Accurail and Stewart Hobbies

[zoegraf]

THis is a Accurail car, but I noticed that Stewart Hobbies has one that appears to be identical to it. Is it possible they were made from the same mould?

 

[ICG/SOU]

I wouldn't think so. The 3-bay offset hopper was a pretty common hopper back in the day.

It is possible, though.

 

[zoegraf]

I wouldn't think so. The 3-bay offset hopper was a pretty common hopper back in the day.

It is possible, though.

That makes sense to me.

I currently have my eye on the Atlas 70 ton Hart Ballast hopper. I'm doing research to see if the CNR had any of these particular cars in the mid fifties; no luck so far.

 

[diburning]

I don't know about that particular hopper, or those manufacturers, but Atlas has re-released some of their standard line cars in the trainman line. For example, the PS-2 2-bay covered hopper. I have two that were old stock from the standard line and then I bought a trainman one and was shocked to see that it was the same tooling (with the pins holding the trucks in) (not to mention that the trainman car cost about $2-3 less and came with a factory patch job on the reporting marks and road number)

 

[ICG/SOU]

I have found out, though, that sometimes companies do buy someone else's molds when the company gets bought out or goes out of business. The FMC prototype boxcars (and some other cars) that MDC/Roundhouse did are now Athearn ones, with some added detail. The 100 ton 3-bay 12 panel hoppers than McKean did were bought by Con-Cor.

 

[zoegraf]

I have found out, though, that sometimes companies do buy someone else's molds when the company gets bought out or goes out of business. The FMC prototype boxcars (and some other cars) that MDC/Roundhouse did are now Athearn ones, with some added detail. The 100 ton 3-bay 12 panel hoppers than McKean did were bought by Con-Cor.

Buying someone else's moulds is probably the case. I compared them at the hobby shop and they seem to be identical though the consistency of the plastic they're made of is different.

Cheers.

 

[zoegraf]

I don't know about that particular hopper, or those manufacturers, but Atlas has re-released some of their standard line cars in the trainman line. For example, the PS-2 2-bay covered hopper. I have two that were old stock from the standard line and then I bought a trainman one and was shocked to see that it was the same tooling (with the pins holding the trucks in) (not to mention that the trainman car cost about $2-3 less and came with a factory patch job on the reporting marks and road number)

Good to know. Thanks. I'll take a look at Atlas's website.

I think this hopper, that I modified into a track cleaner, is an Atlas model.

Cheers.

 

[zoegraf]

Buying someone else's moulds is probably the case. I compared them at the hobby shop and they seem to be identical though the consistency of the plastic they're made of is different.

Cheers.

... and here's a shot of them.

 

[UP2CSX]

Unless it's the photo angles, the width of the side ladders and the stirrup steps look very different. The coupler pockets are also different between the two models. I think this is two different sets of tooling that look similar because they are models of the same prototype.

 

[zoegraf]

Unless it's the photo angles, the width of the side ladders and the stirrup steps look very different. The coupler pockets are also different between the two models. I think this is two different sets of tooling that look similar because they are models of the same prototype.

You have a good eye! I'm sure they are models of the same prototype.
The one on the right is an Accurail and on the left is the Stewart Hobbies