Sorry if I'm coming into this late, but I had a question. Did the B&O consistently repaint their boxcars, or could you have had some earlier lettering/paint schemes sneak into later years? I have a wagontop with the brown steam era scheme, but I model transition era when it would've been red-thinking about getting rid of it.
The Accurail SS boxcar referenced earlier has a rather vague, rough resemblance to a USRA SS car. B&O had those, and I guess the Accurail car could serve as a stand-in, but they were nearly extinct by the early 1950's. If you want a wooden B&O boxcar, the Westerfield M-15 is your best bet, although a lot of them had been retired or rebuilt as wagon top cars by the 1950's. Some surviving wooden M-15's were still in Company service in the 1950's, but few still in revenue service.
The Accurail USRA twin hopper was mentioned in reference to the B&O. It is correct for B&O class N-17, although Andrews trucks would make it more accurate. Remove the cast-on ladder rungs and attach separate ladders, and you'll have a pretty close representation of a B&O N-12.
Yes they were Wayne. There were four cripple tracks there. The yard had about 35 tracks overall.
-Stan
Nice photo, Stan.
Looks like several of the foreground tracks are occupied by cars undergoing repairs.
Wayne
The B&O yard at East Salamanca NY is a sea of M-53 and M-26 boxcars in this transition era photo.
wm3798 The solid blue diesels started appearing around 1963 when the C&O bought the B&O. I believe the GP-30's that were delivered that year were the first to wear the simplified scheme. Lee
The solid blue diesels started appearing around 1963 when the C&O bought the B&O. I believe the GP-30's that were delivered that year were the first to wear the simplified scheme.
Lee
Lee,If I may so,folks won't be confused on this matter..
The C&O never bought the B&O..C&O bought 51% of the stock and took control of the B&O..They didn't merge until '87 under CSX.First merger was B&O/WM in May of '83 then B&O into the C&O in '87 and then the C&O into CSX in '87..
Either one of the 40' steel boxcars will be good from the 50s-70s.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
What you are missing is that all B&O Cars were oddballs due to the clearance problems on the East End of the Railroad, also many of them were homebuilt in their shops with oddball ends and their inside hight was never more than 10' high which is why they had so many of the X29 clones on the roster as they were only 9'4" high.
An M-55 kit used to be availale from Sunshine Models and may be found on E-Bay but it still had problems in total accuracy.
I would suggest getting on the B&O Historical Group website and reading the available modeling quides and maybe purchasing the DVD of the old guides if you want to model the B&O.
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!
I have a question about B&O 40' steeel boxcar purchases in period just before and after WW2; as I understand M-55 family of cars are 1937 AAR type, and M-59 is AAR 1944 type. I was reading great articles in Trainlife.com from RMJ magazines, from authors like Hawkins and Hendrickson, and all 1937 and 1937 modified roster lists does not have any B&O boxcars listed.
Also no mention in 1937 rosters of B&O boxcars there: http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/frtcars/protofrtcarsmain.html
What am I missing?
Have noticed several mentions of Enchantment Blue. This was a C&O color --- not a B&O color --- until C&O got control of the B&O. Until then, the B&O's blue was a Royal Blue shade that was commonly called "Bando" (B and O) Blue. Enchantment Blue has a bit of a purplish cast. It seems that mpodel paint manufacturers have a hard time understanding this, as you will often hear of folks who think Enchantment is right for the independent, pre-C&O, Baltimore & Ohio. By the way, the "Big B&O" lettering was rarerly, if ever, seen before about 1953 or 1954; and the circular "13 Great States" emblem could still be seen well into the 1960's.
Lee,The C&O never bought the B&O..The C&O just bought 51% of the stock and that was to keep NYC/PRR from wanting to add the B&O to the PC merger.The PRR/NYC talked about adding the B&O in the PC merger.
Around this time N&W merged with NKP,Wabash and two other roads the AC&Y and P&WV.
What a nice photo for PRR and B&O fans: http://www.shorpy.com/node/5510?size=_original#caption
The PRR car is X26, but not sure for B&O. M-26 or M-27? Red Caboose has nice M-26D models, but this on the photo has double door.
Well, it was not fast, but one waggontop finally arrived on my home rails...
IMO car looks great, runs without problems. Loose weight was taken care of with the little hot glue.
You may want to check into the BOHS company store for a few new offings in HO.
http://www.borhs.org/shopping/index.html
M53 box and express
http://www.borhs.org/Shopping/images/33250.jpg
http://www.borhs.org/Shopping/images/33261.jpg
AAR 70 ton flat http://www.borhs.org/Shopping/images/33221.jpg
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Maybe not boxcars, but still well travelled B&O car was announced by Tangent - gondola type O-59.
Interesting times for B&O fans!
Well, since September, several FVM models of waggontops has arrived in shops... Judging from first photos, it is a great looking car.
Pictured is special run from SMD - most correct version for late transition era. Photo (c) RailfanZ Dotcom
I hope one ore two will be on my rails soon!
Thommo, C-D-S used to make a good selection of dry transfers in several scales, along with custom order sets. Unfortunately, they're no longer producing new material but, as far as I know, they still have some stock on hand. I can't think of any dry transfer manufacturers that do custom work - perhaps someone else here knows of one.
A not-so-quick search yielded this: Decal Pro Dry Transfers
Wayne, you mentioned dry transfers... Is there a company or individual modeler who makes dry transfers, from customer graphic file?
Wayne, thanks for the great info and pics (as always). As you can see, my first post is over 3 years old, it was before I knew much about transition era RR practices. Also, since I've learn that Accurail is not #1 in "correctness", even though they have nice and affordable models. Last one I have is B&O N-17 2-bay hopper:
Since that post I bought Athearn M59 double door boxcar, I like it a lot even if it does not have all separate grabs etc... It rolls great and looks nice.
Mike, I am aware of the new FWM waggontops, I will deffinetelly try to buy one or two.
The theory about X29 predominating is a good one supported by the evidence.
However, what modelers have been able to get most easily is -- the X29. So if you're modeling B&O, you're most likely short of the M53 in the 1 in 4 cars you might want as a representative sample.
If we're bringing back an old thread, let's do it in style -- with a solution to your wagontop shortage...
http://www.foxvalleymodels.com/pdfs/jpgs/feb11bobox.jpg
Not really a B&O fan, I do think wagontop just screams B&O.
Those B&O X29s? They're just part of the scenery to me.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thommo, the Accurail boxcar about which you asked in your original post is not accurate for a transition-era layout. I don't specifically model the B&O, so the car may be accurate as an earlier-era car, or could be accurate for a transition era layout if the lettering was modified. However, note the June 1919 BLT. date and the "NEW" notation next to the car's capacity: the latest that this car would have been in-service in this condition would have been early in 1922.
Here's a Funaro & Camerlengo M-53 in an early as-built paint scheme:
...and an undecorated Red Caboose X-29 painted as a B&O M-26, also with an early version of the B&O herald (lettering is dry transfers from C-D-S):
See below for a list of the Accurail 40' Gons with information regarding each roadname as compiled by the Steam Era Freight Car List on Yahoo Groups.
Number 1, I would not trust any car made by Athearn or Accurail for prototype accuracy. They will paint any car in any roadname to foster sales. Other manufacturers are almost as bad, but they will at least tell you that the car is a foobie!
Thommo, I would suggest joining the Steam Era Freight car group which goes up to 1960 for detailed car information. For later periods there is the MFCL and BBFCL groups which give out a lot of information on freight cars.
Rick
Another question for B&O afficionados: Is the Accurail 3736 41'6" AAR Gondola correct for B&O gondolas? BLT year is 1957.
I just saw this thread when it re-popped. i saw earlier that someone said the M26 ARA boxcar was predominant, and someone else said that maybe someday Red Caboose would make one painted B&O. Well, they have, and are available from the B&O Historical Society. NICE models - I got two. They have other paint schemes, as well.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
Thommo I will resurrect my older topic rather to open new... Maybe somebody knows, did B&O rostered M-55 (1937 AAR) boxcars in REA blue colors, as those older Roundhouse HO model pictured below? Also, NYC Early Bird of the same AAR type; I know the Branchline did them in their Yardmaster series, but in plain NYC scheme. Branchline had 50' boxcars in NYC E.B. scheme.
I will resurrect my older topic rather to open new...
Maybe somebody knows, did B&O rostered M-55 (1937 AAR) boxcars in REA blue colors, as those older Roundhouse HO model pictured below?
Also, NYC Early Bird of the same AAR type; I know the Branchline did them in their Yardmaster series, but in plain NYC scheme. Branchline had 50' boxcars in NYC E.B. scheme.
No, B&O did not have M-55's (or any other 40' boxcar) in blue except for the M-53 Wagontops that were used in express service (e.g., C-16). Those were originally green with gold lettering, but at least some were painted like the car you show in Bando Blue with dulux lettering. In fact, I believe the car you are showing is one of the Roundhouse round-roof car, based on a Pennsy prototype, painted as a stand-in for the B&O express wagontops.
Greg
Thommo
As far as I know only one forty foot boxcar number 174853 was painted in the 1957 NYC early bird paint scheme. The rest were all fifty foot cars.
Bill
Most of the information you need is here:
http://borhs.org/Logos/bo_font_logo.html
Go to the bottom of the page and you will find lettering diagrams 1920-1960
There is more info available here:
http://www.borhs.org/Archives/Archives.htm
There is a lot of missing information on the Blue/Silver Sentinel Service cars. There is a site maintained that has a collection of all photographic confirmed road numbers. The first 100 cars (466000 to 466099) in the series of 500 were supposed to be painted in the scheme but others have crept up out of the sequence.
..still looking for the link...
found the link.....
http://www.kbbraden.com/Sentinel/
Thommo wrote: Next question... What year did B&O start to change freight car scheme from above (my favourite) to below?Also, when did they change nice looking blue/grey/black to plain dark blue on diesels?Thanx!
Next question...
What year did B&O start to change freight car scheme from above (my favourite) to below?
Also, when did they change nice looking blue/grey/black to plain dark blue on diesels?
Thanx!
Not sure if you found the answer to this yet or not, but the large herald began to appear in 1951-1952 or thereabouts (some of my references say 51, some say 53. DEFINATELY in use by 53.) Check the B&O RR historical society's website sometime, an excellent site!
The diesel paint scheme change you mention seems to have taken place around 1958, though i think only their E and F units, as well as the few Alco PAs owned by B&O, were in the blue/gold/silver scheme. Ive never seen any pics of Geeps or SDs in that tri-color scheme. I also am not sure when they recieved their first Geeps, tbh.