Would weathered freight cars of the late '40s -'50s sell?

[OldEastRR]

Seeing the really nice 4-pack of weathered MTL UP hoppers this month made me wish there were more releases of paint schemes/car types from the transition era. Certainly none of them were as beaten up as these UP cars but they all weren't sparkling clean, either. Tanks cars especially got stuff spilled on them.

[ljudice]

If age appropriate I don't see why not...

Reminds me of a letter to the Editor of MR many (like 40) years ago which I'll never forget. Some guy angrily noting that in the "good old days" railroads never let things get dirty and he didn't cotton to this newfangled weathering nonsense being written about by Dave Frary and others...

[bbussey]

Micro-Trains releases transition-era weathered cars.

[mplsjct]

If age appropriate I don't see why not...

Reminds me of a letter to the Editor of MR many (like 40) years ago which I'll never forget. Some guy angrily noting that in the "good old days" railroads never let things get dirty and he didn't cotton to this newfangled weathering nonsense being written about by Dave Frary and others...

Abe Simpson, perhaps?

[ljudice]

Abe Simpson, perhaps?

Exactly!

[Missaberoad]

Micro-Trains releases transition-era weathered cars.

This... on a fairly regular basis...

[Maletrain]

Weathering is not a one-size-fits-all modeling process.  A transition era car that is "new" to a guy modeling a period near its construction date should be showing dirt, but not decay, while a guy modeling the same car 20, 30, 50 years later should be showing decay as well as lack of cleaning.  And, there is another "transition" in weathering that results from the availability of spray paint cans and the grafitti that they allowed to proliferate on railroad cars and all other things not continuously guarded.  Before that, railroad cars had chalk markings made by railroad employees, occassionally hobos, and sometimes the wise-guys that made "Killroy was here" and "Texo Bozino" line drawings with chalk.

So, Micro Trains could conceivably sell the same car weathered for the 1930, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, etc. etc. with  "authentic" weathering.

Or, we can do that ourselves to our own taste.

Perhaps the most popular and universal weathering would be just the appropriate dirt from normal use.  But, if that is mass-produced, won't we have a strange looking train with all similar cars weathered the same amount in exactly the same patterns?

[OldEastRR]

I've seen the transition era examples and was not impressed with the road selection or kind of weathering. There wouldn't be any spray paint graffiti of course, but neither would they all be "lightly weathered". A lot of those cars were pulled behind huge smoke- soot- and cinder-belching steam locos, through sand, rain and snow storms that were hell on the paint.  Nobody was washing off each freight car like they did passenger cars. Even something as simple as lightly faded body color with irregularly faded white logo and data (like sometimes unintentionally came on ConCor cars in the '70s) would be appealing. Once I saw an SP 50' boxcar that was pretty much completely rust colored, and the only markings were some in chalk, and the round logo faded and obviously yellowed. I never could figure out how to yellow-fade white decals.

[Missaberoad]

Here's a few recent examples that are good starting points...

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2016/1607/1607-05544060-800x800-0.jpg

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/archive/99305240-800x800-0.jpg

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2016/1605/1605-05544310-800x800-0.jpg

This month's Z scale release has a NP reefer that's gorgeous, I'm gonna have to find some proto shots and copy it in N 

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2017/1704/1704-51844330-800x800-0.jpg

I never could figure out how to yellow-fade white decals.

Airbrush dullcote with a couple drops of a tan or dust color added will fade the brown and yellow any white lettering...

[OldEastRR]

Here's a few recent examples that are good starting points...

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2016/1607/1607-05544060-800x800-0.jpg

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/archive/99305240-800x800-0.jpg

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2016/1605/1605-05544310-800x800-0.jpg

This month's Z scale release has a NP reefer that's gorgeous, I'm gonna have to find some proto shots and copy it in N 

http://www.micro-trains.com/image/cache/data/product/2017/1704/1704-51844330-800x800-0.jpg

Airbrush dullcote with a couple drops of a tan or dust color added will fade the brown and yellow any white lettering...

Yeah, seems like Z guys are getting all the weathered cars I'd like in N.

[nkalanaga]

Yellow fade white decals?  Maybe try artist's colored pencils?  I've used them for streak and spot weathering, and they come in a lot of "railroady" colors.

[atsf3751]

Once upon a time there was a model railroader named Richard Hendrickson and he gave some of my favorite (and interesting) clinics at conventions. He had a philosophy of weathering on his own layout. He modeled an exact date on the layout and cars were weathered appropriately.

Cars that had a new build date were very lightly weathered, if at all. But as the build (and rebuilt) dates moved farther back in time, the cars were dirtier and dirtier. His oldest cars were 20 years old, and very filthy and beaten up, he told us that was about how long a car would last in the 50's before the railroad would do something with them. either rebuild them or scrap them. This mix of weathering made his trains interesting and fun to watch.

[OldEastRR]

Sounds like a great idea. Of course some cars in rough service (gons for scrap steel, cement-carrying cars) got beaten up and weathered heavier quicker. But I like a mix of car treatments on a layout. One where every car and loco is shiny brand-new painted (unless passenger) doesn't look like a railroad to me.

[SandyEggoJake]

@atsf3751

+1 on the late Hendrickson & still very much with us Thompson weathering tips.  You can still find the details on that inter web thing, such as....

http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/p/a-few-years-ago-richard-hendrickson-and.html

[Mark5]

@atsf3751

+1 on the late Hendrickson & still very much with us Thompson weathering tips.  You can still find the details on that inter web thing, such as....

http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/p/a-few-years-ago-richard-hendrickson-and.html

Thanks for this link, I bookmarked this.  This is a nice addition to the Yourstone resource.

I am not interested in pre-weathered cars as I prefer to roll my own.

Mark