USRA boxcar differences

[klatu]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know the differences between the 40' USRA boxcars and the Canadian Pacific USRA copies?

Thanks,
Alex

[orsonroy]

I'm assuming you mean the single sheath cars, because I don't think the CP had any 40 foot double sheathed cars.

There are "only" a few differences between the USRA SS cars and the CP "clones": ends, roofs, underframes, and brake gear.

Ends: USRA cars were delivered (mostly) with a 5/5/5 end, wheras the original CP cars had a fabricated wood end. Once the CP went to steel ends, they went with a 7/8 end.

Roofs: it's hard to tell, but it looks like the CP roof is homemade, and different than the stock USRA.

Underframe: the USRA cars have a straight sill steel underframe, while the CP cars have fishbelly.

Brake gear: virtually all USRA SS boxes stayed with the K brakes for their entire lives. The CP cars were originally built with K brakes, but were upgraded to AB by the 1930s.

And finally, the USRA car is noticeably wider than the CP car. The USRA car was (at the time) the widest car on the market.


The Accurail 9 panel SS boxcar is the CP car; the Tichy 9 panel car is the USRA car. You CAN kitbash one version of the Accurail car into a USRA box, but considering there's a completely correct USRA model out in plastic, why bother?

[klatu]

Thanks for the information.

Alex