Irvin Athearn wood/metal boxcar kit

I have a similar kit but a standard 40' "Sentinel Service" B&O boxcar. There are probably thousands of those un-built kits still around (Athearn and others).

Have fun! Already weathered, too.

These are nice kits, similar to All-Nation kits. The metal exterior parts are nice and thin (plastic has to be thicker to do the job), so this type construction always has a subtle more-real flavor to it as compared to even snazzy plastic cars. The wooden floors are usually easily modified to accept various types of 3RO trucks, from high-bolster to low-bolster types.

Post this to the 2Rail group and you'll get a bunch of responses, I bet. 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Athearn's 40' box cars date from before WW II. Below is a car built from one of the early 1940's kits.  The 50' double door box car came after WW II. The 40' refrigerator car that Athearn produced came from a 1946 kit developed by a different maker whose name escapes me at the moment. It uses a unique three-piece stamped metal roof to create the inset eaves.

Below is a pre-War 40; Athearn box car for New Haven. It models New Haven's purchase of steel 40' 60-ton capacity box cars of the early 1940's, to replace aging 36' wood bodied boxcars. Early Athearn kits featured stamped metal stand-off brackets for the grab irons.  Each grab iron took two brackets and two pins to attach it to the car sides or ends.   A single formed brass wire grab iron took its place./

S. Islander

The Athearn line of kits were available up into at least the 80's; LWS obtained them and then carried & produced them for a few years before they were sold off to Beat Hug of the original Old Pullman line of kits and track supplies. Thereafter, the line was sold and marketed by Boxcar Jim.  After that they disappeared...  Long history of these kits and a lot of them still out there in boxes ready to be built. With care, adding some additional details with a little updating, these can be built up to be very nice cars.

I don't usually respond to these things but all Athearn kits are from after WW2.  There are no prewar Athearn kits.  Similar kits were produced by Faber prior to WW2 who also supplied Lobaugh.  Some have said that Faber sold his line to Irv Athearn during the war.  I have not seen confirmation of this but it makes sense considering their location and similarity Except that Lobaugh/Faber kits have a 2 piece roof and Athearn kits have a single piece roof.  If you find a prewar kit it is almost certainly a Faber.

I built a few of these on three rail trucks and have them boxed away.  They can be found with uncommon and interesting road names.