The Model Railroad Warehouse offers this Reference Section for you, our customers and guests.  We have started with the freight cars and in the future we would like to expand to other reference sections.

Freight Cars  - - click here to proceed

MANN'S CREEK McHOPPER & Mc BUGGY-- Construction TIPS & PIX click here    Kit Bashers Mall click here

CAR AND TRUCK REFERENCE PAGES   June 2008

These pages are for reference or archive purposes only-price and availability information is not current . 

Products shown in these pages are generally not currently available from Model Railroad Warehouse -in fact most of the products listed are not available period. They may be searched and found at railroad shows, estate sales, internet sources and older hobby shops. Check us too- at times they may be available in our YARDSALE. 

Click on the page below that you wish to reference.

RED BALL Heritage Series  This pioneer line was originated in 1939 by Los Angeles printer M.Dale Newton . He moved it to Medford , Oregon ,  during the war and sold it to Howell Day, early hobby dealer in Dunellen , New Jersey in 1955. Our Merle Rice acquired the line in 1975 and it has been in Roanoke/Huntington, Indiana until now.  This page was a main page on our website until summer 2008.  Because of the impending sale of the over 200 billboard reefers, over 100 boxcars and dozens of other unique prototype cars  of the "Heritage Series" (and the Red Ball brand) we are "archiving" the page. "Signature Series"  and "LTD Series kits by Red Ball are not involved in the sale and may be found on their own pages and INTERURBANS page.

Red Ball has offered well over 1000 unique prototype design kits (more unique than just the paint)  to HO model railroaders in the decades since 1939.

The popular VOTING feature is shown, but disconnected due to the impending sale of Red Ball.

Factory clearance items that are currently available are found by clicking the YARDSALE button on the main menu.

STEWART HOBBIES  Steve Stewart pioneered  "unique phase" HO plastic diesels and offered a variety of hopper car prototypes. MRRW distributed Stewart throughout his developing years and was the "aftermarket decorator"  (New River Models) for Stewart diesels in earlier years. Our photos of various diesel phases and car types can be helpful yet though the line is now sold by Bowser.

EASTERN CAR WORKS MRRW has distributed this line for some two decades.  Because of a move and resulting long term unavailability of many ECW kits we have currently placed this page in archive status.  Most trucks and some parts are still available from us-please email to inquire (NO 800 CALLS ON THIS PLEASE-our order taker does not have any info for you)..

TROOP CARS   As we developed the pioneering Cannonball Car Shops injection molded styrene troop sleeper and kitchen car kits, we  engaged in extensive research on the World War II troop cars that we are proud to share with you.  Thousands of these cars were sold as "surplus" to equipment starved railroads following the war, Over a hundred roads pressed the sleepers and kitchen cars into MofW service. At least four had them in caboose service. Alaska RR (owned by the government) had fleets of boxcars and heater-reefers made from them and they ran as "headend cars" (express boxcars, express reefers, RPO cars) across the USA and Canada . Each road had their own ideas. The resulting conversions are unique road-specific "Signature" cars that ran from 1947-8 until Amtrak. Many of these survive yet in MofW service.  This archive page includes so much road specific research it has even been used by those who brought more recent troop car models to the market.to compete with us. Click through the road names with the assurance that every different USA headend conversion is available from us  as an HO kit with styrene core with double etched brass sides (the sides also convert Walthers cars). Most are also available as brass sides to convert MicroTrains ® N scale cars.

Caboose Series Because the Eastern Car   NE Caboose is currently unavailable and efforts on the Red Ball caboose series have been stalled by loss of our mold makers, this page is currently placed in "archive status."

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

YOU HAVE SELECTED A REFERENCE PAGE.
Through the 1980-mid 1990 period a revolution was occurring in HO road name availability due to the efforts of our New River Models, Bev Bel, CM Shops and others. Most of this rapidly expanding variety was NOT cataloged by any central catalog-nor by websites such as Atlas, Red Caboose, Intermountain and Life Like P2K maintain as they continue this trend today with an ongoing flow of new items. This compendium was laboriously organized by Merle Rice to assist you as you seek items from past years which may be found using magazine/NMRA Bulletin ads, at NMRA meets, at model rail shows, older hobby shops or in our YARDSALE page which changes every couple weeks. It is like "hide and seek"-now you at least know what to seek-and where ! Happy hunting.

AS MODEL BUILDERS ARE BECOMING PROTOTYPE SAVVY, the customary Andrews, Arch Bar and Bettendorf truck selection has become inadequate. This information is for your reference. MRRW stocks the widest VARIETY selection of HO trucks available anywhere.

RED BALL and CENTRAL VALLEY produced exceptionally well detailed trucks in a wide variety during the earlier days of HO. The Red Ball line was sold to CAPE LINE in the early 1970s and only recently has the tooling been acquired by BETHLEHEM CAR WORKS. BCW is returning many long unavailable trucks to production. For actual availability, refer to the Bethlehem Car catalog in our shopping cart. RB Trucks which are not yet listed by BCW may be produced if demand warrants. BCW has other unique trucks as well. Central Valley is considering eventual return of their truck line. MRRW has the greatest selection of specialty trucks available from any supplier. Caboose, heavy duty, passenger, HERE THEY ARE: 

RED BALL TRUCKS. Click here SOON for illustration of the pre-1975 Red Ball trucks. This requires some loading time. These are strictly for your reference as some are returning to availability by Bethlehem. None are now available from Red Ball.

ABOUT FREE ROLLING TRUCKS 

Much is made about the merits of changing wheelsets and our personal prejudices as we seek to roll 100 car trains. There is an evasive truth: standard machine tools used to create the seat for tapered cone-end axles typically do not have the same angle as the axles! "The Tool" (#999-TOOL in our shopping cart @ $9.95) is a precision hand tool which allows you to quickly create a vast improvement in the rolling quality of most any HO trucks. Recently listed as a "must have" in MODEL RAILROADER's model tool survey article. In stock now at MRRW. 

You are invited to other reference materials we have posted on our pages for CABOOSE, INTERURBAN and TROOP/HEADEND CARS pm the menu at your left.

The most extensive material available on prototype TROOP cars and a road index of PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC caboose kits from MRRW are found there, as well as a list of potential interurban kits and info. 

CONTINUING THIS PAGE--- WITH OUR COMPENDIUM OF ROAD SPECIFIC DECORATED CARS AVAILABLE AT BETTER HOBBY SHOPS during 1980-90s era, Exclusive proprietary products and club/NMRA group special runs are NOT included.

The Boss was excited to get these two comments about the new reference section: 
.
"Your research on the Troop Cars is excellent." - from George Cockle.
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"I enjoyed the historical information on these cars very much.  It is rare to get this kind of information from a manufacturer.  Kudos to your research team." - Joe Wade.   

HEARTLAND FREIGHT CAR DIRECTORY TERMS

THIS IS A PORTION OF A COPYRIGHTED REFERENCE DIRECTORY.  REPRODUCTION OR ELECTRONIC STORAGE FOR ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN PERSONAL ( OR IN-SHOP STORE) REFERENCE IS A VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAW WITHOUT EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF MODEL RAILROAD WAREHOUSE, PO BOX 411, ROANOKE, IN 46783  
LISTING DOES NOT IMPLY  QUALITY,  FIDELITY, CURRENT AVAILABILITY OR VALUE     THIS FILE IS AVAILABLE AT    www.mrrwarehouse.com  

By clicking on the link into the reference pages, the user AGREES with the terms above and below.

 WE DO NOT HAVE THESE ITEMS AVAILABLE FOR SALE-nor do we know who does.

Freight Cars - start here !!!!

NOTES  
Airslide, RoadRailer and Coupler Mate are registered trademarks  of their respective prototype manufacturers. ACF, PS, Greenvl, and Mather are identified carbuilders, OT (oldtime),  OB (outside brace); dr (door)  are feature abbreviations, colors are also abbreviated.  "Pak" indicates a quantity with different road # sold as a unit. " stltype" and "woodtype" indicate prototype materials. Manufacturers of road specific prototypes which are typically undecorated/without decals are:  Bethlehem Car Works, Cannonball; Car Shops Eastern Car Works, Funario & Camerlengo, Hi Tech,   Red Ball  and Tichy Trains. Road specific Gloor Craft, Westerfield and some Tichy  provide decals. Others listed are decorated plastic unless noted and may not be road specific prototypes for all color schemes listed . Road specific prototype policies normally may be expected of  Bowser,  Intermountain, Kadee, Proto 2000  ("P2K") and Red Caboose decorated brands .  Steel Athearn "Athstl" kits have also been produced by Menzies & Bowser. Brands with heritage from pre 1980s "craftsman kit" production ( notably Cannonball, F&C, Gloor,  Huff n Puff, Red Ball and  Westerfield ) do not include trucks.

                    HO RAILCARS ACROSS THE HEARTLAND

 Collector's guides to brass and "collectible brands" have been with us for decades. The big "wishbook" with the year-ahead predictions of selected manufacturers  has long served as a partial guidebook for HO modelers and loose leaf notebooks have attempted to update the ever changing availability  of products in a marketplace with over 200 - 250 active  suppliers at any given time.  Many of these have been  "kitchen table" operations and, in recent years, many have produced limited edition decoration runs of others' products, or imported editions with different road numbers and short availability.

 For many, seeking the obscure is a hobby within the hobby.  For others, missing a car lettered for their favorite road is a painful frustration.  HO RAILCARS ACROSS THE HEARTLAND is intended to serve as a source of information for both these groups-- and the dealer who seeks to serve them.   This copyrighted information  is provided with permission granted for downloading and ONE PRINT USE ONLY to individuals or dealer for in shop reference.  Original copies directly printed from the computer may not be sold/resold without express written permission of Model Railroad Warehouse, P.O. Box 411, Roanoke, IN. 46783.  Reproduction, electronic storage, or copying of any kind is a violation of copyright law.  As currently published, this directory is known to be incomplete and continues to be updated.  Corrections and updates from manufacturers are welcome  ( hrtlnddirectory at mrrwarehouse.com )  By its very nature, such a directory is in a continuous state of updating.

"DISCLAIMERS"

This volume is not intended as a catalog, but as a reference directory, of HO freight cars [which have been generally available through alert train dealers in the past half dozen years] decorated for or prototypes of railroads operating in the region between Pittsburgh, Pa, and St. Louis, Mo.  Railcars marketed for brass collectors; primarily sold through the toy market; or produced for and sold by clubs and societies or proprietary (exclusive) to one or a small group of shops are not included.  Many listed cars were issued as "limited editions" and, in truth, most should be considered limited.  Inclusion in this directory does not imply current availability, it simply means "these models were recently made, have been recently sold through train shops and are likely sitting on a store self yet SOMEWHERE.  [Dealers, too, should check with distributors for out of production items, they are often yet-to-be-found].  The information contained is from exhaustive research of advertisements and catalogs.  Most manufacturers have co-operated by checking the listings of their products, but neither the publisher nor the kitmaker can assume responsibility for any errors. No attempt is made to categorize difficulty of assembly, quality of model or prototypical fidelity/appropriateness.  Listing does not constitute product endorsement or warranty of any kind by the publisher or supplier of the directory. (c) 2001 by Model Railroad Warehouse

RESEARCH BY Merle D. Rice                  Electronic Editing

Published by MODEL RAILROAD WAREHOUSE, PO Box 411, Roanoke, IN. 46783 and distributed  electronically in the most recent edition in three formats,  Original hard print copies may be provided by model train shops or ordered  from the publisher.  

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