Athearn Blue Box Prototypes

[charlie9]

in response to Brakie and Sheldon;  that style of handbrake may; have existed but to me it is like a unicorn.  I can not prove they didn't exist, I just never saw one. please post a photo if you can find it or PM it to me. I don't doubt you , I just want to see it.

I hired out on the IC in Memphis around 1962-63 and went to the Big Four in 1967.  i saw a lot of flats like you described with the wheel on the stem.  the were made to drop down level with the deck and i believe the P2K flat cars have the wood floor material relieved to receive the brake wheel flush.

this feature was especially handy when the flat was loaded with poles or serving as an idler for a load that overhang another car..  we used to get a lot of double and triple loads of treated poles with the brake shaft completely lowered and the pin lifters wired down so the cars could not be separated. (I can still smell the creosote)  I guess treated wooden poles, like me, are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Charlie

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

charlie9

my main issue with athearn is the brake wheel mount on the flat cars.  i worked on the railroad from the time i was 16 years old and i never saw that kind of handbrake.   piggy back flats had the handbrake side mounted but that was obviously because it would have been in the way of the bridge plates otherwise.

this doesn't mean that there were never any cars like the athearn flats, i just never say any myself.

charlie

They did exist and I have the info and aphoto here somewhere. I will post it as soon as I find it.

What years did you work on the railroad? - those cars would have been from the 40's and 50's.

Sheldon

[BRAKIE]

charlie9

i worked on the railroad from the time i was 16 years old and i never saw that kind of handbrake. 

Charlie,Every 50' flatcar I seen in my 9 1/2 years railroading had a brake wheel on a stem.

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As far as the BB boxcars..Your shippers will love the extra foot in the width.

[charlie9]

my main issue with athearn is the brake wheel mount on the flat cars.  i worked on the railroad from the time i was 16 years old and i never saw that kind of handbrake.   piggy back flats had the handbrake side mounted but that was obviously because it would have been in the way of the bridge plates otherwise.

this doesn't mean that there were never any cars like the athearn flats, i just never say any myself.

charlie

[wp8thsub]

Most of the early blue box cars were pretty much made up.  Here's some food for thought:

• 50' flat: Prototype cars tend to have the deck extend to at least flush with the outer edges of the stake pockets.  Athearn tooled theirs to be easier to cast in one piece, so the deck unrealistically terminates at the side sills.
• Tank Cars (single or triple dome, "chemical"): As far as I know, nobody has successfully found prototypes for any of these.  The single and triple dome cars have odd proportions and are oversized for most protoypes.  There are a number of cars similar to the "chemical" tank among cars rostered by various owners.  The tank design has nothing to do with hauling chemicals, but modelers seem to think in terms of how Athearn labeled it.  Here's a GATX car with a similar appearance http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gatx/gatx78048ags.jpg, and one from Staley http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-s/aesx4957akg.jpg
• 50' Gon: This is another weird car, as typical gons were 52'6" or thereabouts.  You may have to fake a longer car like this http://www.wplives.com/archives/freight/gondolas/6055.html or this http://www.wplives.com/archives/freight/gondolas/6667.html, or similar from various roads.

[binder001]

Unfortunately the bulk of the "Blue Box" series tooling dates from the 1950's and suffers from little research.  One can guess that the designers pulled some drawings from some of the "Cyclopedia" publications or such.  The folks who made the masters were obviously not real familiar with what they were trying to represent.  Have you ever noticed that most of the underframes for the "house" cars (boxcar, stock car, reefer" usually have the brake gear in mirror image?  That's because someone looked at a drawing of the car that was drawn as if looking DOWN through the car and put the parts thinking they were looking UP at the underside of the car!

Anyway, there have been articles over the years trying to guess what the Athearn freight cars represented.

Boxcar - AAR type car, apparently the 10'6" height, but the end corners are closer to the early "square" type versus the "rounded" corners that were more common by the time that 10'6" became a common height.

Stock car - very close to UP S-40-12 or S-40-13 classes but the roof panels are "mirror imaged"

Single dome tanker - simply the three-dome car with two domes removed - that's why the remaing dome is so small proportional to the car.  The underframe is typical for General American production, and the tank is close to the 12, 500 gal size range.

Steel reefer - PFE R-40-23 class ice reefer

Wood reefer - PFE R-40-24 rebuilt wood-sided reefer

Gondola - too short for most.  One article mentioned that it was close to an NYC car.

50' flat - too short for most protypes

wood-side boxcar - reported based on a GN car

steel caboose - ATSF design

Bay-window caboose - an SP car

Wide-vision caboose - reportedly a Rock Island "short body" type.  Length is too short for many actual cars.

57' Mechanical reefer - close to a PFE R-40-20-series, but close to other PC&F cars.

 

 

[jrbernier]

  I have several Athearn freight cars and wonder if they have a specific prototype or are a 'composite' of several designs:

• 40' Box Car - It appears to be based on an 'Improved 1937 AAR' design
• 50' Flat Car - Most fish belly flats seem to be 50' 6" - This one is sort of short, and has that side mounted brake wheel.
• Single Dome Tank Car - I have heard that this is close to an SP car, just the dome is too low.  While we are at it, what about the 'Triple Dome' and the 'Chemical' Tank Cars.
• 40' Steel & Wood Reefers.
• 50' Gondola

  I suspect that they may have SP or AT&SF history as well.  I stripped a 50' gondola, added metal steps and grabs - Now I am at a loss what to paint/decal it for.

Jim