Boxcar Sunday, Let's see your boxcars.

MHT 50' autocar, some modifications and upgrades. Now P:48. A fun build but I might have overdone the weathering

"I might have overdone the weathering."

No, you didn't.

Here is a 40 foot All Nation kit built that I weathered last week.

MTH 19th century boxcar ... Maryland & Pennsylvania

  Bangor & Aroostook X1230.

                                 Here are a few cars from this week...

Sirt, Your weathering is incredibly realistic. If I didn't know better, I would think they are real.

Fantasy cars for the Q.A.&P. Rwy.

Been busy this week. A mix of MTH and Weaver cars I repainted and decaled…

Tom

Well hello everyone here it is again BxCrSun...and we have some really great cars and pictures.  BAR GP7 your ability to blend foreground pictures and background scenic views is exceptional.  Sarah / Dave Ripp / SIRT your weathering skills are super! Rob / Krieglok - really neat "new" cars and Patrick - great scene using a 19th century "Ma & Pa" boxcar.  

Today, I am going back to the late 1930's with the country just emerging from the Great Depression.  Marx, sensing that the market was again getting ready for "luxury" items (like electric trains) and viewing the push to "scale" trains by both Lionel and American Flyer decided to bring forth a line a true scale trains.  He selected "S" scale for his trains or 3/16" to the foot but like prewar American Flyer, decided to keep 0 gauge and thus not change his track and switches.  He started development in 1939 or 1940 with the idea to have a full line available by Christmas 1942.  Of course that didn't happen due to wartime restrictions.  Although the Christmas line of 1941 was OK  however the trains offered in 1942 (just before all toy production was halted) were quite limited with just a few scale sets offered mostly in the Spiegel catalog.  After the war the scale line was expanded somewhat and peaked in extent in about 1948.   Marx had made the decision to stick with lithographed steel construction, as his company was an absolute master at lithography.  However by 1953 it was clear that plastic was both a superior and far cheaper method of production.   Thus these scale lithographed steel cars were phased out by about 1955.  Marx only made 5 "scale" boxcars on scale trucks ( GAEX, NYC, NY NH & H, PRR, and UP)  The GAEX was the most common and was later also offered with non-scale trucks , the NYC (Pacemaker) likewise was used in sets quite often.  Of the other three, I have two to show you today.  These are relatively less common and I do not have the PRR car , that remains on my "want" list. So here are the remaining 2 Marx 3/16" scale boxcars.

The Marx S scale New York, New Haven, and Hartford boxcar made 1941-1954 (not available 1943-1945)

I love the RR logo in that fabulous script.  Note the doors do slide open but all the other detail is lithographed on a more or less flat steel sheet.

The companion car, the Union Pacific S scale car by Marx.   Available in 1941-42 then stopped during the war 1942-45  and then available again thru about 1955.  When I mentioned that Marx was a master of lithography, look at the ladders and grab handles.  These are flat, drawn on the steel sheet but the "shadow" effect that gives them a 3D look is just part of the drawn picture.

  I have been told, although I do not know if this is true, that these Marx scale cars were accurate enough that at the time, especially since they were comparatively inexpensive, S scale operators would sometimes switch the trucks and couplers and run them with their Flyer trains.  To give you an example as to why these might have been popular, in the 1950 Sears Christmas catalog a Lionel 5 Unit freight with a 4 wheel drive die cast engine plus transformer and track was $39.95.  The Marx, scale, 5 unit freight, with a 6 wheel drive die cast engine and die cast tender plus transformer and (more) track was $19.89.  If you don't think $20 was significant, remember the average wage in 1950 was $0.75 / hr or $30 per WEEK!

Well Happy Holiday to everyone, great pictures and great work by All.

Best Wishes

Don

Saw this out on cape cod this weekend.

Wow @Trainwreck nate there is an actual 1:1 boxcar of the Marx car I just posted, complete with that great script RR name.  That is really neat and I had not ever seen one before in actual fact.  Thanks mate!

Don

Well I couldnt hold back on these colorful beauties!

@Don McErlean posted:

Wow @Trainwreck nate there is an actual 1:1 boxcar of the Marx car I just posted, complete with that great script RR name.  That is really neat and I had not ever seen one before in actual fact.  Thanks mate!

Don

Figured the timing was perfect.

Here’s another box car I’ve added to my 86’ long box car train. Southern Pacific to be specific. Happy Railroading Everyone

Lionel double door Boxcar,

Actually NYNH&H had boxcars with that side logo treatment at the turn of the 20th Century.  When Bing produced their series of litho boxcars they used the AC&F catalog as their reference.  One of the cars was an NYNH&H. 

I don't have a picture of the AC&F car but to give you some idea of how closely Bing copied what was in the AC&F catalog here's the Bing and the AC&F version of the PRR car

As for other turn of the last century toy train manufacturers, both Fandor and Ives turned out a credible version of the same car

I'll start off this week with a Intermountain Models 40 foot EJ & E.

Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac boxcar  by Weaver.

@Dave Ripp - that EJ&E boxcar is striking, never saw that livery before and admit I do not know of "Intermountain Models" , do they have a web site?  @trumpettrain - Patrick that RF&P boxcar is really neat, I have one but its the older tuscan model.  I used to work right near the old RF&P freight yard in Washington D.C. (Crystal City).

Well here is my contribution today, I was only 5 years old when this fellow was first made, 1949 and he hung around until 1952.  Its the Lionel #6454 Erie boxcar.  I admit I really like these early postwar boxcars, they have great detail in their casting and are robust in construction.  They are heavy enough to track well although some of my early (light wt) MPC locomotives would not pull a long string.

So here is the Lionel #6454 Erie boxcar made 1949-1952.

Happy BxCrSun everyone.  Hope you have a great week.

Best Wishes

Don

I custom painted and lettered this Great Northern box car some years back. The double photo shows the prototype on top and the finished model on the bottom. I had to mix the paint to match the prototype.

RAY

Have a Great Box car Sunday all!

Here's some Santa Fe on the siding this Box car Sunday.

A couple recent repaints…Weaver cars…

Nice box cars everyone, Also nice layouts.. Happy Railroading Everyone

Great photos guys, Next time I will take some close ups of what I have. But for now I took a second to run into the train room to get a couple quick photos as I told Dave I would get something out from under the layout. So here is my offering for today!

I hope you all had a great Sunday!

@mike g.:  Hey Mike, I am trying to hook up with some Amtrack cars, are your high ones Lionel or MTH or ?  Thanks

Best Wishes

Don

One more…just out of the paint shop…MTH Premier car…stripped and painted by me.

Tom

@Krieglok posted:

One more…just out of the paint shop…MTH Premier car…stripped and painted by me.

Tom

Nice looking job Tom.        You make my fingers itch for the drybrush and airbrush cabinet. 🎨

Thanks Dallas! More like an airbrush and a table in my garage…lol.

Tom

I'll start off this week with an MTH Creamsicle car. I have a good number of these novelty cars.

Bangor&Aroostook #2026.

Toledo Peoria and Western ... a boxcar by Weaver.

@leapinlarry posted:

Nice box cars everyone, Also nice layouts.. Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry - nice looking lot of boxcars, but I especially love the MKT bunk car/engineering car/shop car ... I don't which it might be but I really like this car!   Reminds that I need to get one of these cars in a road name appropriate for my layout.  I love when railroads repurposed their rolling stock especially the repurposing of boxcars like your MKT.   Thanks for posting!!

My painting has slowed a bit. Doing a set of cars for another member, while painting some individual cars for a diversion.

The latest cars are Weaver cars I stripped and painted with Tamiya paint, with K4 decal sets…

Tom

1949 and a photographer was near the PRR mainline between Philadelphia and DC hoping to get a picture of a Milwaukee ribbed side boxcar.  None showed up that day, but a bonus was a B&O Wagontop came by.

Just received this car.  There were about 4,400 of these Class M-53 boxcars, a relatively small amount compared to B&O's Class M-26/M-27 (1923 ARA type), which had nearly 16,000 cars.  This M-53's paint scheme is "Post War 13 Great States", applied between 1946 and 1955.  The issue for me is it has a Brunswick reweigh stamp on it dated 8/1953; may fix that someday.

Well here we are again at BxCrSun !  We are "baking" here in central Texas, with daytime temp between 103 - 105. Last night after dark I went out on the patio to "cool off" , discovered it was still 98 deg at 10pm --- went back into the air conditioning!  So I sit here in the cool inside and post to the forum.  Dave - that is one wild car, what a paint scheme!  BAR GP7 and Trumptrain - great scenes, thanks for posting.  leapinlarry - what great rolling stock, I especially liked the C&EI with the "Buy More War Bonds" livery.

Today I have a somewhat unusual car which I found under a table at some train show.  It is a Kline box car from about 1991 that was apparently made to a custom order for a customer in Lewisville, Texas.  Lewisville is just north of Dallas or about 119 miles from us here in Waco.  The livery shows some imagination, even to the illustration of an Armadillo, which is indigenous to our area.  Why a business would choose an Armadillo as a symbol is a mystery to me as its one of the dumbest creatures I know.  Anyway here is my Kline custom box car.  P.S. to the monitors...I have no idea what so ever WHO Mr. Bill Hodge might be or what product or service he might have provided 10 years ago.  This is just about the box car.

Anyway here is the 10th Anniversary Bill Hodge box car by Kline from 1991.

.

Best wishes, hoping everyone has a great week.

Don

A weekend traffic backup on the 1/2 mile strip between North and South Main...seems the Vette and the Mustang decided to test the resolve of the law...the lady aside of the VW waves to her friends up ahead, while the two "easy riders" climb aboard the coffee box for the ride south...

Google is your friend...

bill hodge and associates - Search (bing.com)

Why not call them up and tell them you found one of their boxcars. Maybe they'll give you 10% off your next purchase.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

I'll start off this week with an MTH Creamsicle car. I have a good number of these novelty cars.

Nice Dave .

One of my favorite ice creams on a stick.