# Beware!



## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

If you're enough of a rivet counter to not want cars with identical numbers on your layout, I show you this as a *warning. *I did not notice this when I bought them off Ebay. The one on the left is Atlas, and the one on the right is Micro-trains. They are both SBIX12933. Was the prototype car repainted? At the level of N scale who can tell?, and I'll run both, but if duplicate car numbers don't bother someone, why are there "runner packs" of otherwise identical cars with different numbers?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Well, the real cars all had different numbers, and cars that were re-painted retained their original number….

But in this case, 2 different manufacturers are involved, and I doubt that they collaborate with each other to make sure their cars all have different numbers than the other guy’s cars….

In the old days, manufactures made a boxcar with one number only, so if you wanted to run multiple boxcars in a train, you’d have to put up with cars with the same number, unless you re-numbered the cars on your own….maybe that’s originally why decals came about….

We can only assume that the real car in question was re-painted sometime in it’s life and retained the same number afterwards, and the two manufacturers decided to make the cars with the paint schemes they wanted to…..

Duplicate numbers can and do indeed bother many modellers…..after all, the real cars don’t have duplicate numbers…..that’s why there are runner packs with all different numbers…..

And of course, you could never see a real train with both versions of the same car….unless it was in a Twilight Zone episode….


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Just found that MTL also makes the Stokely car in almost the same paint scheme as the Atlas car, with a different number…..seems to be a newer run than your MTL car…..


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Hint: MTL re-releases cars all the time, and you can tell the year a car was released by viewing the label on the back of the box…..

For example, this car has been released twice by MTL….this is the 2006 version….


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

Not only is there that second MTL SBIX12911, but there is also an Atlas SBIX12932 which is otherwise identical to their 12933. I have one of both of them as well. I've found documentation that Stokely's processed "peas, carrots, and berries" in Bellingham, WA in roughly the era of these cars which is why I zeroed in on these.

I have noticed that some Atlas freight cars come in pairs with consecutive road numbers. I have a set of "Pacific Egg Producers" and check Ebay often for the "Puget Sound Butter" car I don't have..


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

I've come to the conclusion that all 4 of these Stokely's cars may be "flights of fancy". The reporting mark SBIX stood for Standard Brands, Inc (rather than Stokely Brothers Inc.) and was assigned to a series of wooden 100,000 gallon vinegar tankers, at least one of which is still in existence in a railroad museum.
Pictures of SBIX 1634 (rrpicturearchives.net)


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

GNfan said:


> I have noticed that some Atlas freight cars come in pairs with consecutive road numbers. I have a set of "Pacific Egg Producers" and check Ebay often for the "Puget Sound Butter" car I don't have..


Last night I won an Ebay auction for the car I didn't have.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Making progress: *The last of the cars I wanted arrived today. I couldn't have built these two little "themed trains" without Ebay. And the section of Unitrack I need to make the infield a "wide spot in the road" is on order at modeltrainstuff.com.


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