These MTA Roundhouse cars were purchased from the estate of Les Cochran who was active in the Model Train Association back in the 1970’s & 80’s. I talked to Mike Stella who verified that the cars are original. He and Les were best friends and he indicated that Les won these cars at the annual Roundhouse auctions sponsored by the MTA. The auction was used to raise money to pay for the rental of the hall that was used for the annual meeting in Bellflower California. Mike indicated that there were typically 5 cars that had the brass plates and that he was the person who affixed the plates to the cars. The cars would be auctioned off every hour or so during the course of the day starting with car #5 and ending up with car #1. Car #1 was different from the other four cars in that it had a brass plate on both sides of the car. Cars 5-2 usually sold for $40 – $50 and car #1 would sell for around $100. Mike has written scores of articles for e-train which is associated with the TCA. Mike has provided notarized documentation that the cars are original.
The next couple of pages are from Mike’s e-train article from 2004 which describes the MTA Roundhouse cars.
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