How accurate are the black Atlas SOO Line N scale ore cars? Or are they foobies, based off a really dirty car? I have a photo of red and white SOO F's and a GP7 pulling an ore train and I'd like to replicate a portion of this operation in this era. If the car isn't accurate, what road and/or color ore cars would SOO have been pulling?If the car is accurate, does anyone have a prototype photo that they could post?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Soo Line could be a little tricky, since they operated iron ore trains in both Minnesota (from the Cuyuna Range) and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They used "Minnesota" ore cars in Minnesota, and "Michigan" cars in the U.P. Minnesota cars are a bit shorter and wider than the taller/narrower UP cars.
The N scale car appears similar to the old Atlas O scale car, which indeed was based on the B&LE cars used to haul ore from the Great Lakes docks to the steel plants. The B&LE cars were similar to Minnesota ore cars, one difference was they were a little longer, also the tops of the sides tapered in a bit.
Soo Line ore cars were generally brown / boxcar red. The lettering style on the N car is OK, but is a bit big. Otherwise, Soo Line did have rectangular side ore cars similar to this one.
In Minnesota, Soo Line operated a joint iron ore operation with Northern Pacific (and later, BN). Trains ran on NP tracks from the Cuyuna Range (right about in the middle of Minnesota) to McGregor MN, where they split and each took their own route to Superior WI, where they used the NP's ore dock. Trains were a mix of NP and Soo Line cars and engines. BTW NP ore cars were black.