Beer Reefers

[Mr. T.]

Now...  I'm not trying to be a smart a-- or anything; I'm just curious.

Is there a serious alcoholic in the Bachmann marketing department? 

Here in Wisconsin, we don't mind beer or ads for it...   heck, around here, we ENCOURAGE that kinda thing... but I'm amazed by the number of different reefers Bachmann has put out that are liveried in the logos of breweries...   almost exclusively small local micro breweries centered in the New England and Tidewater areas.

Every time I think I've collected them all, ANOTHER ONE pops up!

I can understand small runs of 100 or so units for each label, to be sold in the region where the brew is consumed...  but there appear to be THOUSANDS of copies out there, distributed nationwide!

As it happens...  my layout is gonna include a spur line that  serves a brewery (I got a deal on a BUNCH of Bachmann barrels to go on the warehouse platform!), and the reefers are getting assembled into "The Hangover Special"...   complete with a kitbashed tank car that has a Wild Turkey logo on it!     Ya gotta chase SOMETHING with all that beer! 

Seriously tho...  there's GOTTA be an interesting story behind all of this booze related rolling stock! Anybody know what triggered this trend?


Gavno the Ugly

[Loco Bill]

Only The Bach man knows .

Bach man How many of each were made??

[Mark Oles]

You know, the main thing I like to do when I run trains with my friends outside in the backyard is to have a beer.  I have the Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA reefer (its the red and cream one).  I think the car was something like $50 (had an Amazon.com gift card), but a case of that beer runs about $60-$70!!!  Now, we just need some pretzel reefers or maybe those came in gondola cars...

[the Bach-man]

Dear Mr t,
The beer reefers were done as a series of Micro Breweries.
You will notice that we are now doing a dairy series.
That's not a problem, either.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[az2rail]

As far as beer car names go, O scale is way ahead. There are dozens of names.

But it is funny this should come up. I am trying to stay with the 1:20.3 scale, but I have been thinking about getting the beer cars and put run with my smaller engines

Bruce

[Mr. T.]

Thanks for the information Bach Man!

I guess that I have a twisted sense of humor here...  or I've been in Wisconsin (the home of a ton of brewerys) for too long; I personally LOVE the series!.

An old college buddy of mine recently moved back to Wisconsin, and bought a bar / supper club.

When he saw my reefer collection, he instantly decided the place just HAS to have a G scale train running around the bar's walls, on a shelf up near the ceiling...  and he now has me looking around for MORE beer reefers for HIS proposed layout.

Besides another kitbashed tank car (Johnny Walker Red), he also wants a kitbashed Budweiser caboose! I've got a couple of bobbers here that I don't really want or use very often (somehow, those bobbers are a bit disconcerting in terms of scale), so the project seems quite do-able.


Mr. T. / Gavno the Ugly

[Chuck N]

There are other "G" manufacturers who at one time or another produced "Beer" cars: Delton, LGB and USA Trains.

LGB even came out with a Jack Daniels car.  Delton and LGB are no longer with us, but I would imagine that their beverage cars come up on Ebay occasionally. 

LGB had: Budweiser, Miller, Pabst, Schlitz and Coors.  The also had a number of German and Swiss breweries (too many to list).

Delton had: Busch, and Strohs.

There are probably more, but these are the ones that I have.

Chuck N

[Sleeping Bear]

Chuck....... most of the cars you mentioned ARE on eBay at the moment, and several of some of them....S.B.

[glennk28]

We have a micro brewery here in far bnorthern California  that would be a good one to do on a  car--the Mt. Shasta Brewery in Weed, CA.   No--the town is not named for a plant--it is named for the lumberman who founded it--Abner Weed.  The brewery makes several "Abner Weed" brews.They got into some trouble with the Feds over their slogan on the caps--"Try Legal Weed". They won in court--so the caps remain.   The town had a billboard near me that said, "Enjoy Weed"--and promoted several local businesses. 
Glenn Joesten