I saw this car and felt that it was very close to filling a need I have and was pretty excited. In looking at the car, it is well done with nice details and I cannot spot the dreaded 'built by Lionel' on the side. 
However, the logo simply does not look Prototypical. It looks far too big. Now I am having doubts about buying this car.
can anyone tell me what they think about the logo size? Thank you.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
The Milwaukee did its logo in a variety of sizes, some of them quite large. It would be very helpful if you would post a photo or a link to the page on the Lionel website so we could see it without having to look it up.
I am not too sure about the modern door, roof walks, trucks and ice hatches were of the same time era. Lionel seems to take some "artistic" licenses here. The over sized door sills are not too prototypical either. The car just looks wrong. 
Too bad, because the older Lionel scale reefers were fantastic. The could have easily done it right. I will pass.
Here's the prototype. Judge for yourself. Seems to me the size of the logo is OK, but it's in the wrong place. Of course, the catalog art may or may not reflect the actual product - maybe they fixed it, maybe they didn't. Perhaps somebody who has the car can post a picture of the real thing, as-delivered.
DSDX 5317 was actually an insulated boxcar, not an ice reefer. So, as J Daddy suggests, the ice hatches are imaginary. I also agree about the oversize door guides. The door itself is the correct style; these cars were rebuilt with plug doors in the early 60's. All in all, this is not a great model of DSDX 5317. At Lionel's price, I will also pass.
And it looks like your photo is a longer car? 50ft or 60ft? I was not sure if they added length to the insulated cars. In to much of my Annoyance, Lionel just seems to morph things together that just look strange. And then they call it scale... really?
It may be 1:48, but it just looks way out of place. Scale vrs Prototypical.
And then slap a huge price on it.... they really should double check this stuff.
It's in the 40' range - some of the Milwaukee's reefers in this period were 42-42 feet but it isn't a 50-footer. It looks longer in proportion because of the low height - notice how much taller the boxcar next to it is.
That is very close to accurate. It may or may not have ice bunkers.
Andrew
It did not, per the caption in Nighswonger's Color Guide, which is where I got the picture.
Originally Posted by falconservice:
That is very close to accurate. It may or may not have ice bunkers.
Andrew
If you are looking for a Milwaukee Road plug door, steel side reefer or insulated boxcar of the 50's and 60's, here are three more choices, all of which are considerably cheaper than the Lionel model. Atlas and MTH have also made good Milwaukee Road steel side reefers with hinged doors.
MTH: This one is about 10-12 years old, but is frequently found on eBay at reasonable prices. Has ice hatches. Not sure how prototypical this is for the Milwaukee; I don't have a photo of one just like it, but it's reasonable. MTH seems to share Lionel's obsession with opening doors, even at the cost of grossly oversized door guides on an otherwise reasonably scale car. At least these aren't as obtrusive as Lionel's.
Crown: This one is a custom job by Crown on an old Atlas/Roco mold. Looks great except for the height. Occasionally found on eBay.
Weaver: A PS-1 insulated, plug door boxcar. Paint job is correct, but this number series were ice reefers rebuilt without the hatches to insulated boxcars, not PS-1 cars. Current production, available from Weaver or dealers.
Thanks southwest-
I am going to keep me eyes open for the old atlas style car... looks pretty good. Question- if the truck bolsters could be lowered a bit could this help the car height issue?
Actually I was referring to overall height, not ride height. The DSDX 5300 series cars were built as reefers and rebuilt with plug doors and the ice bunkers were removed. The Atlas mold is of a regular plug door boxcar, which is at least a foot taller and probably more. Check out the prototype photo I posted of DSDX 5317 next to a Southern Pacific boxcar. Shaving the bolsters on most any 3-rail car will make it look better, but it does not address the difference in height between a boxcar and a reefer. The Crown car does ride high; it has Weaver trucks with the separate coupler that acts as a spacer. You could lower the ride height by changing trucks or maybe removing the Weaver couplers and installing Kadees.
Originally Posted by J Daddy:
Thanks southwest-
I am going to keep me eyes open for the old atlas style car... looks pretty good. Question- if the truck bolsters could be lowered a bit could this help the car height issue?
Very interesting - thank you Southwest Hiawatha for your input.
Regards,
Ron W.
Thanks for the input guys. The logo on the Lionel car just did not look right, so I appreciate the post of the prototype that shows that it did have the large logo. The vast majority of boxcars or reefers I have seen had a smaller logo like the other prototype photos here.
Some of the other details don't bother me as much, but the logo really stands out And looked a little off.
I guess, at least to me, if these two cars were whizzing by me on a model train layout, I'd have to pay some attention to notice a huge difference. On the model, the door is wrong with the hatches, and vice versa, but that wouldn't just jump out at me, probably. Of course, the look and placement of the logo could easily end up different on the actual production car. Just have to wait and see what it actually looks like.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
