On30 Freight Cars

Boxcars

On30 Spectrum Boxcar - Ohio River & Western - Boxcars were among the first cars used on railroads in America and they were among the most versatile, carrying everything from furniture to pickles to Model Ts. On the Ohio River and Western, the boxcars occasionally carried nails, a major product of Bellaire, Ohio, at the eastern edge of the railroad's route.

This model is an example of an inside-frame wooden boxcar that was typical on most railroads between 1850 and 1920, but was gradually replaced by steel cars in the thirties and forties. The brake wheel on top (instead of on the end) is typical of narrow gauge boxcars. These cars were not nearly as tall as their standard-gauge counterparts, where the brake wheels are moved to the end to prevent them getting knocked off on tunnels or bridges.

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right.

Stock Cars

On30 Spectrum Stock Car - Ohio River & Western - In the days before refrigeration, animals that were raised for food had to be sent alive and in good health to the stock markets in places like Chicago. This is a model of an early stock car that was made mostly out of wooden slats with iron bracing.

This car has some of the finest detail available on any mass-produced model. It also includes features that are not always shown on models, such as the window and short ladder on the end that allowed workers to check on the stock and to give the animals more breeze if necessary.

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum Stock Car - Colorado and Southern - The great American southwest was one place that stock cars were especially needed. Not only did the cattle have to reach the market alive; they had to reach it in good health, because the price the drovers received depended on the appearance of the cattle.

If you run many stock cars in a train consider using a "combine" instead of a caboose - the drovers often rode the trains along with the cattle, so seating had to be provided for the drovers as well, and the combine served as as a caboose. To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.

Gondolas

On30 Spectrum Gondola - Ohio River and Western - In the early 20th century, the Ohio River & Western Railway ran between Zanesville, Ohio (east of Columbus), and Bellaire, Ohio (just south of Wheeling) over a v-shaped hilly southern route that the big railroads avoided by cutting across Ohio further north. As a result, the railroad (previously named the Bellaire, Zanesville, and Cincinnati Railway) served many farming communities, quarries, mines, and timber-related industries that the bigger railroads did not serve.

This gondola is typical of many multi-purpose gondolas used by narrow-gauge railroads. On many such cars, workers could pull up either side of the car to make the car's contents easier to shovel out. The small platforms at the end gave them a relatively safe place to stand during this operation. To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum Gondola - Denver & Rio Grand Western - The low-sided gondola is available in D&RGW colors as well.

To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum High-Sided Gondola with Coal Load, Unlettered - In the days before hopper cars, many railroads built high-sided gondolas like this one to haul coal and similar products. This model is unlabeled to allow you to add your own railroad name, but it's worth remembering that many industrial railroads didn't even bother to paint the name on the side of their cars. A realistic coal load is included in this model.

To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum High-Sided Gondola - Colorado Mining - This is a multipurpose gondola which could carry coal or lightweight ore safely over uneven track. A string of these behind the Bachmann Spectrum Colorado Mining Climax industrial locomotive would make a train that shows just how "powerful" industrial railroads could get.

To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.

Dump Cars

On30 Spectrum Side Dump Cars - Set of 3, Unlabeled. - This is a unique product based on a Large Scale version (for garden railroads) that won a Reader's Choice Award in Model Railroader magazine. Three matched side-dump cars are completely functional - you can fill them, then use the levers to raise the sides and dump their contents. These are based on countless cars used in quarries and mines of all sorts all over the country for over a century. If you want to add a great deal of interest in a very small space, these cars are for you. A set of these behind a Bachmann Spectrum Porter tank locomotive would tell a story all by itself.

To check on price or availability of this set, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum V Dump Cars - Set of 3, Unlabeled. - When a mine or quarry had to move a very heavy load out of a very small space or over very rough trackage, they would use a string of these. Again, a set or two of these behind a Bachmann Spectrum Porter tank locomotive would give your railroad unique interest.

To check on price or availability of this set, please click a vendor button to the right.

Tank Cars

On30 Spectrum Gramps Tank Car - No, there never was a Gramps oil company. According to several sources, William Hughes had an oil field. When his grandkids were little, he would point out the Union Tank Car Company (UTLX) cars as they carried his oil to a refinery in Alamosa, Colorado. After a while, when they saw the UTLX cars, they would say "That's Gramps' train!" So he took the hint and took steps to have many of the cars repainted with his nickname.

This model has authentic construction, including the strapping holding the tank in place. To check price and availability, please click a vendor button the right.

On30 Silver Tank Car, Unlettered - This tank car is painted silver, a common color for cars that carry liquids that need to be kept fairly cool. It is unlabeled so you can put your own brand name on it.

To check price and availability, please click a vendor button the right.

On30 Black Tank Car, Unlettered - This tank car is painted black, a common color for cars that carry something messy like crude petroleum. It is unlabled so you an put your own brand name on it. To check price and availability, please click a vendor button the right.

Hopper Cars

On30 Spectrum 2-Bay Hopper Car - East Broad Top - The East Broad Top railroad was founded in the late 1800s to bring coal from Allegheny coal mines to an interchange with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Later, passenger service and lumber hauling added to the EBT's most important sources of income. EBT has the distinction of being the last operating narrow gauge railroad east of the Mississippi.

This car celebrates the EBT's original charter. This hopper's load is dispersed through doors on the floor instead of through the side as occurs on a gondola, a design that is still used today. To check the price and availability of this model, please click a vendor button on the right.

On30 Spectrum 2-Bay Hopper Car - Colorado Mining Company - The Colorado Mining Company operated in the American southwest in the second half of the 1800s. Many of its operations were actually in Nevada, where silver and lead were processed. Curiously, in addition to the Colorado Mining Company itself, there was also a North Colorado Mining Company, a West Colorado Mining Company, a Detroit and Colorado Mining Company and probably a dozen others that shared most of the same name, all hoping to cash in on elusive profits. This car commemorates a company that managed to outlive most of its competition by many years.

These cars would also make a good match for the Bachmann Spectrum Colorado Mining Climax industrial locomotive. To check the price and availability of this model, please click a vendor button on the right.

Flat Cars

On30 Spectrum Staked Flat Car - Denver & Rio Grand Western - The Denver & Rio Grande Western is well known as longest continually successful narrow gauge railroad in the United States. Today the "Rio Grande's" assets are owned by the Union Pacific, but for nearly a century, the letters D&RGW stood for the unique tenacity of a railroad whose motto was "Through the Rockies, not around them."

This staked flat car was used to tie down loads of every possible description. To check the price and availability of this model, please click a vendor button on the right.

On30 Spectrum Staked Flat Car - Pennsylvania - Although the Pennsylvania Rail Road (PRR, or Pennsy, for short) tried to standardize everything, especially the gauge of its track, PRR did find themselves acquiring narrow gauge lines and equipment in a business deal. Occasionally they would even repaint the equipment for PRR while the line and its equipment were in transition, although this happened much more frequently west of the Alleghenies than it did in the East (where image was everything). So chances are pretty good that PRR operated fleets of narrow gauge flat cars just like this more than once in its history, although this wasn't the "norm."

Like many other railroads of its heyday, Pennsy painted its cars with a paint that used mostly natural pigments including iron oxide (rust). Pennsy called their mix of paint "Tuscan Red," but the difference between PRR's color and the "boxcar red" used by other lines was not always obvious. So don't feel bad if the D&RGW car above is almost the same color as the Pennsylvania car - or if they both look like they were finished with "rust primer." It was an economic issue, after all. To check the price and availability of this model, please click a vendor button on the right.

On30 Spectrum Staked Flat Car - Unlabeled - This staked flatcar is provided without a railroad name in case you want to put your own railroad name on it. It is also provided in the color that most railroads have preferred for most of their freight cars over the last century. To check the price and availability of this model, please click a vendor button on the right.

Cabooses

On30 Lighted Spectrum Caboose - Pennsylvania - This caboose is typical of the cabooses used on long freight runs, in which it was common to have someone in the cupola keeping an eye on things, especially during switching maneuvers. The caboose was a traveling office, a kitchen of sorts, and a good place for the train workers to keep warm on a cold evening run. This illuminated model features detailed handrails and authentic arch-bar trucks.

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right

On30 Lighted Spectrum Caboose - Ohio River & Western - This caboose is a model of a real-world caboose that served a purpose as a traveling office, but did not require someone to watch extensive switching maneuvers, so there is no cupola. These were most common on industrial railroads and very short lines. This illuminated model features detailed handrails and authentic arch-bar trucks.

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right. .

Passenger Cars

At the moment, my suppliers only report the following On30 passenger cars as being widely available, although Bachmann issues a new set or two every few years. If you are looking for cars for a particular railroad, please contact me, and I'll try to help.

On30 Baggage Car - Denver and Rio Grand Western - Baggage cars handled all sorts of shipments; in some cases this included U.S. mail, cash shipments to company outposts who needed to pay their employees, and even, on occasion, chickens in crates. The baggage car also occasionally served as the "office" for the conductor, much as the caboose did on freight trains. Baggage handlers and conductors preferred a dedicated baggage car to the combines which were sometimes used. Hoboes liked them too. The baggage car usually followed the locomotive tender and nobody came in or out the front door (if there even was a door), so they could ride on the front of the car in relative comfort and safety.

Bachmann provides this illuminated model as a possible add-on to its On30 Spectrum Denver and Rio Grande Western Passenger Train Set

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum Combination Car - Denver and Rio Grand Western - A "combine" is half passenger car, half baggage car. These gave the railroads who used them flexibility. Most often they were used on routes that had little passenger traffic. They might be the only passenger car on a train that otherwise carried freight; one example would be a train with a lot of cattle cars and a handful of drovers who were riding along. Or a combine might be added to a short passenger train when a little extra capacity was needed.

Although this model goes fine with Bachmann's On30 Spectrum Denver and Rio Grande Western Passenger Train Set, an even better use might be to replace the caboose on a freight train that you imagine is going someplace where few folks ever travel. To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum Combination Car - Colorado and Southern - This combine is also available in Colorado and Southern's colors. Again, this would make a nice substitute for a caboose on a C&S freight train.

To check on price or availability, please click a vendor button to the right.

On30 Spectrum Coach - Denver and Rio Grand Western - Yes, you got one of these when you got the Bachmann On30 Spectrum Denver and Rio Grande Western Passenger Train Set. But nobody says your train can only be three, four, five, or six cars long. Okay, really long passenger trains were more common in the East than in the west, but even the D&RGW occasionally ran longer trains with these coaches.

By the way, the "bumblebee" color scheme wasn't original. A century ago, the Denver and Rio Grande's passenger trains were reddish-brown and black, something like the Ohio River & Western train. But during World War I, the government insisted that all passenger cars be painted Pullman green on the erroneous belief that green paint was cheaper. About 1950, two locomotives and several cars were painted yellow ("Rio Grande Gold) to participate in two movies and in various promotions of the Silverton tourist business. The yellow paint job became popular, and tourist trains on the Durango and Silverton are now all painted this color. To check on price or availability of this model, please click a vendor button to the right.