colorado hirailer posted:"...first building a Varney (who?) flat car..."
I know who Varney was! He played the character "Earnest"! Didn't know he had an HO model business also! 
Seriously:
Yup, I know'd of Varney from waaaay back when. In fact, owing to a recent post by a fellow forumite over in the HONGZ forum, just last week I bought these:
These are from Varney's "metal/tinplate" line. I think they look great. (Even the small lettering is crisp, door runners are small, proportions are spot on, etc.) I intend to clean them up, address any issues, fit them with steel wheels and Kadee couplers, throw a bit of chalk weathering on them... and run them among my cars of more recent manufacture on my upcoming early-mid 1960s era HO layout. I think they're plenty "good 'enuf" for my "Givens 'n Druthers"... AND I like the nostalgia of them.
Neat thing about model trains: Doesn't matter the scale, layout philosophies, whatever... it's all fun stuff.
Andre
