Does anyone manufacture an O scale model of this TTX boxcar? The prototype is listed as a National Steel Car Company product.
Attachments
Images (1)
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
That has not been made.
Some Canadian injection molding and model making company has to produce all of the National Steel Car freight cars in O Scale.
MTH only produced the Trinity or Greenbrier style High-Cube 50' Plug-Door Box Car.
Andrew
The MTH 50' high cube is pretty darn close.
THE MTH 50' high cube is not 'pretty darn close'...... its not even faintly similar, about the only thing they have in common is possibly the prototype length.
I agree with flash. The MTH offering is in the ballpark
Originally Posted by pro hobby:
Does anyone manufacture an O scale model of this TTX boxcar? The prototype is listed as a National Steel Car Company product.
Truth is, all O gauge manufacturers, both past and present, haven't collectively even begun to extend their claws to start scratching at the surface when it comes to the amount of contemporary prototype freight cars being offered in O scale. Certainly better now than it's ever been, but still nowhere close to the variety offered in HO or N, and even they don't have all the various prototypes covered either.
The National Steel Car version of the Plug-Door 50' High-Cube Box Car has more vertical ribs and Horizontal ribs.
The railroad scheme that is most commonly seen on the CN/GTW near where I live is the CN.
Somebody in Canada has to have access to the NSC plans and the equipment to produce the scale models for sale in Canada and the USA.
Andrew
The shade of yellow applied by someone working for MTH is too DARK for the TTX FBOX box cars.
Andrew
Only a few of the versions from MTH have accurate schemes the Railbox is not one of them, it is the only 50' hy cube currently available for 2 rail conversion thats very close to O scale dimentions although slightly undersize Ht and Width [6 scale inches ,1/8"] noticeable when compared to any Weaver or Atlas standard 10' car width. Obviously these are non issues for the MTH or Lionel market.JMO
The MTH car is a Gunderson model, with the trademark wide third rib. It is a stand-in for the correct prototype car.
All of the FBOX cars have the horizontal ribs, so it's a distinct feature no matter which manufacturer produced them. A couple of other inconsistencies include vertical ribs at the ends of the cars (not on the prototypes) and the position of the wide vertical rib (third rib on the older gunderson prototypes, second rib on the fbox car). Having the rib on the end of the car results in grabs attached directly to ribs rather than mounting to angles which are attached to the car. Lastly, FBOX 504066 is a Trinity car, not Gunderson.
NSC cars have several distinct features (this applies to their 60' cars as well). They have tapered vertical side ribs and tapered door jambs. And in this particular instance, the tops of the vertical ribs are closed and unprotected. On the Gunderson and Trinity cars, there is a formed "Z" profile flashing that runs the length of the car and covers the tops of the vertical ribs.
Trinity cars are most easily distinguished by the height of the horizontal ribs on the ends of the cars. They are shorter than either the Gunderson or NSC versions, and have more space in between them.
Gunderson cars have the unmistakable wide rib. Although the newer Gunderson cars like the 60' TBOX cars don't have this feature. I don't know or recall if there are newer 50' cars with this design.
Car manufacturers can be determined to a degree by number series (definitely the case for the 60' TBOX cars). The condition at the top of the side ribs (closed or covered) is not an absolute across a manufacturer's product line. I think it's specified by the customer. But in this case it does single out the NSC cars. I haven't seen enough photos of the roofs of these cars to know if there are any distinctions. There are various other less obvious features that could distinguish a car's origin. These include jacking plates, sill plate notch shape and position, bolster style, and single versus double center sill. Also, the end ladder and grab configurations vary somewhat between manufacturers.
Btw, Gunderson and Greenbrier are the same. The latter took over the former.
If I think of anything else, I'll add it. I'm open to corrections too. I'm pretty solid on the earlier orders of these cars and the 60' TBOX cars. But newer orders of the 60' cars have some interesting changes, namely no wide rib on the Gunderson cars, and introduction of horizontal ribs on some of the number series I've seen. I'm not sure if any newer orders with changes have been added to the FBOX fleet.
I know this is the 3-rail forum, but this is a car I have a lot of interest in and some knowledge about. Hopefully people will find the information useful no matter what level of detail or accuracy they prefer.
Jim
TTX/Railbox...these are cars I'd love to see more of. The majority of boxcars I see in my area are these kinds. Most are the hi- cube type these days. Very few standard height boxcars are seen. The other cars I'd like to see more of are center beams. Tons of those in my area.
Flash posted:The MTH 50' high cube is pretty darn close.
i agree ....close enough for me....
The MTH car seems to have the correct rib count. Depending on how much you want to get exact, you could just add the horizontal ribs or go" full Monty" and widen the vertical ribs on the bottom sill and narrow down the vertical ribs on the top sill. And don't forget to add the gusset plates on the bottom corners of the side door.
