Custom-decorated freight car model sources?

I've been given the task to look into ideas for a custom-decorated freight car model by the small RR historical society I belong to. Nothing's been set in stone at this time; I'm looking at ideas in all scales -- although it is very likely the car will be an HO scale model. I'd guess the production run would be somewhere between 100 and 300 cars.

I guess the starting point is: What are the options for companies that would do a custom-decorated run of that nature?

The first idea that comes to mind is Accurail; the offer runs as small as 48 cars

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I've dealt with them in the past and they are a pleasure to work with.

I also see that Bowser does custom runs of Bowser and Athearn/Roundhouse cars (minimum order is 200) and Greenway products does custom runs with no apparent limit

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Has anyone used either of their custom-decoration services?

Does anyone have suggestions on other sources for custom runs of freight cars?

__________ Mark Mathu Whitefish Bay, Wis.

Reply to
Mark Mathu
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Mark, You may want to touch base with the SLHTS folks. They've had a number of custom cars done (mostly Accurail and some Atlas, I believe) and may be able to offer some helpful info.

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Stevert

Reply to
Stevert

Mark Mathu wrote: [snip]

Mark -- I've purchased several custom cars from these guys:

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Nice folks, and they've printed a large variety of stock from period reefers to modern covered hoppers. Although they have several whimsical/novelty cars, they print modern prototypical cars as well.

I've purchased several cars from them: a nice screamin' eagle Mopac hopper and trio of different KCS hoppers. They're all Athearn cars, but I believe that they will run most any manufacturer's car that you'd like.

A fun bunch of guys, and their shop is just a few blocks from a KCS main :)

Happy hunting!

Reply to
Drew

Mark,

I'm not sure if they are still doing them, but a company calling itself Third Rail Graphics did custom painting & printing of model rr cars. It seems that they once told me that they liked to work in the 200 piece range. Something tells me that they were in the New York area, but I'm not sure.

Only problem is that there are fewer & fewer actual manufacturers, so I'd think that independent producers would have to use those manufacturers for their base models; that is probably more expensive than working with the manufacturer themself. But that's just a guess... good luck.

dlm

Reply to
Dan Merkel

I used to get fliers from a company in Western New York State that specialized in WAG (Wellsville, Addison and Galeton) decals and models in HO scale, but haven't seen one for a while. They also made decals and customized kits from photographs or drawings. I tried to track down one of them, but most of my railroad books are in storage while we remodel a recently vacated bedroom.

It may have been the North Hawthorn Car Shops.

Bob McConnell N2SPP

Reply to
Bob McConnell

I'm aware of what the SLHTS had been doing - I worked through Ken Soroos of the SLHTS for the first GBW cars. They've done several Accurail cars, as well as Atlas and Athearn in the past. At one point they even had a new custom mold for an Accurail car side made at one point and they've gotten pretty good mileage from that.

We're not looking at the quantities that the SLHTS had been running, but I will check with them as to their latest sources (if they went straight though the manufacturer or used a third party). __________ Mark Mathu The Green Bay Route:

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"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it."

Reply to
Mark Mathu

Thanks for the suggestion Drew,

I see that they've done custom runs for the Mid-Continent Railway Museum here in Wisconsin. We've got members of the historical society who belong to the railway museum as well (since it has the only preserved GBW steam loco). I'll get in touch with them about minimum quantities, and get opinions on what the railway museum thought about their service. __________ Mark Mathu The Green Bay Route:

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"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it."

Reply to
Mark Mathu

Thanks, Dan... It seems that they were based in Lindenhurst, N.Y., but it also seems like they may be out of business.

Does anyone know if Bev-Bel is still around? Would they work with outside groups to make custom car runs? I haven't seen any current contact information for them.

__________ Mark Mathu The Green Bay Route:

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"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it."

Reply to
Mark Mathu

There's a web site:

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While there's no means of placing an order that I can discern, there is an apparent email address embedded in some of the photos and in the copyright notice in the html: snipped-for-privacy@bev-bel.com

Good luck, let us know what you find out!

Reply to
Drew

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