Not long ago there was a listing on eBay some readers may have seen for an OO scale SP dynamometer car. When it first went up I thought that somebody else might grab it but it did not sell. Which surprised me a bit but then I realized that probably the article that Ed Morlok wrote that mentioned these cars was not well known.

The article is [Update: was] posted as a PDF file in the OO Yahoo group site. The title is “HO Gauge Items that are Actually OO Scale” and is dated October 26, 2005. There Ed described this model as follows:

Precision Scale Co … SP Dynamometer car, all brass construction (Walthers Mfr. #585J Item #15372, $105.) (sold out), 00 scale on HO gauge trucks. SC 4-wheel trucks easily replace the HO ones. Being only slightly longer than typical freight cars, these cars will operate even on Lionel’s 13.5 inch radius 3-rail track.  

I did buy it. This particular car a prior owner (maybe Morlok himself) had converted to be on Kemtron passenger trucks, which match the car nicely. Of course, the car was meant to be HO scale but the builder made it overscale. This is actually not the only dynamometer car that was in this same situation. Morlok also notes another was made by

Model Express … C&O Dynamometer Car, all brass car, 00 scale but on wheels gauged to HO. Appears similar in appearance to Precision Scale car listed above; the main difference is in cupola. Plans for C&O car appeared in MR, July 1944, p. 303, and a check reveals it is indeed built to 00 scale except for track gauge. SC 4-wheel trucks easily replace the HO ones. 

To all this all I can add is that the box for the Precision Scale car says it was “Made in Korea by Sung-Jin.” It really is a fine car! One to keep your eyes peeled for.