All-Nation Line Box Car Kit I.D.

I probably have thirty or so of these things. Bought the first one in 1955, and the last one about four years ago.  Never paid more than ten bucks including trucks and couplers.  Have no idea how one would date them; without a micrometer, I cannot tell which ones are Athearn and which ones are All Nation.

They are surely the most common O Scale car - they could be purchased with tinplate wheels and couplers.  Just change the wheelsets.  Don't bother trying to date them - the value does not increase with age.

FYI:

1) If you measure the length of the car from the underside, from the inside of one metal end to the inside of the other metal end, an All-Nation car will measure 10", whereas an Athearn car will measure 10-1/8".  This is the same dimension as the car sides.

2) If you open the doors, an Athearn car will have a wood or composition inner wall, whereas an All-Nation car will not.

3) Just below the right end of the lower door slide, the scalloped edge along the bottom of the car side, an All-Nation car will be cut vertically, whereas an Athearn car will be cut at an angle, just like all of the other scalloped edges on both cars.  Obviously, a modeler could trim an All-Nation car to look like an Athearn, but an Athearn car would never be made to look like an All-Nation.

4) Along the bottom edge of the roof overhang, along the side of the car, most Athearn cars will have a row of rivets, whereas an All-Nation car will not.  Do not confuse this row of rivets with the row of rivets along the top edge of the car side, which both cars have.

There are other more subtle differences between the two.........

How to tell whether other car types are Athearn or All-Nation:

Athearn had a 50' steel sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  All-Nation did not.

Athearn had a 40' steel sided reefer (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  All-Nation did not.

All-Nation had a 36', 40', and 50' wood sided reefer (with wood roof, wood ends, and wood underframe).  Athearn did not.

All-Nation had a 40' wood sided reefer (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  Athearn did not.

All-Nation had a 40' outside braced boxcar (with wood roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  Athearn did not.

Both All-Nation and Athearn had a 40' wood sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  However, the above 1st and 4th rules still apply.

Athearn also had a few one-of-a-kind cars that do not follow all of the rules of their other 40' steel sided boxcars. The Rock Island 20060 aluminum boxcar is one of those exceptions. There was also a GN 2500 aluminum boxcar, a GN 44424 orange sided boxcar, and a GN 47872 wood sided boxcar.

The November/December issue of the online magazine O Scale Resource (oscaleresource.com) has a extensive history of the All-Nation Line.

Charlie

Wow thanks for all the info,...The O gauge magazine is great, I never knew about it before.

Does anyone have a photo of the tinplate trucks available for these cars, are they just different flange wheels or are they different trucks with the couplers attached like a lionel car.

If there is a ready made part I can search for it would help out a bunch.

Thanks again, I'd also love to see some photos of finished kits for building inspiration untill my box of "junk" arrives.

-Jason

Well.....Due to an eBay shipping screw up I received a different box lot of "junk" than I bid on,  I worked out a deal and got to keep the second box of "junk", I'm still waiting on my all-nation kits, from what I found so far they are from the late 1950s early 1960s.

The big find in the "extra junk" lot was a near complete Milwakee Road style Graceline 50' Horizontal ribbed double door box car kit, it is 50% complete,

I have the box, instructions, all of the pressed card stock sides & details however none of the pre cut wood is there.  I'd like to build up these spare parts into a car, does anyone have an unbuilt kit to get the dimensions of the wood from?

Or at least any photos of a completed kit? The instructions are kind of vague and not to scale. I also have no references for lettering it.   The car ladders are stamped from an old coca-coloa bottle cap tin sheet....pretty cool. I might save that part.

Its not prewar or post war its from about 1943-1944 I guess its a war time kit.

I might build the frame to use Lionel early postwar flying shoe type trucks so I can run it with my current late  1940s Lionel engines, not sure yet if  I want to go with scale trucks & couplers on it yet, I have no other 2 rail scale cars.  Any harm in building up this into a car or is it best left as a bunch of parts for the collectors?

I also have some insulated 2 rail plastic/bakelite wheel sets and some cast spring truck parts I'd be interested in trading for some more of these old wood type kit parts if anyone is interested I can make a list & take some photos.

-Jason