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Branchline Blueprint HO Boxcars - Looking for Opinions

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Branchline Blueprint HO Boxcars - Looking for Opinions
Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, January 1, 2022 7:50 AM

Any opinions, pro or con, on the quality of these boxcars?

Rich

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 9:34 AM

Rich,

Are you talking about the kits?  Or the RTRs after Atlas purchased Branchline a few years back?

I don't have any of the latter but I have put together several Blueprint & Yard Master kits over the years.  They are primarily AAR boxcars and reefers with lots of detail parts and stirrups that are delicate.  Comparable to the Proto 2000 but slightly better quality, Blueprint kits offer a WIDE variety of road names and businesses (for reefers) and look very handsome once assembled.

After years of visiting and purchasing, my LHS still has two top shelves of an entire aisle dicated to Branchline boxcars and passenger cars; many in box sets of four.  I think I've tapped them for all of the ones in my era.

As mentioned, Rich, I have not purchased any of the newer RTRs.  However, given Atlas' penchant for quality, I would expect them to be excellent.

Tom

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Posted by 2ManyHobbeez on Saturday, January 1, 2022 9:37 AM

I have built a number of these and have been very happy with the quality and detail. Only problem I have had was with the weights they supply which are big hex nuts. I glued them to the floor with Aileen's tacky glue and most of them eventually came loose. I threw the rest of that 'glue' in the garbage. I can't vouch for the authenticity of the models but they look nice. IIRC they come with metal wheels and narrow coupler boxes. I replace all wheels and couplers with Intermountain semiscale and Sergents respectively.

George

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 9:42 AM

I believe the kits do come with plastic wheels.  I also replace them with Proto 2000/Kadee ribbed wheels and couplers with Kadee #58s.

LOL - I forgot about the large hex nuts, George.  I center those of each truck bolster and secure them or any metal weights with silicone adhesive - e.g. Gorilla brand.  I have not had any issue with those coming loose inside the shell.

Tom

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, January 1, 2022 9:47 AM

tstage

Rich,

Are you talking about the kits?  Or the RTRs after Atlas purchased Branchline a few years back?

Hmm, good questions. I had to go back and look on eBay. Nuts, they are unassembled kits. I don't have the patience for that. I need to restrict my purchases to RTR boxcars. Indifferent

Rich

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 10:05 AM

Rich,

I think Atlas has released some of the passenger cars RTR.  I don't know, however, how many boxcars they've chosen to release.

Tom

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Posted by rrebell on Saturday, January 1, 2022 10:18 AM

I have some reefers from their first batch of RTR and back then I did buissness with the original owner, very nice guy. They are fine with metal wheels.

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Posted by NHTX on Saturday, January 1, 2022 11:04 AM

    Branchline kits do have widely used, identifiable 1:1 scale prototypes, unlike many earlier manufacturers offerings.  What makes them a bargain is the inclusion of three choices of ends in the boxcars, along with a variety of roofs.  They were heavily written up in the 1990s, including prototype rosters, in Railmodel Journal magazine.

     The 50 foot RBLs are accurately modeled from General American's 1950s car.  The boxcar kits are the only ones I know of that provide New York Central's "Despatch Shops" roof and ends, along with ACF's improved dreadnaught and "dartnought" ends in plastic.

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Posted by maxman on Saturday, January 1, 2022 11:27 AM

i really like them.  I did several of the undecs up as PC boxcars, and they look pretty accurate, at least to my untrained eye.

Were any of the eBay kits undec?

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, January 1, 2022 11:34 AM

maxman

Were any of the eBay kits undec? 

I did see one on eBay.

Rich

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Posted by 2ManyHobbeez on Saturday, January 1, 2022 12:39 PM

tstage

I believe the kits do come with plastic wheels.  

I just three unbuilt ones and they each have quality metal wheels. But they are 110 and I prefer 088 so I replace them. I have a sizable pile of fat wheels.

G

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Posted by doctorwayne on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:09 PM

richhotrain

Any opinions, pro or con, on the quality of these boxcars?

Rich

 

I have four Branchline freight cars, two of them reefers and two boxcars...

This one was undecorated, as the C-D-S diagram for their dry transfers is in the Athearn box in which it's kept when not on the layout...

Only two of them are in Branchline boxes, so I'm guessing that the other two were bought at train shows.

I also have four Branchline passenger cars, two of them built from kits and two r-t-r from Atlas.

These two are the ones from Atlas...

This one was an undecorated kit, found on the "used" table at a now long-gone hobbyshop...

A friend had bought this one at a train show some years ago, and offered it to me, as he felt that he was no longer interested in it.
Several months later, I decided to build it, but when I opened the box, everything was there, except for the car's sides.  I called my friend, to ask if he might have taken them out of the box and perhaps misplaced them.  He answered "No, I never even thought to look in the box when I bought it, other than to see that there were a lot of parts, and figured you'd be better able to build it."
I contacted Atlas, and was able to purchase the proper sides...

I also have five Branchline reefer underbodies, but I'm pretty sure that I got them through Atlas.  I'm hoping to use them to scratchbuild five 40' doubledoor automobile cars, using Walthers end doors (left-overs from 50' Walthers doubledoor cars).
The kits are nicely done, and very easy to put together.

Wayne

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:19 PM

2ManyHobbeez
tstage

I believe the kits do come with plastic wheels. 

I just three unbuilt ones and they each have quality metal wheels...

G

I knew the Proto 2000 kits came with metal wheels.  I just couldn't recollect that the Blueprint kits did - at least the ones I put together.

I checked my Excel inventory spreadsheet for Branchline boxcars and hunted through my Axian Technology boxes for those specific road name/numbers.  Sure enough! - They had metal wheels! Surprise  And they were NOT the ribbed metal wheels that I normally use when switching out the plastic ones.

Always something to learn...or re-learn in this hobby. Big Smile

Tom

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:27 PM

Interesting and informative stuff guys. I appreciate all of the replies. Maybe I will try my hand at a kit or two for starters.

Rich

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Posted by maxman on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:30 PM

richhotrain

 maxman

Were any of the eBay kits undec? 

 

I did see one on eBay.

 Rich

 
Thanks.  Just looked and didn't find it, at least under the 50' car listings.  They'd probably want too much for shipping, so just as well.
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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:30 PM

They are nice kits, Rich.  If you do purchase one and find it too fiddley, send it to me and I'll be glad to put it together for you.  And, yes - I will send it back when completed. Wink

Tom

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Posted by maxman on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:33 PM

tstage
After years of visiting and purchasing, my LHS still has two top shelves of an entire aisle dicated to Branchline boxcars

Tom, can you share name/phone of this shop?  I might want to check if they have any undecs.

Thanks

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, January 1, 2022 1:37 PM

tstage

They are nice kits, Rich.  If you do purchase one and find it too fiddley, send it to me and I'll be glad to put it together for you.  And, yes - I will send it back when completed. Wink

Tom 

I will keep that in mind, Tom. Big Smile

I model Dearborn Station in Chicago where six different railroads (Santa Fe, Wabash, Erie, GTW, Monon and C&EI) maintain inbound and outbound freight houses for LCL freight. But very few of my boxcars are owned by one of these six railroads. So, I am looking to build up my boxcar roster to represent these six railroads.

Rich

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 2:57 PM

Rich,

Two of my 6 Branchline boxcars are Erie (pre-EL) 40' so I can personally vouche that those were manufactured.  As far as the other roadnames, Monon for sure and the rest highly likely.

Everytime I peruse those shelves of Branchline kits at the LHS I'm overwhelmed by the selection.  I just wish more fit my era. Sad

Tom

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Posted by tstage on Saturday, January 1, 2022 3:05 PM

maxman
tstage
After years of visiting and purchasing, my LHS still has two top shelves of an entire aisle dicated to Branchline boxcars

Tom, can you share name/phone of this shop?  I might want to check if they have any undecs.

Thanks

maxman,

I don't recollect seeing any undecorated Branchline boxcar kits.  However, I wasn't looking for them either.

The name of the LHS is Stewart's Hobbies & Collectors toys (Willoughby, OH)  Rob & Sandy are the owners.  Happy to help both of you out.

Tom

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Posted by maxman on Saturday, January 1, 2022 6:29 PM

Tom, thank you.

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Posted by csxns on Sunday, January 2, 2022 10:19 AM

The Branch line Berwicks are great boxcars have several when they came out.

Russell

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, January 2, 2022 10:30 AM

The only Branchline kits I have experience with are the undecorated 40 foot and 50 foot boxcars.

The 50 foot undecorated car included a Viking roof option, which was amazing. The last two I bought on eBay already had these roofs removed from the kits, that stunk.

The kits are good, but not as good as Life-Like Proto-2000 kits for 50 footers or Intermountain or Red Caboose for 40 footers. The Branchline kits had more options for ends and roofs.

The roofwalks were terrible, and were always replaced. I also used wire grab irons, as I do on all my plastic kits. I also as standard course-of-action replace any steel weights with lead.

-Kevin

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Posted by Trainman440 on Sunday, January 2, 2022 10:05 PM

Ive built many (okay only like 6) of these branchline blueprint 40' boxcars, along with Intermountain, Red Caboose, and Atlas (basically the same as Branchline since they were bought by Atlas) kits...all of them were very enjoyable to build. There's lots of parts so it takes time, but overall an easy build.

All you need is plastic cement an xacto knife, screwdrivers, and pliers/tweezers to build. 

Great for when you dont got money but still want detailed cars, and lots of time to spare. 

Good luck!

Charles

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, January 2, 2022 10:10 PM

I have also built a couple of the Atlas undecorated 40 foot boxcars. 

They are nothing like the Branchline Blueprint kits I built. The Atlas cars had cast metal underframes, and all the parts like doors and tack boards were located by lugs. The quality of the Atlas kits just seemed a notch higher.

Did they do some retooling?

-Kevin

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Posted by dti406 on Monday, January 3, 2022 1:30 AM

SeeYou190

I have also built a couple of the Atlas undecorated 40 foot boxcars. 

They are nothing like the Branchline Blueprint kits I built. The Atlas cars had cast metal underframes, and all the parts like doors and tack boards were located by lugs. The quality of the Atlas kits just seemed a notch higher.

Did they do some retooling?

-Kevin

Depends on which Atlas 40' boxcars you were building.  If they were the 1932 AAR boxcars or the USRA rebuilds then those were original Atlas kits put together as you noted but the Old Branchline cars have all the same parts as before.

I love the old Branchline kits and have sliced and diced them to build a lot of proper prototype cars.

Rick Jesionowski 

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, January 3, 2022 8:18 AM

dti406
If they were the 1932 AAR boxcars or the USRA rebuilds then those were original Atlas kits put together as you noted but the Old Branchline cars have all the same parts as before.

That must be the case. I guess I never assembled an Atlas version of the old Branchline models.

Thanks for that information.

-Kevin

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Posted by maxman on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 12:17 PM

Two very poor photos of Branchline undec 50' boxcar kits that I did as PC.  Cut down the ladders on A end to reflect updated car.  I think the only after market parts are the stirrup steps.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51799413436_7bc47fb920_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51798469487_a0c32d6b77_b.jpg

 

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Posted by DigitalGriffin on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 5:11 PM

I put together a few.  They are exceptional quality and a good value.  (or were when they were owned by branchline)

Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions

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Posted by richhotrain on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 6:02 PM

DigitalGriffin

I put together a few.  They are exceptional quality and a good value.  (or were when they were owned by branchline) 

Don, great to hear from you. Where have you been for the last 3 years?

Rich

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