Christmas Pickles Anyone?

[GreatNortherner]

Ho ho ho!
Merry Christmas Everybody!

To explain the thread title -- there's a new model ready for download! And it's a PICKLE CAR!

This model is freelanced, inspired by Walthers and Roundhouse H0 models. It's also a kit-bash using a lot of my USRA 40' XM as a base, it took me all in all three hours to complete it. So it's really not perfect. But ever since seeing one of these for the first time a few weeks ago (and almost not believing such a thing ever existed) I just had an extreme urge to build it. It just looks so cool!

You can download it here: http://golden-age-rails.com/freightcarp ... lecar.html (freeware).

Cheers and Merry Christmas!
Michael

[jpetersjr]

This car looks great, can't wait to give it a try. Keep up the great work.

[imnew]

I`l pick one ....... Thanks Michael,

[LoneWolfDon]

Look really nice. A job well done. And thanks for sharing with your fellow RailWorkers.

[Kali]

Good stuff! thanks :)

[harryadkins]

Does it carry Aunt Bea's famous pickles from Mayberry?

[dejoh]

Hah, I just saw that rerun a few nights ago. Thanks for the fine work. I had an HO pickle car back in the 60's
Along with a rubber band drive ATSF GP9. (both long gone)

[Samwolf]

Thanks GreatNortherner

[arizonachris]

If they're dill pickles, y'all can have them. I prefer sweet crunchy ones.

Very nice work as always, Michael! And Happy Holidays to you as well!

[Chacal]

Great cars! Very distinctive.

I had an HO pickle car back in the 60's
Along with a rubber band drive ATSF GP9. (both long gone)

I bought an HO pickle car once, maybe from Walther's, it was similar to the screenshots above except the pickle tanks were yellow.
I also had my father's rubber band drive ATSF F7 from Athearn. It jerked, jumped and bounced around my layout for years.

[micaelcorleone]

Haha, funny thing.

Looks fantastic.

[jpetersjr]

I prefer my pickles fried on the grill.

[Kali]

For a 3 hr freelance effort, looks pretty good to me compared with my 3 min google search :)

[philmoberg]

... ever since seeing one of these for the first time a few weeks ago (and almost not believing such a thing ever existed) I just had an extreme urge to build it. ...

This is very similar to a type of car put in service by Claussen early in the last century. Heinz had pickle cars in at least two styles (both accurately represented by Athearn models at various times) among their extensive fleet of freight cars. There was a real need for for this sort of car in the days before refrigerated transportation was widely available, and packing plants, like most industries, tended to be in or near large cities. Pickle cars would be spotted as conveniently as possible to the fields, the freshly harvested cucumbers being brined (a simple solution of water and rock salt) for shipment to the plant. Pickle cars were one of the many smaller interesting operations that began to disappear from the scene in the late-'50s.

[Kali]

What other odd cargos were there?