Dr. Wayne's Diagnosis Needed.

[doctorwayne]

Thanks, Kevin.
Model Die Casting has a selection of earlier cars, mostly 36-footers and most with truss rods. The latest versions of the same cars from Horizon are r-t-r and have, I think, metal wheels. They also have much better paint and lettering, although all of this comes at a price. I believe that they have boxcars, reefers, and stock cars, all with truss rods, and a shorty (30'-er?)flatcar, 40' gondola, and an old-style tankcar, all with steel underframes. Atlas also has a nice r-t-r 36' reefer with truss rods.
The car below, an MDC reefer when I bought off the "used" table at the LHS it for a buck-or-so, did have truss rods, but I removed them, adding a fishbelly underframe. I also removed the reefer door hardware, then covered-over the area with a wooden door from an old Train Miniature car. Wire grabs replaced the cast-on ones, then the car was placed in MoW service.


Another car suitable for your era is the 36' Fowler Patent boxcar, made originally by LifeLike Canada as part of their Proto1000 line. I don't know if Walthers offers this car nowadays, but it's a very nice version of the prototype, which was the forerunner of all single sheathed boxcars in North America. The model comes with free-standing plastic grab irons (I replaced mine with metal ones) and the proper Simplex trucks. The real ones were built from 1908 to 1915 and remained in service, in some cases, beyond the end of steam. Also r-t-r, they were pretty pricey at just under $40.00, although you can occasionally find them much cheaper, and, as with the others mentioned, don't overlook used ones.


Other suitable cars for your era could be the old Train Miniature cars, some of which are offered by Walthers. Useful ones would be the NYC-designed all-steel boxcars, which first appeared, I believe, in the mid-teens. They were the forerunner of the later ARA recommended design for steel cars:


...and the single sheathed design, also from the same timeframe:


You should be able to include a few of the USRA designs too, especially the single sheathed style shown at the start of this thread and the USRA doublesheathed car:


Wayne