MDC Sand/Gravel Car - prototype?

[lvrr325]

Anybody know what if any prototype these cars have?  This is an old die cast one that is well assembled.  I don't know that they translated well to plastic.  The doors on this open nice and clean.  I got it in a lot I left a bid on at a local auction place, as the auction was held while I was at Amherst, and I'm not sure I want to try to re-sell it.  










I also landed a 70s Lionel HO GP7 - one of the US made ones.  I wish there was a solution for the trucks on these. The lower plate and sideframe snaps on with two tiny tabs that are absurdly brittle.  Like, look at them funny and they break brittle.  This one has a snapped tab, probably broke just from moving the box around.  Probably something for the 3D printer guys.  

[edwardsutorik]

I've got one of these, too. I think it's a ballast car, not a "sand and gravel" car. And there's a prototype, but it's just not coming to me. Certainly not common, though.

Being all steel, I would guess the car dates into the early teens or twenties of the last century.



Ed

[GP40P-2]

I did some research on this car probably 10-15 years ago. I'll see if I can find my notes or the web sites that have it, but I have way too much non-train stuff to do today.

It is a real car, from a southern California predecessor railroad to the SP, ATSF, or PE; early as in possibly "iron" as opposed to "steel" and from around 1900 if not earlier; was a construction car for building either the railroad or flood control projects if I remember correctly. And it really did have those silly wheels on the side. It did not look like it had any real interchange possibilities, nor were they long lived, so my one MDC model lingers in a box somewhere...

[marknycfan]

I'm thinking from a modeling perspective they would serve well as MOW cars.

[lvrr325]

I'm thinking it's going into the "museum of HO trains" on a shelf here. I could do a whole section on operating hopper cars and dump cars.

MDC did those 3 in 1 kitbasher series cars and one was you used plastic shells for these and cut the middle out to make sort of an ore car.

[grabirons]

Are those x2f couplers cast in the same metal, or do they just look metallic? Neat older car, I used always see these at train shows.

[edwardsutorik]

Feb 6, 2024 7:16:21 GMT -8 grabirons said:

Are those x2f couplers cast in the same metal, or do they just look metallic? Neat older car, I used always see these at train shows.

They're the same metal. I used Kadees instead. Which are also the same metal.


Ed