# Railway Express Agency rolling stock?



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I picked up a flatcar with a delightful racing car load from a gent via Facebook (mostly because I liked the car.) The flat and the load are both painted R.E.A. green with logos (even the racing car - see pic.) Neat, eh?












But here's the question. I was thinking about a caboose and discovered there are Railway Express Agency cabooses available from Aristo.










Then, further searching turned up tank cars, boxcars, and all sorts of stuff!

Researching the original company confirmed that they owned baggage cars to carry all their parcels, and also some refrigerated freight cars - presumably to ship fruit, etc. But cabooses? Tank cars?

I take it this is all flights of fancy on the part of Aristo and the guy who made my flatcar ?


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The often had the REA express cars on passenger trains, carrying food for the cooking staff...










Greg - 21 - this is the week...


----------



## Lorna (Jun 10, 2008)

http://t-reproductions.com/railway-express-car-from-the-1920s/

This is the only REA car I have now. As Greg said, carrying food stuffs and such.
BTW this is in the line of the old Buddy L stuff running on 3.25" gauge track. Trust me these things are about 1.5 to 2x the size of 1:29/1:32 trains (5/8" scale approximately) and heavy!


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow, Nice! But $475 a box car is beyond my price range.... still very cool!

Now that is LARGE scale!

The Hudson loco is $1,600, and I love the motor rating: 1/10 horsepower!

Greg - 19


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Wow, Nice! But $475 a box car is beyond my price range.... still very cool!
> 
> Now that is LARGE scale!
> 
> ...


Interestingly, the guy selling the flatcar had a Hudson converted from an Aristo Pacific, also in green REA colors.










My question is not what you can buy as a model, but what did REA actually run in reality? In other words, how many of these cars are actual models of prototypes?


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Pretty sure it was limited to baggage cars, combines, reefers/refrigerated cars... And of course the trucks, since it was a precursor of FedEx and UPS.

I've never seen any evidence of cabooses or locos, or tank cars, etc.

Greg -17


----------



## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Pete:

This book might be a place to start your researching - *Railway Express Agency: An Overview*

You might try a search with - *railway express agency equipment roster*

I did find this. but obviously not all inclusive - *RR Picture Archives*


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I picked up a REA caboose,Gon, Refer and box awhile back all by AC. RRs mostly ran the box cars hauling mail parcels as the name imply s Later RD


----------



## ddrum31 (Aug 30, 2017)

Pete, Just saw two brass REA 1:32 accucraft box cars on eBay go up for sale.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/232737275277

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/232737238419

Jason


----------



## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

That second auction is a pretty good price, I have seen them being offered at over $400 bucks. they are very nice, a bit heavy (all metal, theoretically all brass) and definitly uisefull for passenger fans. Unfortunatly Accucraft which is mainly a builder of live steam locos choosed a prototype which appeared near the end of steam... An older version is available in kit form from the Gal line.


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Folks;

Just a small point about why AristoCraft made so many different car types with the REA livery. When AristoCraft started out, they were sold under the REA branding. I still have a box of straight track with the REA label on it. There was a law suit with one of the original partners. That individual got the rights to the REA branding, and the Polks chose AristoCraft for their line of 1:29 trains.

Just thought you might like to know.

Cheers,
David Meashey


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Dave Meashey said:


> Folks;
> 
> Just a small point about why AristoCraft made so many different car types with the REA livery. When AristoCraft started out, they were sold under the REA branding. I still have a box of straight track with the REA label on it. There was a law suit with one of the original partners. That individual got the rights to the REA branding, and the Polks chose AristoCraft for their line of 1:29 trains.
> 
> ...



All righty then, explain the Teddy Bear line! lol


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

"All righty then, explain the Teddy Bear line! lol"

John;

Not any more than I could explain all the Coke or the Pepsi stuff by various manufacturers. OR the Peanuts stuff, the Disney stuff, and the Zombie Apocalypse stuff put out by Lionel. They are trying to find another way to make a buck, and possibly drag non-train people into the hobby. 

Except for that box of straight track, I think I may have sold off all the other items that were labeled REA. I do still have some boxes with "Made in South Korea" on them. Ah, those were the days!

Have fun,
David Meashey 

P.S. Have you gone to the http://polksgenerationext.com/ site lately? It is now some kind of site about travelling in the Caribbean. I have my own way to experience the Caribbean.


----------

