H&S Boxcars - era question

[dave n]

When would the H&S boxcars (in their HS livery/repaint) from the Microtrains weathered 3 pack have hit the rails?  I model 1995....

[Denver Road Doug]

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I did some pretty decent research on these when they came out and I think they would be well past 1995.     The UMTRR says ATP: 2000-to-present.

[u18b]

The H&S had been around a while- till I-tel rail bought them.

In 1988, I used to live outside Dothan Alabama and see the switcher parked at the lumber yard on the circle highway.

Not sure when the reprints were bought.

[ljudice]

Most of the HS cars I recall in that period were restencilled "HS" in OTHER paint schemes or solid BCR.

[Denver Road Doug]

As an aside, I'm still looking for the VS car from that set (or the whole set) if someone is looking to part with one.

[GaryHinshaw]

I had to look up the MT set in question (here), but now that I see it, I would say these would look very out of place in 1995. From my very limited research, it looks like HS started re-stencilling cars in the early 90's, e.g.. this PH&D car from 1996, but the level of distress is nowhere near that of the MT cars.  The most beat-up example I could find from pre-2003 (to keep it semi-close to your era) is this one, which is a lot closer to the MT examples, e.g. the ex-SR&N car.

Of course, feel free to invoke rule #1.

[ljudice]

I had to look up the MT set in question (here), but now that I see it, I would say these would look very out of place in 1995. From my very limited research, it looks like HS started re-stencilling cars in the early 90's, e.g.. this PH&D car from 1996, but the level of distress is nowhere near that of the MT cars.  The most beat-up example I could find from pre-2003 (to keep it semi-close to your era) is this one, which is a lot closer to the MT examples, e.g. the ex-SR&N car.

Thanks for posting the link of the cars, I thought these were the ORIGINAL HS cars, not restencils...

And I agree with Gary, in 1995, these cars were faded and restenciled, but not in horrible shape.  A lot of these cars were refurbished and repainted.  HS was owned by Itel Rail and Itel was bought out by GE in 1992,
so they were not exactly a rent-a-wreck type operation.

[gbcaboose]

According to Micro-Trains the SRN car was built in '76 and the Valdosta Southern car in '77. I'm not sure when they were restincled but if in the mid-nineties as mentioned above, these cars would have been approaching 20 years in service. The weathering in subjective, but cars from that era that are still on the rails in original paint are usually much more faded, at least the lettering is.  Usually to the point where it's difficult to make out the original owner.  An example would be the ex CCR mentioned above: http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=7560 and this was in 2003.  If I had to put a date on the HS restincels, I would give a broad range of '95 to '05.

Mike

[Denver Road Doug]

Couple more links to the prototypes:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=470688
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=495607
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=77863

I still contend that the level of weathering and graffiti places these past 2000, but I think you could probably work them into a 95 era layout without too much difficulty.  Just don't run them together.