Sleeper, I think MT are not necessarily doing cars that are accurate as to prototype. They may well take the red or brown of one paint scheme and apply it to the other. They take a lot of liberties as long as the cars sell. So it's a question of whether you are looking for red ATSF cars whether or not they are prototypically accurate. Otherwise, you need to do your homework first, finding out which cars are correct. Not sure about IM whether they are more reliable or not, though I tend to think so.
Ok, this is what I needed to know. I just saw this MT car on eBay and I didn’t know anything about them, but I liked the look. I really could not find anything that looked like that, even when searching real photos and road numbers. So if that’s not a real car then I can understand why nobody else is making them. I still like how it looks, but maybe it’s not as appealing to me anymore.
According to my Morning Sun book.... The Roundhouse car is the scheme on a 1958 Bx-76, and to me, it looks pretty darn good. The end high ladders and the door latches should be black. The car number 12955 is correct. The two Bachmann cars are, like I said, foobies because no 6' herald on any car ever had a white background. Other than that... on the boxcar the herald should be white, not black... The MT (Micro-Trains) car is dead on, and that exact car number (6572) is on page 59, as-delivered in 1962. Looks like MT has the book to me. That's a very accurate rendition. My accusation was against IM (which is unusual for me) not MT (the usual recipient of my gripes). For some reason, MT has rarely botched a Santa Fe paint scheme, although they often apply it to 'close enough' cars. The IM 40' "Santa Fe" car sure looks red to me.... http://www.intermountain-railway.com/n/images/65827mw.jpg and if you were buying it to get an Indian Red car, you've been misled. And that scheme is boxcar red, in various tones. Usually more brownish than reddish. The "Indian Red" scheme was the color coding for the cushion underframe ("Shock Control"). If it wasn't red, it didn't have one. They were still painting "Shock Control" red cars through the 70's while they were painting conventional boxcars brown with the "Santa Fe" billboard. I've been wrestling with whether I believe that "Shock Control" red 40' boxcars actually existed. That black and while photo link would certainly seem to say so, but I don't have any books with a color shot in it, but I have one of those red Con-Cor 40' boxcars with Shock Control. Well, my cover shot of the "Railway Car Repair Directory" of Corwith Yard in what I think is 1968-1970 has about 100 cars in it, from a high aerial view in hi-res. Sure enough, I found one. It's 40', conventional door, Shock Control, and weathered red. I may take that car out of retirement - I thought it was a foobie. A little more digging in my 1975 Official Railway Equipment register confirms that ATSF had a 'few' 40' class XL boxcars with cushion underframes - 182 cars (including the one in the black and white shot) - 50 ton capacity - so I'll buy into the conclusion they were red.
Oh, that’s cool. I could not find it. I was coming up with all sorts of stuff even a tank car I think or maybe it was a hopper I can’t remember now. I’m going to have to buy me a book one of these days, because I still can’t find it, but I'll take your word for it.
Well, here's the book. You might find a used one if you're lucky. Amazon.com: ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment (Santa Fe) (9781878887450): Lloyd E. Stagner I've got a pretty big ATSF library built up, which is how you get this way!
Thanks, that’s a pretty expensive book. I guess I’ll have to get a used one and I’ll have to do it fast because I heard that Amazons not going to sell to Calif anymore due to the Sales tax.
The 40' Con-Cor that I have - and that is surprisingly legit - is on the auction site under item 310321445418 for a very reasonable price. Mind you it's no MT car (and you'll find the Rapido trucks and couplers are garbage), but they're not soaking you either than that 'core paint scheme' is close enough for me.
Thanks, I just bought it. I have to replace all the MT wheel sets with low profile anyway and if the couplers are truck mount then I’ll just replace the trucks. Well, I think I’m done for now on ATSF “Super Shock” unless I see another MT like I want. I ended up buying another Bachmann for $2.50 so that make 3 red Bachmann, 1 orange Bachmann, 1 red Roundhouse and 1 MT brownish red. I also have a number of other brown ATSF box car and 2 red Roundhouse that I just bought but none of these are “Super Shock” so I think I got enough for an ATSF train.
I looked at that listing earlier. There where (2) listed. Looks like you only bought one. There is one more if ya want it...:tb-wink: .
There was? I only see one. After I bought it I went to see what else he had and I saw another one, but when I clicked on it said I already bought it, so I don’t know where it is. Were they the same road number?
Not sure. The listing showed (2) available at the top earlier...with a box for the quantity wanted...hmmmmm .
You're beamed back to about 1972 technology on that car. They only made one road number back then in pretty much of everything! Con-Cor/Kato (Japan) 40' Steel Box Car I'm still chuckling over pulling this car back out of the junkbox. I was convinced this was a Con-Cor foobie until I did the research on this thread. That's why this stuff is fun for me, I get to argue with myself sometimes. The 'color' photo I have really takes some studying to determine what the base car color is - red or brown...because it's so grimy by about 1970. Looks red to me though, as it's right beside brown cars and it's pretty red compared to that, under about 10 years of dirt. At least with the Con-Cor, I won't have reservations about weathering it like I would the $40 MT 'collector' car, but that's the topic of another thread... My repainted Bachmann 50' was one of my very first decal jobs back in the 70's, and OMG.... this is before I had much reference material. The decal positioning is all wrong..... it's way better than stock Bachmann, but the yellow S/L decal goes in the upper LH corner instead of the center of the plug door, that kind of stuff. It's weathered and looks nice, but I'll never look at it the same way again now that I've studied more red boxcar shots due to this thread than I ever have before!
I have a lot of Bachmann cars with the same numbers and I only really started noticing it within the last couple of years. I don’t know why it makes any difference because I can’t see them without removing them from the track anyway, but I take great pains to not duplicate numbers.
According to a now discontinued Athearn release, the first red boxcars with black ends and roof were introduced in 1959, with "Shock Control" slogans. These were XM-type cars with conventional sliding doors.
If you havent seen it already... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DTD-N-SCALE...422206?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item5895078d7e
