Help to identify this troop/mail storage car

Ray of sunshine posted:

I just picked up a troop/mail storage car, see photos. It is made of Urethane. Appears to be a high quality detailed model, as the underside is well detailed, all the grab irons and steps are a fine metal, not over sized. The detail on the model is excellent, showing nice rivet detail. 

It came with Kadie couplers and Allied metal trucks, which I removed as I will re-paint and re-decal this model to meet prototype standards. 

Why in the devil would you do THAT? The Burlington had the largest fleet of former Troop Sleeper cars, that were modified into express cars, which is exactly what is shown in your photos.

Does anyone know who the manufacturer is of this car and who made the Allied trucks?

Thanks,

RAY

Hot Water - I'm a BURLINGTON guy, the decals are poorly applied, the reporting marks are incorrect and so is the number. 

It will be repainted and properly lettered as a BURLINGTON when I get done.

RAY

OK, but where are you going to find those "BURLINGTON" decals?

I never heard of grace line having an O gauge line. Only products of theirs I have heard of were OO gauge, but they did include troop sleepers.

Somewhere (I can't find quickly) I have one or more Graceline O scale kits, probably of RPO car(s).  I recognized the name right off as being in "O".  Searching for those, I found I have a Weaver Burlington two rail  (shoulda been three)  troop car.

What you have is a one piece body shell casting that was marketed by Bill Davis t/a American O Scale in the 1993-'94 time frame for $95. The grab irons and other details were left to the purchaser to make and install. The trucks shown are Weaver Models trucks. Weaver sold them separately when they imported the troop cars.

Although Grace Line made the Allied full cushion trucks they were not as close to being correct as the Weaver versions. The only issue with the Weaver trucks from my standpoint was they were too wide but Keil Line made a bolster to replace the Weaver bolster and bring the sideframes in to a better location.

Although Weaver imported express versions of the troop cars you have the Bill Davis version. As I type this I am looking at both versions and can see the subtle differences in them.

Hot Water - Microscale Decals 48-274.

RAY