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O Gauge Hood's Milk Cars
By John Mateyko
Before good roads and reliable intercity trucks, much of the
daily milk production in the New England states moved by rail.
To reduce the time and manpower required to clean a large number
of milk cans, a milk car was developed which outwardly resembles
a wood side refrigerator car. Inside were two 3,000 gallon stainless
steel tanks which carried bulk milk. One of the larger dairies
was H. P. Hood and Sons.
The spirit of those Hood milk cars has been captured by several
O gauge manufacturers, some rather loosely and some with pretty
close to scale bodies. My interest in these cars started when
I read an article in OGR about a layout in southern Indiana.
The cover photo showed a string of Hood's cars and my interest
was aroused. All were two rail cars with the circled cow's head
logo, but were obviously produced by different companies and
the bunker hatches were in different positions. I acquired my
first Hood's car in March of 2001 and the search continued through
that November. Within eight months I acquired five cars from
five manufacturers. About that time, the new Lionel catalog presented
their Hood's rendition which is the only one that models the
interior tanks and some of the pipes. The tanks may be seen as
the roof is easily removable and the doors can be opened. Lionel
is the only model with a representation of external piping under
the floor and bumpers above the couplers. These two features
have made this model desirable among O Scale operators.
Side by side, the Weaver and CMP cars appear to be manufactured
using the same mold. The only difference I can see is the brake
wheel axle on the CMP is slightly longer than the brake wheel
axle of the Weaver car, but I would not use this to identify
the manufacturer. Both my Weaver and CMP car have CMP molded
into the underside of the floor. The KMT and Williams cars appear
to be manufactured using the same mold and resemble a steel side
refrigerator car. The Williams car has a silver corporate logo
on the bottom of the floor and carries their trademark high gloss
paint.
Our milk train has one express car and six Hood's cars behind
a Mohawk. While this is not prototypical, it works on our little
railroad. One enjoyable part of our hobby is learning about cars
which are available, acquiring them and then operating them.
It also builds a family tradition to be passed and enjoyed by
future generations. If a little bit of American industrial history
is imparted, so much the better.
MANUFACTURER CATALOG # ROAD #
Crown Model Products 8002 GARE 810
GARE 819
GARE 820
KMT GARE 8051
Lionel 17331 GARE 803
17360 GARE 810
17361 GARE 811
Rail King 30-7817 GARE 6052
Weaver GARE 802
Williams 3281 GARE 808
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(L-R) Lionel / MTH(Railking) |
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