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 Posted - June 03 2022 : 8:55:26 PM
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Looking for information on this old Mantua tank car from the 1950s.
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Posted - June 03 2022 : 11:32:47 PM
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I've never seen a Connie tanker made by Mantua. Or Tyco. The way Mantua and Tyco formed, separated, combined, separated has caused a lot of confusion over the years. I don't have each catalog from the 1950s, but I do have a few including the 1959 catalog. Based upon that information, the tankers produced by Mantua in the 1950s are:
Deep Rock
General American
Gulf
Mathieu
Mobilgas
Penn Drake
Quaker State
Republic
Shell
Sinclair
Staley
Texaco
U.T.L.X.
Valvoline
Could this be a custom paint job or could someone have put a non-Mantua tank on a Mantua frame?
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Posted - June 04 2022 : 12:20:45 PM
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| This tank is built like all of the metal tank cars of the 1950s and has a printed wrapper attached to the tank body. It is not a custom paint job. To print a wrapper would require some sort of stamp or printing press back then. My thoughts is that it may be a promotional item for the Roselle Company. There is a current Roselle Company in Newark, NJ that deals with garbage. Is this the same company? It is located fairly close to where Mantua Metal Products was based, being in New Jersey. But this is just speculation on my part.
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Posted - June 06 2022 : 11:27:06 AM
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| I don't know enough about old Mantua to comment on this specific car, but I seem to recall reading there was a company (companies?) that were producing aftermarket paper sides for freight cars back in the early days of HO.
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Posted - June 06 2022 : 2:44:48 PM
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX9pxnTRzsQ
Closest thing I could find on the Net. Very interesting concept. When HO was new, it was such a novelty.
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Posted - June 06 2022 : 3:22:17 PM
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Dacheez; I would like to see that article. It may answer questions about some of the cars I have.
Chops; Nice video. I always like to see the vintage trains running.
The problem with the old cars is identification of manufacturer; especially the wood and paper cars. There are so many manufacturers that are no longer in existence and production records are almost impossible to find. Modelers from that era are also getting fewer and fewer and their collections are being destroyed. Information about the old trains is getting harder to find or I am not looking in the right place. Any info helps.
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Posted - June 06 2022 : 4:23:41 PM
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quote:Dacheez; I would like to see that article. It may answer questions about some of the cars I have.
Chops; Nice video. I always like to see the vintage trains running.
The problem with the old cars is identification of manufacturer; especially the wood and paper cars. There are so many manufacturers that are no longer in existence and production records are almost impossible to find. Modelers from that era are also getting fewer and fewer and their collections are being destroyed. Information about the old trains is getting harder to find or I am not looking in the right place. Any info helps.
Originally posted by Guidostrains - June 06 2022 : 3:22:17 PM
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I agree that it is difficult to find documentation from the 1940s and 1950s, and when it becomes available on eBay or another auction house, it is expensive. For example, a recent Lionel HO auction of three manuals sold for around $500.
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Posted - June 06 2022 : 7:38:41 PM
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In our age of computers and photo editing software, it'd be super easy to print your own car sides off of a photograph. You could even change road names to suit yourself. I've thought about it some, but haven't gotten around to trying it. If I do it, I'll probably just cut the sides out of some junky broken thing and put a smooth board in its place and then cover that with the printed side.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - June 08 2022 : 11:39:23 PM
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quote:Dacheez; I would like to see that article. It may answer questions about some of the cars I have.
Originally posted by Guidostrains - June 06 2022 : 3:22:17 PM
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IIRC it was an interview with someone who was close to Gordon Varney, published in an old model railroad magazine ca. ~1980. I looked but can't seem to find it now. If anything turns up I'll repost it here.
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