# I've been sittin an thinkin



## gandy dancer#1 (Jan 21, 2012)

Yeah I know, my wife says i'm dangerous to myself and others when i do that Any who, i think i have a couple of small 12 volt dc power supplies rated at5 amp max, like we used to use for cb raios in the house ect. thought i would use them for operating track accessories, switches, led lights little action things, my airport beacon and runway lights. should be enough for those things, any opinions?? 

Also while got your attention: How many of you have the billboard box cars?? I know they arent what you see in real life but grndson loves them being bright and pretty. do you run them?? My personal stuf i collect the regulars, box cars gondolas, the stuff would see out on the real rails. i am modeling along the lines of farm and ranch communities, wheat elevators, feed stores and smal town that goes with it.also going to attempt re-creating my home in west texas, the drive in theatre i worked in as projectionist in early 60's. have cars from then and going to build the local drive in that we all hung out at on saturday night


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## brylerjunction (Aug 8, 2011)

I love billboard box cars!!! you dont see them nowadays due to federal laws and advertising. I am sure someone on here can explain it better. Some of the nicest ones were older all wood kits that had a paper label on them. Drive In's are cool and Blair Line makes a great kit that is easy to put together.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I have one of those cb radio in the house power supplies also. I have used it for all kinds of stuff. Mainly to test lights and sometimes ho engines. Mine is just 2 amps but that will run alot of lights. I plan on using mine for a power supply for lights on the layout. They are 12 volt regulated so power stays at 12 volts even when you are using power from it.


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Very enjoy the billboard box cars, they look great traveling around on one's layout. Someone told me that the folks that write the U.S. railroads had ban the use of boxcars for billboards, is that true?


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

Everytime I take my GF to the train shop with me I end up leaving with one. You need more pretty cars she says


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## gandy dancer#1 (Jan 21, 2012)

*i've been sittin and thinkin*

Hey Davidfd85: How's things down south in my native state?? you getting any rain off the storm yet?? My wife has gotten interested in mine and the grndsons hobby:thumbsup:She now loks for us >>stuff << when her and her mom makes garage sales!! doesn't do too slouchy either:laugh: the dishwasher went out the other day so he and i get chore money when we wash dishes:laugh: helps on our trian money, but we have decided next month on payday we are getting part to fix that sucker:laugh: dish pan hands are rough on our little trains:laugh:


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

What does a billboard car look like? A lot of cars seem to have advertising on them so what's the dif? Pete


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

"Billboard boxcars" were cars that featured bright graphics advertising various businesses. This was around the turn of the century (1800s-1900s that is). Eventually regulations came down that basically outlawed painted cars in logos and advertising for anything other than the company actually owning (or leasing) the car.

norgale: Actually you _don't_ see anything like this today. Sure, some cars are in bright colours and with large logos, but that's for the owner or operator of the car. The issue with the old billboard boxcars was that they were railroad-owned boxcars that would have colourful advertising for other companies, and Acme Furniture wasn't too impressed when they shipped out their cargo in a boxcar loudly decorated for their competition.

The modern equivalent to the billboard boxcar would be let's say BNSF sells advertising and paints a bunch of their (general service) boxcars with Walmart graphics, and they end up at a Costco siding for loading. Now Costco is shipping their stuff in cars with their competitor's name on it. (And the railroad is just providing cars out of their general pool, so Costco has no control over it.) See why they banned it? Now, if Walmart leases a group of cars for their own exclusive service, they can put their own branding all over them.

I believe the current rules are that the car can't have any logos or branding other than for the company that owns the car, or the company the car is leased to. There may be exceptions if the car is in dedicated service assigned to a particular shipper, I'm not sure.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Wisconsin & Southern ran afoul of the "Billboard Boxcar" rule with this car:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rspicture.aspx?id=281707

The Sargento brand, logos and slogan have since been painted over.


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

I have a few billboard type cars, well one, I wouldn't count the two simpler ones, but I have one for Kraft cheese, I like it and hey it will be seen on my rails so I will be looking for more like it!


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

and now i now


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## brylerjunction (Aug 8, 2011)

cv_acr said:


> "Billboard boxcars" were cars that featured bright graphics advertising various businesses. This was around the turn of the century (1800s-1900s that is). Eventually regulations came down that basically outlawed painted cars in logos and advertising for anything other than the company actually owning (or leasing) the car.
> 
> norgale: Actually you _don't_ see anything like this today. Sure, some cars are in bright colours and with large logos, but that's for the owner or operator of the car. The issue with the old billboard boxcars was that they were railroad-owned boxcars that would have colourful advertising for other companies, and Acme Furniture wasn't too impressed when they shipped out their cargo in a boxcar loudly decorated for their competition.
> 
> ...



thanks for explaining it. that was the story I was told. Hence the reason why the "juice train" still is branded tropicana


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## gandy dancer#1 (Jan 21, 2012)

*I've been sittin and thinkin*

Good mornin: My little fella has a total of 7 billboard boxcars.aquired over the last 2 yrs. He is crazy about them, and he can name all of them. and tell you about them. family and friends are always on look out for him. Buddy of mine in tuscon found a doritos car for a buck at a flea market. wasnt any other train stuff around it was on a lady's table:laugh: I got one for 50 cents at a garage sale folks said didnt know where it came from just had this one train car 6 of them in original boxes. Our railroad operates on a tight budget to say the least, so always looking for these finds:thumbsup: my cousin travels in the oil field for his sons company and he looks for us too!! He runs across stuff in the wierdest places good will stores are a god place to look, thrift stores ect. I trade also. swapped 2 old cameras to a guy at a flea market for 2 tanker cars in boxes, he had them for 6 months not selling, sold the camera in less than an hr, i was happy, he was happy:laugh:


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

brylerjunction said:


> thanks for explaining it. that was the story I was told. Hence the reason why the "juice train" still is branded tropicana


Yep, because Tropicana owns or leases those cars directly.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

gandy dancer#1 said:


> Good mornin: My little fella has a total of 7 billboard boxcars.aquired over the last 2 yrs. He is crazy about them, and he can name all of them. and tell you about them. family and friends are always on look out for him. Buddy of mine in tuscon found a doritos car for a buck at a flea market. wasnt any other train stuff around it was on a lady's table:laugh: I got one for 50 cents at a garage sale folks said didnt know where it came from just had this one train car 6 of them in original boxes. Our railroad operates on a tight budget to say the least, so always looking for these finds:thumbsup: my cousin travels in the oil field for his sons company and he looks for us too!! He runs across stuff in the wierdest places good will stores are a god place to look, thrift stores ect. I trade also. swapped 2 old cameras to a guy at a flea market for 2 tanker cars in boxes, he had them for 6 months not selling, sold the camera in less than an hr, i was happy, he was happy:laugh:


Modern looking billboard schemes are common on cheap trainset cars; a lot of these were offered in a wide variety of colourful brand-name graphics that never existed on real railroad cars.
The toy train cars are often also missing such details as reporting marks and car numbers.


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

Interesting. Wonder if there is a list of pld "billboard " cars anywhere? Thanks for the explanation. Pete


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

A full list? Probably not possible. It was over 100 years ago, and the schemes were plentiful and quite varied.


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