.35/car invested in this car, and that includes shipping from the auction. You did a nice job.

Jeff

I have many Weaver cars. Many of them were undecorated and I finished them. Occasionally, I come across cars factory painted and I purchase them too. They are always well done.

Here are two factory cars I like, and one custom painted car I did a few months ago...

Tom

@Krieglok posted:

I have many Weaver cars. Many of them were undecorated and I finished them. Occasionally, I come across cars factory painted and I purchase them too. They are always well done.

Here are two factory cars I like, and one custom painted car I did a few months ago...

Tom

Love that WAG car. I have several of those that were done as special runs, but I believe they are all Atlas models.

Jeff

Tom and Jeff, FYI Crown Model Products did a run of them in the 1990's. Later on Buffalo Creek Graphics did a run of them also..................Paul 2

Thanks for reminding me of that. Now that you mention it, I believe I do have one of each of those , along with the Atlas cars. I will have to look in the storage closet and see.

Jeff

@jim sutter posted:

rplst8,

Do you have these two Cambria and Indiana 2 bay hopper cars? If you don't and since you like the Cambria and Indiana Railroad this will give you something to hunt. Both of these hoppers have the built by Bethlehem Steel Johnstown PA. logos on them.

I don't Jim, but I do have this:

I doubt it's prototypical, but it was a gift from my father, and I would take 20 more if I could find them.  Probably one of my favorite cars, though it's not made by Weaver.

I have 12 of the C&I 3-bay hoppers, but I definitely would like to get a few of those 2-bay ones to throw in my coal drags.  Thanks for sharing!

rplst8,

That's a great looking ore car. You will remember your father gave you that as a gift for the rest of your life. 

Jim, great topic! I really miss Weaver also. Back in the late 80's and into the 90's, there were few if any companies that would do custom runs besides Weaver. Up here in Canada there was precious little available from the big names, but we were able to get some pretty cool looking stuff from Weaver.

You might recognize a couple of these for instance:

The PS2 covered hoppers were and still are a nice running car. On the lower track we have a couple of the venerable ACF grain cars, and off to the right a PS2CD in CP markings.

Talking about ACF grain hoppers:

And then there is these guys; 70 tonners I believe. There were two 12 packs available, all different road numbers, 24 in total.

And of course bulkhead flats:

In short, Weavers filled a huge gap at the time, and they are still great. Only thing is many of their offerings are too light, and you need to properly weight them to get them to run reliably. No big deal.

Rod

Rod Stewart,

You have some great looking cars. Super collection of Weaver freight cars. I recognize the red and white Ralston Purina and the green British Columbia PS-2 covered hoppers. I have only seen the British Columbia hopper a couple of times. It was either the second or third car that I done.

I don't know  that I have a favorite.  Being an Alaska Railroad fan Weaver was filling a niche long before the big guys put out a lot of Alaska stuff.  First Weaver cars I owned were PS2 Hoppers in ARR livery done for Petersen's.  And then many more followed.

I'll opt for the N&W Caboose

@jim sutter posted:

Rod Stewart,

You have some great looking cars. Super collection of Weaver freight cars. I recognize the red and white Ralston Purina and the green British Columbia PS-2 covered hoppers. I have only seen the British Columbia hopper a couple of times. It was either the second or third car that I done.

Jim; I thought that you had the Ralston car done, and others too, from our earlier conversations. Didn't know about the British Columbia one. Its a really nice car too.

coach joe; many of the cars I own were Andy Petersen custom runs. He did a lot of them. Very responsive to the Canadian market, and a very nice guy. Haven't seen him in quite a few years now. He was also our main source of many early MTH products in the 1996 to 2000 era.

Rod

@Freight Train Jim posted:

These are two of my favorites ...

Jim. Who done the Bunny Bread? Was it a special run? I really like it

Let's not forget the OGR Tour and York cars. I have a few more. I've 2-railed all of them and occasionally bring them out to run at the club.

Lee Drennen,

It was one of our custom runs. I grew up on Bunny Bread. It was made by the Harris Boyer Bakery in Johnstown. PA. Johnstown was only 24 miles from Homer City. A lot of our customers were from Johnstown. Beside the red roof and red end version, Weaver made as a Blue roof and Blue end version.

AGHRMATT,

Those are some fine looking Weaver cars. I notice you have some autographs of some of the leaders of "O" Gauge magazine on one of the cars. That's very special. Matt That's something to be proud of.

Coach joe,

You have some fine looking Weaver cars that you have pictured. I to like Alaska Railroad freight cars. My favorite is your Alaska box car with the Eskimo.

@jim sutter posted:

AGHRMATT,

Those are some fine looking Weaver cars. I notice you have some autographs of some of the leaders of "O" Gauge magazine on one of the cars. That's very special. Matt That's something to be proud of.

Thanks Jim. The OGR Autograph car was an interesting find and I was lucky to win the auction. I'm going to try to get one without the autographs and put this one in a display case.