The identification thread

[TheKnighTT]

I thought about having one thread to collect all those models we have, where we have no information about, where we lost the boxes, catalogues information, where we're not sure if scratch built, unknown kit, kit bashed or Hon3.

If we all were to participate it could become an interesting and entertaining read.

[TheKnighTT]

I'll go first: I got this on ebay some months ago. It's really well made. The end parts look like one piece, so I I think it's not scratch built. Any guesses?

[areibel]

Very nice car!
My first guess would be a Christoph, I know they made a similar car but not with the outside bracing. I have a catalog somewhere here I can scan and post tomorrow. They did have cast metal detail parts, like the ends and brake gear. And they did do their own cast Arch Bar trucks that they had in their log buggy kits, but I'm not sure they had the later version (Bettendorf). But there was a lot of cooperation between the early TT manufacturers, so they could be cast trucks from Gandy Dancer.
More tomorrow!

[railtwister]

Good idea for a thread topic! While I have no idea as to the origins of this car, there really weren’t that many manufacturers in TT scale to pick from. One fairly obscure kit company that I can’t remember the name of at the moment, was located on Florida’s SouthWest coast (Cape Coral?), and was also part of a hobby shop run by a family named “Hoffe”. There were three proprietors, two brothers and a sister, but I can only recall two names, Anthony and his sister who was named Teresa. Sorry, the other brothers name escapes me. They were members of the NMRA’s Sunshine Region back when I was more actively involved in the NMRA.

Bill in FtL

[areibel]

Bill, that was A&J Models from Cape Coral. I have a stock car kit and a caboose, but I haven't seen a boxcar. I think they were later called Kalusa Atlantic Models, somewhere I have a mimeographed catalog sheet with what looks like the identical kits, offered in TT, HO and S scales.

Here is the catalog page for Christoph showing their boxcars, and they look similar but I don't see an outside braced car. It could be someone else, or it could be a bash where someone used their kit with new sides (with the boards running horizontally) and added the bracing?

[areibel]

On a second look the ends look different on the Christoph cars shown but the cast ends look like the ones in the big Cristoph catalog. I'm not sure if they made these or if they were selling Gandy Dancer parts, Gandy Dancer had a nice collection of cast white metal parts in TT.

[railtwister]

A&J Models, that was it! The name came from their first initials (A was Anthony, I still don’t recall the other brother’s name, perhaps John?). I never really got to know them, and I’m not sure at the time I even knew they were associated with TT scale, just that they had a small hobby shop on Florida’s West coast. Odd that they didn’t list a boxcar, but this was back in the mid to late 70’s, and anything TT already was pretty much in the rear view mirror...

[milwrd1]

Don't think this is a Christoph kit, the cast ends used on the Christoph kits were narrower. I originally thought this was an E. Smith Outside Braced Boxcar kit C-4, but review of the attached scan (if I can attach the scan), shows that the ends are narrower and the size of the horizontal siding is wider.

I think this car was built from parts. From photo 1 (top), the roof walk and the lateral roof walks appear to be wood parts, I'm guessing early Starline or Gandy Dancer (GD). The roof itself also appears to be plastic or resin made by Starline, the type used on the AAR type boxcars. The roof is very similar to the roof on the B-28 Boxcars provided by John Harmon. I believe the resin roofs provided on the B-28 Boxcars were made from the Starline molds. Photo 2: Believe the trucks are either Kemtron or GD. Leaning toward GD because of the soldered connection between the sideframe and the bolster. The Kemtron trucks had a pressed connection between the sideframe and the bolster which provided some equalization. The brake parts on the underside of the car are interesting. The underframe brake parts appear to be oversize (look closely at the size of the brake reservoir and the brake actuating cylinder), perhaps these are HO parts. Photo 3: The car ends. If plastic, these may be Starline boxcar ends. If cast metal, they are likely E.S Nielsen ends (early 1950's, model ED-1 (dreadnaught)), the distinguishing feature being the rivet lines on the middle and the bottom of the end. Could possibly be GD cast metal ends. Doors. E.S Nielsen (model DBS-1) if cast metal, if stamped, HP door stock could have been used. Photo 4 (bottom). The hat shaped diagonal bracing looks to be oversized, perhaps this too is an HO part. Also, the horizontal grooved siding looks out of place or out of size, don't know of any wood or single sheathed boxcars which had horizontal wood siding of that size.

An interesting exercise.

A question- the couplers on the car, they appear to be Kadee HoN3 narrow gauge couplers, model 713 or 714. Was the car purchased with these couplers or were these couplers added by the current owner?? (Now to try to attach the scan....)

E Smith C-4 OB Boxcar kit 1/68

[areibel]

Great post Ron! Very informative!

[TheKnighTT]

That is a wealth of information, thank you so much. The Kadee 704 couplers were added by me. The car came with the couplers in the picture, whatever they are.

Does anyone know if there is a prototype? The car came decalled for ATSF, but that might just be due to the availability of decals.