typical 1950s American freight train - real world MOCs of seven freight car types - updated 12/14/25

[Murdoch17]

Nine small 1950s freight cars of seven designs. Each was built to a length of about 16-18 studs per car with two bogies per vehicle. (Originally they had just two fixed axles when originally built, but this was recently fixed to be more prototypical for American freight cars.)

The whole train going into a tunnel.

These freight cars are (Left to Right):
- cattle car
- boxcars (x2)
- flatcar with bulldozer load
- Octan petroleum tankers (x2)
- flatcar with load of rails
- bathtub gondola with coal load
- caboose

This livestock car was heavily inspired by the one in 2014 CITY set 60052 but with a roof for more realism. I can now understand why LEGO left it open top in the set, but I managed to make it work. The roof (which was designed with the same look as the boxcars) is even removable and the ramps fold down so you can take out the cow.

These two identical boxcars were inspired by set 7597 from the 2010 Toy Story 3 line. They were expanded in length and had the roof trapdoor removed.

Here we see a small 1950s-looking bulldozer on a flatcar. The construction equipment was inspired by CITY set 60140, except in yellow with 46 technic links as the caterpillar tracks instead of red with rubber one-piece tracks. Other things such as headlights and gears (for the treads) were added, and the blade was shortened in width by two studs.

These two oil tanker cars came from my own imagination, and are made in Octan livery.

This is an older MOC of a flatcar loaded with rails updated to have bogies instead of two fixed wheels.

This bathtub gondola with a load of coal is entirely my own design.

This caboose model is slightly inspired build-wise by the Katy Caboose (as in, "The Caboose who got Loose" from the children's book) model I copied in late 2021 from @zephyr1934's MOC.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Post updated 12/14/25 with two new freight cars and revised first picture - bathtub gondola and flat car with rail load are now added!

Edited December 14, 2025 by Murdoch17

[idlemarvel]

Very good work. I especially like the livestock car and the mini-bulldozer!

[Murdoch17]

4 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

Very good work. I especially like the livestock car and the mini-bulldozer!

Thank you @idlemarvel!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

19 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

 

Nice train, but the flatcar with bulldozer is my favorite!

[Murdoch17]

1 minute ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Nice train, but the flatcar with bulldozer is my favorite!

Thanks @LEGO Train 12 Volts, that bulldozer was a pain to assemble with all those tiny tread parts, and it didn't work quite like I planned as I was going along... but it did look good in the end!

[Feuer Zug]

Nice setup. The livestock car is an interesting design. I like the tanker cars. They fit the period.

[Murdoch17]

Just now, Feuer Zug said:

Nice setup. The livestock car is an interesting design. I like the tanker cars. They fit the period.

Thank you @Feuer Zug!

[Shiva]

Nice! :)

[Murdoch17]

2 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Nice! :)

Thanks @Shiva!

[Murdoch17]

@idlemarvel @LEGO Train 12 Volts @Feuer Zug @Shiva I've tagged you as you commented before: the first post updated 12/14/25 with two new freight cars and revised first picture - bathtub gondola and flat car with rail load are now added!

  

See the first post for more details!

[Shiva]

Thumbs up :)

[Murdoch17]

12 hours ago, Shiva said:

Thumbs up :)

Thanks @Shiva!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

The bathtub gondola is very well done! 

Thanks for pointing out these two new wagons 

[Murdoch17]

53 minutes ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

The bathtub gondola is very well done! 

Thanks for pointing out these two new wagons 

Thanks, and no problem @LEGO Train 12 Volts!

[zephyr1934]

On 12/14/2025 at 1:19 PM, Murdoch17 said:

 

That's nice and efficient

[Murdoch17]

6 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

That's nice and efficient

Thanks @zephyr1934!