All Nation Boxcar restoration project (Update)

This looks like 3-Rail Scale. 

What type of couplers will be attached? 

Andrew

kadee

I love these. Have a bunch of them three railed.

Me too I like that there a craftsman kit you can build them any way you want. The sides on some were really bad so I striped them some of the ends look brass I did not know that, they cleaned up well. 

That looks really good. Have fun with them.

lee drennen posted:

Union Pacific box car I  used a Weaver undercarriage and trucks with AHM wheels and Microscale Decals it’s  just about completed.

You need the ends for that car?

Rebuilding these cars is good fun and they make a solid car on the layout.

I've always enjoyed the All Nation cars I have.  They just have a look that a majority of my plastic cars don't and I don't know why. 

Have fun putting them back together!

They were the best.  Way better than Lobaugh, and of slightly heavier gauge steel than Athearn.  They present well in a string of scale freight cars.

Oh, yeah - the old All-Nation, Athearn, Lobaugh, etc look the best when done right. The almost-prototypical thin metal sides, some assembly with small nails ("rivets"), the made-from-separate-parts like the real thing look - I have a weakness for these. Easy to 3-rail. Easy to weight. Even though they have less actual "detail" than the nice plastic cars (you can add all you want, of course), they have a realistic vibe about them that is subtle but unavoidable. Assuming assembly was done decently, of course.

They also don't break when you pick them up. 

bob2 posted:

They were the best.  Way better than Lobaugh, and of slightly heavier gauge steel than Athearn.  They present well in a string of scale freight cars.

How would one tell the difference from a All Nation from an Athearn O car?  Didn't they share some common heritage for a while?

I'm still learning, but I think Athearn has different under body detail than All Nation.

GG1 4877 posted:

bob2 posted:

They were the best.  Way better than Lobaugh, and of slightly heavier gauge steel than Athearn.  They present well in a string of scale freight cars.

How would one tell the difference from a All Nation from an Athearn O car? 

The following are the spotting features between All-Nation and Athearn.

How to tell whether a 40' steel sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe) is an Athearn car or an All-Nation car:

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, but the above differences will enable you to determine which it is.  I avoid ends, doors, and underframes in my comparison because those items are easily interchanged 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.

Didn't they share some common heritage for a while?

No. The Athearn line went to Locomotive Workshop for a while and then to Old Pullman (I may have those reversed) and then to Boxcar Jim.  After that the Athearn line apparently vanished into the mists

Underbody on Athearn(Reynolds) was very similar to All-Nation.

That is extremely helpful.  Based on this information alone, I already know what 2/3 of my metal cars are without having to dig them out of the boxes.  I'll have to measure the 40' boxcars and look at the details as you suggest.

Thanks!

Thanks guys!  Glad I could take you down memory lane with these old boxcars very helpful information also, and yes I have all the parts besides the under carriage on some of these cars. I knew when I seen that big box of vintage cars that they would make a fun restoration project and the end results  would be a very attractive boxcar plus the fun of striping these down and rebuilding them.

For reasons I cannot fathom, the painted metal sides on the Athearn/All-Nation cars looks more real than painted plastic.
I have a lot of these cars. Add delrin ladders, etc, and they are outstanding models.
Unfortunately my meager skill at color matching ( a defect suffered by many other modelers) makes it nigh impossible to match colors on ends and roofs to the pre-painted sides.

One reason: plastic is generally translucent.  Try a coat of silver paint on the inside.  I too think metal is better, but I recognize that I am not totally rational about it.  

Actually, if I were rational, I would not be fooling with model trains, no matter what they are made of.  I do enjoy building stuff . . .

Rex  I know the feeling I would love to rebuild this nickel plate but I cannot match the paint side unless I mix paint and then it will be off I’m sure. So I think I’m going to leave them the way they are.

Here’s a few pics of some more cars ready for decals and the Union Pacific car is almost finished enjoy the pics.