This is more of a double headed question here. Long story short, I model N scale but detail and weather HO scale for to further my addiction ;-) . Recently I picked up a cheap Blue Box kit, already built by the seller. It's an Athearn Rock Island (BC Red...not the ROCK blue) auto parts hi-cube car. I cannot find for the life of me any prototype info on it. THe reporting marks of R.I. 32863 come back to a covered hopper. I really do not have a preference or care as much as to where exactly these things went (if they even existed in BC Red color). Did they go to the SP and ultimately the UP, did they get scrapped? Found SOME photo's info on the ROCK Blue color, but not the BC Red.
As for my second question, outside of the ebay listing I got it from, I cannot find ANYTHING on this kit at all. It almost appears as if it didn't exist. I mean, if this guy bashed it together, he did an outstanding job on it. You rolling stock experts can fill me in ;-) I was born into the modern modeler where everything was put together for me and bought off the shelf ready to run. Here's some photo's. It's not missing couplers, they're just not installed in the photos. Rare? Should I weather it into a rust bucket and patch it with whatever patch these things got if they even existed? I'm at my wits end!
Appears my photo's did not appear.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benpsutton/9653244797/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benpsutton/9653244893/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benpsutton/9656480646/
Ben
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ri/ri32902akg.jpg
Jeff
Wow, sweet! That answers my question if they even existed! Thanks!
I cannot seem to trace this car in Rock Island paint scheme in the Athearn catalogs or price lists on the HO Seeker website, which is not to say that it was not offered by them. Nor does it show up on the list of Rock Island models on the RI historical society website
http://rits.org/www/modeling/riho.html
During the Blue Box era there were outfits that would commercially offer paint jobs on Athearn cars that Athearn itself did not offer. Kar Line and Bev Bel come to mind but there were others. And some rail historical societies would get custom runs from some manufacturers. So there are various explanations for this car, quite apart from some prior owner doing a good paint and decal job.
By the way, Walthers continues to offer its long shank coupler conversion after-market part for these cars
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-997
And Adiar Shops offers their replacement weights for these cars
Dave Nelson
And here's the kit. Came in either 4 or 8 door versions: http://www.hoseeker.org/athearninstructionscars1970/athearn86Box1973.jpg
Awesome info, thanks! I think a CNW or UP patch would suit this model fine. Hate to turn this into a rust bucket, but that's what I bought it for ;-) :-)
benpsutAs for my second question, outside of the ebay listing I got it from, I cannot find ANYTHING on this kit at all. It almost appears as if it didn't exist.
Really? I have a bunch of these kits which I bought some years ago to model the Ford FAST pulled by DT&I, Rock Island, MoPaC, D&RGW, UP, WP and SP.
Here are some links about the model:
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/athearn-rollingstock-resource/id142.html
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/athearn-rollingstock-resource/id215.html
It's true Athearn has discontinued it's blue box kits but there are still lots of them at train shows; they aren't really that rare. Every time I went to the Syracuse train show or the Timonimum MD train show there are still lots of blue box kits. I imagine there are 86' box cars to be found still. Since getting around 10 of the Athearns, I've picked up some Walthers to mix in for variety.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
benpsut Awesome info, thanks! I think a CNW or UP patch would suit this model fine. Hate to turn this into a rust bucket, but that's what I bought it for ;-) :-) Ben
Actually most of them would not be patched, these cars were in specialized, time sensitive service and would not be repainted unless they went in for a major rebuilding. DT&I Boxcars were in their original paint and lettering after 20 years of the GTW - DT&I Merger although some of them were repainted earlier.
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
By coincidence I was reading the Morning Sun book, Rock Island In Color Vol.1 by Lloyd Stagner. This covers the years 1948-1964, and in common with other Morning Sun books they fill in little blank areas in the pages with logos, old advertisements, and such other stuff. On page 113 they reproduce, rather too small, an announcement by the Rock about new freight car acquisitions circa 1964 and there is a photo of a 86 foot hi cube auto parts box car, with the double doors in the middle of the car.
I read the number as 32975 but I now get the senior discount at McDonalds and the photo is small and fuzzy. According to my 1967 Equipment Register the Rock's 86' auto parts cars sorted out this way:
32950 double plug doors. 20 foot door opening on center line
32951 to 32954 . Two 20 foot openings for double plug doors
32957 to 32969 2 double plug doors 20 foot openings for each set.
32970 to 32999 double plug doors . 20 foor door opening on center line. This agrees with the small photo of the car in the Morning Sun book so maybe I read the number right after all.
I also checked my C&NW final freight car roster book published by the C&NW Historical Society and as of the mid 1990s the CNW's 86' autoparts cars did not appear to be ex Rock Island, much less RI patch outs. Someone got the cars I am sure but that might be something the Rock Island Historical Society could help out with. At some point there must have been intense relettering with new reporting marks but I do not have those documents in my reference library.
Interestingly because the C&NW served and participated in parts pools with roads that served Ford, GM, and Chrysler plants, their cars had all the door arrangements, not just the double doors centered but the double sets of double doors. AS you can see above, the Rock also had both kinds of auto parts boxcars.
I hope this is of some interest.