@Rod M. posted:Good to know, bullet dodged, almost bought the UP set, I'd have been disappointed to see they are smaller than scale, regardless of era.
Gah! The Lionel cars ARE SCALE sized. They are NOT traditional!
The Lionel car is a SCALE mode of an ACF 40 ton stock car. It has been in production since 2002 or 2003.
The MTH and Atlas cars are models of a later steel side stock car. Neither company specifies what the prototype is for their models.
Real freight cars came in a variety of sizes. Steam era cars were smaller. Starting in the late 30s and 40s, freight cars started getting larger and continued to do so into the 80s and 90s. In the 19th century cars were normally 30’ long, then they grew to 40’, then 50’; these days, many freight cars are 60’. Over the years, width and height increased as well to maximize the amount of goods.
