Boxcar Sunday, Let's see your boxcars.

Some Flyer box cars from the 70's.

Posted elsewhere, but I added this little bit of Weaver fiction to my collection last weekend.

This modern era 6464 reissue is a favorite of mine - traditional size, sharp prototypical graphics, sprung and painted metal trucks, and a detailed die-cast chassis.

Don, the 6565 series was made in the late 90’s, early 2000’s with a 6464 type body on a Diecast frame with those nice Diecast trucks. I’m not able to access my catalogs from that time period, so it’s just a guess. I know there were Santa Fe and others as well. I think it was when Wellspring had control, and also made Diecast hoppers and tank cars, but I’m open to correction!

I believe you're correct Artie. That UP car was part of a 3 car Union Pacific set - all beautiful!

This die-cast Phillips 66 tank car was also made about the same time period and was part of a 3-car set - another one of my favorites.

...to continue the B&O theme

American Flyer

Bing

Ives

Lionel

Marx

Weaver

@jim sutter posted:

Great colorful selection, Jim. I still regret not picking up one of the cars with the Savings Bond logo (still have a bunch of savings bonds around here somewhere!!!)

Paul, why don't you put a ad on the forum? Wanted Weaver 40' Bessemer and Lake Erie Box Car with U.S. Savings Bond emblem.

@Don McErlean posted:

Today, I opt for a little unusual boxcar.  It was born as the Lionel #6470 in 1959 when the space race was still going strong and Lionel was looking for any potential action toy to sell trains. In 1959 & 1960, still as #6470, it was part of 2 uncatalogued sets, sold exclusively through Sears, Sears set # 9654 in 1960 pulled by a Boston & Main Alco AB and including a missile launching flatcar and Sears set #9682 in 1959 pulled by the #44 Army missile launcher.  In 1961 Lionel (for some reason) changed its number to 6480 but there does not seem to be any visible changes to the car.   It also does not appear to have been part of any further sets.  The sole purpose of this box car was to come apart!  Yes this is the "target" exploding boxcar that was supposed to "blow up" when struck by a missile.  In truth, I would think this thing was quite frustrating because I could not keep it together for one circuit around my layout, hence the very visible elastic band in the pictures.  Maybe it was better when new, after all its now almost 61 years old.

So here he is the Lionel #6480 "Exploding" Boxcar !!

Best wishes for a good week.

Don

Don;

My version came with my first train set around 1962. IMHO, this was truly one of the most useless cars Lionel ever produced!!! I can assure you that, when brand new, it couldn’t make a full circuit of the 4x8 board my brother and I had in the day without the sides collapsing inward. And the turbo launching car behind it couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, much less the boxcar unless they were both stationary and no more than a couple of feet apart. I remember all the great ads Lionel ran at the time (especially at this time of the year) showing all the space/military trains and missiles hitting moving targets - today, they’d probably get sued for false advertising!!!

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Weaver

Nice.  Those Weaver Wagontops are getting near impossible to find.  I almost bought an "Early Kuhler" version like yours, but it is a bit early for my layout's era.

Happy Boxcar Sunday all! Lionel Exploding boxcar along with Lionel HO boxcar.

Sitka: You have my admiration, I will echo what I said and what Apples 55 said, I don't know how you get that "exploding" boxcar to go around your layout without the sides collapsing...I never could do it, finally used a rubber band for display (LOL)

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Sitka: You have my admiration, I will echo what I said and what Apples 55 said, I don't know how you get that "exploding" boxcar to go around your layout without the sides collapsing...I never could do it, finally used a rubber band for display (LOL)

Don

Thanks Don my PW Lionel has a pin and a rubber stop at the bottom holding it together, never fell apart on me, Got the pin or rod from Jeff Kane at the traintender.

Well enough about "exploding" boxcars...its BxCarSun afterall and Sunday should be a day of rest and quiet contemplation, no explosions...  Today I will admit my post today was set off by something Don Winslow posted on 10/10...Lionel "waffle side" boxcars.  Candidly I had seen nor heard of such a thing so off I go on a "quest"...turns out that there are 15 different waffle side boxcars made by Lionel (LLC) between 1995 and 2011. I don't know why I never saw any before, must just be my focus on older trains.  So anyway, after some searching, I finally manage to find my first "waffle side" .  This one is the #15001 from 1995, actually the 2nd one in the series which began with #15000 in the same year.  

So here is #15001, the Seaboard "waffle side" boxcar from 1995

Here is the "logo" side of the design

The slogan side of the design

The end of the car, showing the unusual low mounted brake wheel.

Well Happy Box Car Sunday everyone...hope you have a wonderful week.

Don

Here's some WP, Tidewater Southern, and Sacramento Northern for Box Car Sunday.

Got this WP livestock pair for cheap! Unfortunately, they have the same numbers!

Great logo on the Tidewater Southern.

Here is a Santa Fe BX-11 I kitbashed from a Weaver outside braced car, an Intermountain kit (roof and doors), and some miscellaneous strips and parts. The prototypes were a result of WW2 material shortages - not enough steel could be acquired for all new cars, so refurbished outside braced cars with new raised roofs would have to do.

~Chris

Ma & Pa

Morning all! Happy Boxcar Sunday!

@Don McErlean posted:

The end of the car, showing the unusual low mounted brake wheel.

Well Happy Box Car Sunday everyone...hope you have a wonderful week.

Don

Not so unusual.  Low mounted brakewheels became standard with the elimination of roofwalks on newly built boxcars since 1966.

Rusty

Here’s a couple more explosives cars.  The blocking car was an empty car spotted between two loaded cars to absorb impact and (maybe) prevent an explosion in event of a wreck.

Don, thank you for the inspiration for my post!

John

I always thought double sheathed (DS) boxcars were like an upgraded single-sheathed (SS) boxcar.  I purchased a Lionel SSW DS boxcar and then did some research on it, finding out I probably should not have bought it.

First off, some things I learned.

- Single-sheathed and outside-braced are interchangeable terms for the same style of boxcar.

- SS had a steel Warren Truss outside frame that when combined with the steel underframe provided the structural strength for the car. Here is a photo of my Atlas outside-braced car.

-DS had a heavy duty steel frame for strength with an all wood structure, with vertical outside wood sheathing and horizontal inside wood sheathing over wood framework. 

- Both the SS and DS boxcars were being built at the same time, starting during WWI using USRA standards.

- The DS was cheaper and lighter than the SS.

- The SS was stronger and had a 50-ton rating, while the DS had only a 40-ton rating.

- While a lot of SS cars made it to the diesel era, nearly all all-wood DS cars were gone by the end of the 30s (some DS cars rebuilt with steel sides were still around during WWII).

That last bullet is why I think I should have passed on the DS SSW I bought (need to do the research before I buy).  My layout time frame is 1949, so there would not have been any revenue all wood DS boxcars around at that time, plus the graphics are 1920s-ish.  I could sell it, but I think I will use it as a test bed for some heavy weathering.  I was thinking of repainting them as PRR MoW, but of the 25,000 DS cars built, none went to the PRR.

Some of you may think why worry about it, just have fun running it.  I guess I get my fun doing things with family.  The layout is the challenge I need to keep my brain active, from building the table, to the command control wiring, to the research to get it right for 1949.  Just need to do the research before I buy.

Cappilot :  Thanks for the information on DS vs SS boxcars, like many I suppose I had never thought much about it but found your data really interesting especially setting the time frame when the car would have been operational.  Luckily for me, I have only one boxcar of this class and its a SS RF&P so as a SS it fits my time period (late 40's early 50's).  Well as they say..."better lucky than smart"  Thanks again for sharing your research.

Don

Well I guess its time for me to share my boxcar for today...it has finally become "winter" here in Central Texas with temperatures in the 30's this morning.  Yikes...it was 82 degrees on Friday!  This is, to me, an interesting car made by Lionel (MPC) in 1987 and representing a short line, the "Lancaster and Chester-The Springmaid Line".  Clearly out of the time frame that I normally model so this one is just for fun, My wife's family has a long time connection to Lancaster so I got it in salute to her.

OBTW Rusty...thanks for the comment on the low mounted brake wheel.  What you said makes obvious sense and candidly I never noticed the absence of the roof walk.  1966 was the year I graduated from college, was commissioned a Lt in the AF, and got married...guess brake wheel location just didn't come up on my list of things to track !  (LOL). Thanks for your information, I really do like to know those details and only from knowledgeable folks like yourself do they get surfaced.

Best wishes

Don

Happy Box car Sunday

My Lionel State of Maine, and a PW unloader car

Hitchin' a ride...

                                                              Rider... 

A gaggle of PRR 40 foot boxcars I finished painting and decaling for Gun Runner John…

Tom

See them on the move….

https://youtu.be/Z6UOWhExtgc

Love your work, Tom. Nice going.

In keeping with the season...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

@Yellowstone Special posted:

Love your work, Tom. Nice going.

Thank you Vern! Nice to hear from you! Great looking UP Boxcar.

I want to do some western themed cars, but the decals seem hard to find!

Tom

Boxcar for this fine Sunday ... Santa Fe by Williams.

Morning all!  Happy Boxcar Sunday! Received from Santa four more New Haven Boxcars from Menards. Now have eight, running out of room lol not a bad thing.

A Midwest offering this week…an older steam era paint scheme. Started with a Weaver Christmas car, stripped and painted with Scalecoat II and decaled with K4 decals…

Tom

5 Railking double door cars;  4 were offered in RTR sets, issued before MTH began including the smaller Rugged Rails (6464 size) cars with their RTR sets.

Well here it is BxCrSun right after Christmas and Santa delivered one to me this year.  I have been trying to collect the "I Love ....(insert state name)" boxcars for all the states we have lived in over my 51 year career, that number now stands at 8 different states and this Christmas I got number 4 out of the 8.  So here is the Lionel "I Love New Jersey" boxcar.  The # 19909 from 1990.

Well here is wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Don

Here's another one of the Lionel Wellspring era 6565 boxcars. Check out the diecast frame on these beautiful cars. I'd love to see more of these offered.

@jim sutter posted:

Great looking reefers Jim.

What brand ?🤔