I got some Walthers 40' track cleaning cars
e.g. https://www.walthers.com/track-cleaning-car-ready-to-run-csx-transportation
that need to get a contemporary shell to run with my trains.
Athearn had a NS 40' Hi cube box car.
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=RND76637
I assume that car and the road number are pure fiction because NS does not have any of the old baby hi cubes in the roster at this time. I can not find any NS 522675 on any prototype photos or listings.
Is that right?
ps. I intend to use similar shells on the track cleanings cars visually matching my layout anyhow but it is good to know they are fiction ony.
pps. The track cleaning function works great
Reinhard
faraway that need to get a contemporary shell to run with my trains. Athearn had a NS 40' Hi cube box car. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=RND76637 I assume that car and the road number are pure fiction because NS does not have any of the old baby hi cubes in the roster at this time. I can not find any NS 522675 on any prototype photos or listings. Is that right?
From what I can tell, most of the paint jobs are for RR's that never had that particular freight car. I had a couple of the D&RGW version years ago, and eventually I discovered Rio Grande never had any when I bought my Morning Sun Books Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Pasenger Equipment. I sold them. More recently I found that Tangent makes 40' high cube that accurately matches the cars D&RGW owned.
There may be more than one road which had that box car, but so far I was only able to identify UP:
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=41277
The 40' high cubes that the Athearn car represents were originally built around 1967 which was over 50 years ago. Is that contemporary with your layout period?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Thanks for the fast response. That is what I assumed, it is pure fiction. I read a lot over the baby hi cube made in the 60s and the latest use was MOW in the 1990s.
I spray mine dark brown, silver roof, white top matching the 50' BNSF hi cube I use on the layout. They are fiction but I want to hide / camouflage the 40' track cleaning carrier on a 2000+ layout.
Kein problem Reinhard,
Many freight car models made back in the 1970's thru 1990's are pure fiction and fantasy models are still offered today. With a little research you can often locate example of freight cars which models from that time frame actually do match.
From what I understand, the baby high cubes such as the Athearn car and the Tangent car were used to ship appliances for around 15 or so years, say into the early 1980's or so. Many were re-purposed after that. I believe Tangents baby high cube was used same as the Athearn plug door car.
https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/pullman-standard-ps-1-40-mini-hy-cube-boxcar-2/
They do mention MOW service so looks like that should work for your track cleaning car. The UP version is the only RR that I've been able to identify that had cars matching the Athearn model. I looked up ATSF, and they had baby high cubes but the side sill was different - but if you are going to paint for BNSF, then that could be plausible enough.
I would probably just heavily weather the CSX car so it looks like an old car still in an earlier paint scheme, like the "big sky blue" GN boxcars I saw in 1990-1991, 20 years after the BN merger.
I suppose the good thing about modeling modern is you can assume a RR acquired a box car 2nd hand and do a repaint. Such types of transfers of rolling stock are not uncommon over the years.
Many cars, especially from years ago, were really only representative. Exact accurate models for prototypes are a relatively new thing. I'm still OK with representatives, I don't lose sleep over it. To each his/her own.
In the early 1980s, I was watching the local TV news out of Cedar Rapids IA. They had a news item about the CRANDIC and it's operation of the former Milwaukee Road branch to Amana IA and the Amana Refrigeration plant there. They had video of a CRANDIC train going by the Amana depot on it's way back to Cedar Rapids and the first car behind the engines was one of those 40' Hi Cube boxes. It was a DRGW car and had the same number Athearn had used on their model. It's the only time, so far, that I've seen the prototype car the model, exactly accurate or not, was meant to represent.
Now I'm in N scale and have a SOYX covered hopper. I regularly see those cars out around Council Bluffs and have seen the number above and below the number on my model. I'm still watching.
Jeff
Yep, as always. The cool thing about this relatively "new thing" is those of use who are thrilled to obtain models that actually look like the real thing can get them. For me, anyway, it is a major enhancement to the hobby. Everyone can do what suites them of course. That's why it's the golden era of the hobby now. Lots of pretty accurate cars on the market along with the many foobies of yor. Choice is good!
faraway I got some Walthers 40' track cleaning cars e.g. https://www.walthers.com/track-cleaning-car-ready-to-run-csx-transportation that need to get a contemporary shell to run with my trains. Athearn had a NS 40' Hi cube box car. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=RND76637 I assume that car and the road number are pure fiction because NS does not have any of the old baby hi cubes in the roster at this time. I can not find any NS 522675 on any prototype photos or listings. Is that right? ps. I intend to use similar shells on the track cleanings cars visually matching my layout anyhow but it is good to know they are fiction ony. pps. The track cleaning function works great
This is probably as close as you can get without building something yourself.
Pics from 2005 and 2006. Ex SP units, then GVSR paint, then back to SP. I think they are called a B-100-32 originally built for the coper mines. Shorty boxcars, not sure if they are 40 footers and they are not totally hi-cube, but the big door makes them look like the Athearn 40 foot hi cube, IMO.
Athearn made an OB 40 foot hi-cube in Golden West paint that looks similar to this prototype. I have one.
Still might be a foob, but its probably as close as you can get without bashing something. Again, they were in service in 2006.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=367797
and
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=225761
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=639962
end shot
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=57993
and the model (from google images)
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1536&bih=735&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=pd5VW_bIHsf4_AbdsIF4&q=athearn+gvsr+40+foot+hi+cube&oq=athearn+gvsr+40+foot+hi+cube&gs_l=img.12...23591.29697.0.32359.31.22.0.0.0.0.120.1761.21j1.22.0....0...1c.1.64.img..14.1.95...0.0.HNuV9yvH1WY#imgrc=2zKiQmulPhMtxM:
- Douglas
Those 40' high cube boxcars was made in the 60s for appliance service and several Eastern roads own them and they was in pool service much like auto part boxcars.
Athearn released the 40' "Ugly Duckling" boxcar in '66 or '67.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The outcome. All four 40" track cleaners got a 40" high hood shell sprayed dark brown and lettered with Microscale 60" BNSF high hood boxcars. They stay permanent in their trains and blend nicely with the real high hood boxcars. Just the huge Microscale BNSF logo stands out. Thanks for all your input.
Nicely done Reinhard. The buildings and backdrop look good too.