Delaware Valley Freight Car Corp.

[peteski]

I recently had to deal with one of their N scale cars (crumbing foam cradle), and I realized that I have not seen that name for quite some time.



Looking online ( https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_pa/1055131 ), they incorporated in 1988 and closed in 2001.  I also read that Bowser acquired some of their molds.

But what about some more specific info about the company itself?

Who ran it?
Was it someone with model RR background, or just some businessman?
How big of a company was it?
Did they cut their own molds and made/decorated their cars in-house or outsourced their production?
Is the original owner still in model RR business, or they got involved in other ventures?

Maybe someone on TRW will know some of the details.  I'm just curious.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Shoot, I wish I knew, but they did some cool stuff.

They made the first airslides I knew of. They also made some really nice (especially for the time) cylindrical hoppers that I think Bowser now uses virtually unchanged:
https://www.bowser-trains.com/history/nscalecylindrical.html

Here are the airslides: https://www.bowser-trains.com/history/nscaleairslide.html

They're not nearly as nice at the MTL ones, but they're good enough.

And this reminds me, I have a couple of their cylindricals that need a trip through the shop to get them layout ready. I should really do that.

[bbussey]

Out of respect to privacy I will keep his identity hidden.  He is someone with a model railroad background and basically got into the hobby to make things that weren't being made.  I drew artwork for a number of the airslides and cylindricals back in the day.  He commissioned the tooling but painted and printed the cars in-house.  He sold everything to Bowser after he got married.  He's not in the industry anymore per se, I don't know if he's still modeling.

[peteski]

That's exactly the info I was hoping for - thanks Bryan. 
Funny thing is that in the back of my mind I suspected there might have been some (indirect) connection between DVFC and ESM.

By "commissioned  the tooling" do you mean both making the dies and also producing the injection-molded parts?  I wonder if even back then this was done in China, or locally in the States?

[wes_sutton]

That's exactly the info I was hoping for - thanks Bryan. 
Funny thing is that in the back of my mind I suspected there might have been some (indirect) connection between DVFCC and ESM.

By "commissioned  the tooling" do you mean both making the dies and also producing the injection-molded parts?  I wonder if even back then this was done in China, or locally in the States?

I've collected a few over the years - three I have to hand show 'Manufactured in the USA' on the paper insert.
Two Conrail 3 bay cylindricals have 'DVFC 1994 USA' printed on the bottom of the wagon
A DTS six bay cylindrical has 'DVFC 1998 USA' printed on the bottom.
All have plastic cradles rather than foam.

[Sokramiketes]

I was under the impression that Bowser did the tooling and shot plastic for him. 

[bbussey]

I was under the impression that Bowser did the tooling and shot plastic for him.

I believe this is correct.

[peteski]

The history is getting more complete.  If Bowser did the tooling and shot plastic, it makes sense that they acquired/kept the tooling when DVFC shut down.  So this was an all-American venture.