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70's-80's Modeling 40' boxcars Locos and rolling stock
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Regular poster 438 posts dssa1051 Regular poster 438 posts
dssa1051
I've seen a lot of interest in the 1970's -1980's modeling period recently.  This is not my era but rather my son's era.  I have found that there is a real dilemma in modeling accurate 40' boxcars in this era. What do you do?
 
Accurail:  If you remove the roof walk you have to carve off the ladder on the end or run the car "as-is" which would work for some roads and some paint schemes.  For the Southern all ladders are shortened and hand brake is lowered.
 
Intermountain:  Do you buy the undec kits, build, paint and decal them or pay nearly $40 for the painted kits which may still need the roof walk removed and ladders cut down and road names may be hard to find.
 
Kadee:  Buy various cars and remove the roofwalks and ladders.  Repaint and decal where appropriate. For Southern or another favorite road you have to wait until they do more road numbers of modernized cars.
 
CBT kits: Very limited number of kits available and not as detailed.
 
Athearn:  The same as Accurail above except for square corners and an older car.
 
 
Robert
Reply 1
mesimpson Super User 1,105 posts
mesimpson

Intermountain or Branchline

It depends on what prototype you are modelling.  I am modelling CN in northern Manitoba  in the 1980's so there were a lot of 40' boxcars around.  My preferred starting points are the Intermountain (or Innovative Model Works) 1937 10' IH car or the 10'6" IH car with 8 rung ladders and improved dreadnaught ends, ideally as undecorated kits.  Unfortunately the Kadee cars are not correct for any CN cars so I can't use them.  Older kits like CBT are usable if the ladders are separate parts.  I usually avoid cars with molded ladders as the majority of CN cars had 8 rung ladders while the molded ladders are usually 7 rung.

I also use decorated kits/completed models from IM and others and strip them with 99% alcohol.  True Line Trains had correct 10' IH cars for Canadian railways as well, they are still available in hobby shops/online.  There are a number of resin kits on the market from Kaslo Shops, Sylvan Models and others that can be used as well.  Train shows are a good source for kits as there are always a few at reasonable prices on various sales tables.  No one seems to want kits anymore.  

Intermountain has separate parts available from their website so I have a good supply of correct ladders and ends as well as a variety of resin ends from Yarmouth Model Works (formerly Sylvan).  The bits and pieces are out there, it just takes some sleuthing to find them.

Marc Simpson

Marc Simpson

https://hudbayrailway.blogspot.com/

https://ageologistchasingtrains.blogspot.com/

Read my Blog
Reply 1
Tom Haag Regular poster 219 posts
Tom Haag

Dilemma?

No real dilemma but some good modeling opportunities.  Like most things that if you are trying to model accurately there will be work to do but there are lots of good models out there as well as lots of interesting prototypes.  Depending on your prototype(s) that you want to model Branchline (now Atlas), Intermountain and Kadee our you best choices.  As you mentioned Accurail requires not putting on the roofwalk and carving at least two of the ladders down.  

Kadee makes the easiest since some of their latest 40' boxcar releases have the roofwalk not installed (and no holes to fill), ladders already shortened and end crossover grabs installed.

Branchline kits (still easy to find) are my go to choice since it is easy to cut the ladders down before installing and again no holes to fill.  I have a bunch of these.

Intermountain - I have some of these and are good but not as good as above.  They release undec kits once in a while at very good prices. 

Remember in this time frame lots of boxcar still had roofwalks.

Here a couple of mine:

First up is a CP Rail car modeled using the KD kit car (where I filled in the roof walk holes) and lettered using CDS dry transfers.

four.jpg  

Next is a Branchline car that I lettered with Dan Kolberg's decals:GMO%205.jpg 

And finally here is another Kadee boxcar that started as a kit but the roofwalk remains.  Car was lettered with Model Railroad Supply Decal and car weathered for the seventies.

non%20-3.jpg 
Reply 3
jimfitch Prolific poster 5,291 posts
jimfitch

Intermountain does do some

Lovely series Tom! Intermountain does do some 40' box cars for 1970s actually. Just a month or two ago they released red atsf box cars with rootwalk missing and 70s ACI and cots. I am interested in the late 1970s thru early 1980s period and am filling in 40' box cars to fit.

.

Jim Fitch
northern VA
Reply 0
dssa1051 Regular poster 438 posts
dssa1051

Nice modeling

Nice modeling, Tom.  I especially like the GM&O car.  Thanks Marc for the suggestion for Branchline since I had forgotten about them.  My son has a few Intermountain cars.  I have the CP in mind specifically and I've noticed that some cars did keep their roofwalks.  Thanks, guys.

Robert 
Reply 0
Ken Hutnik huthut Regular poster 191 posts
Ken Hutnik huthut
I've been working on some rolling stock myself for late 70's (40' and 50').  I have a few others that that either have separate details applied, or are molded with low ladders and no roof walks that can alleviate some surgery.  McKean, Front Range (older blue box), Accurate Finishing, Roundhouse (newer yellow box) and Life-Like Proto 1000.

Ken
My projects: Ken's Model Trains
Reply 0
Deemiorgos Super User 7,338 posts
Deemiorgos
Tom Haag wrote:

Dilemma?

No real dilemma but some good modeling opportunities.  Like most things that if you are trying to model accurately there will be work to do but there are lots of good models out there as well as lots of interesting prototypes.  Depending on your prototype(s) that you want to model Branchline (now Atlas), Intermountain and Kadee our you best choices.  As you mentioned Accurail requires not putting on the roofwalk and carving at least two of the ladders down.  

Kadee makes the easiest since some of their latest 40' boxcar releases have the roofwalk not installed (and no holes to fill), ladders already shortened and end crossover grabs installed.

Branchline kits (still easy to find) are my go to choice since it is easy to cut the ladders down before installing and again no holes to fill.  I have a bunch of these.

Intermountain - I have some of these and are good but not as good as above.  They release undec kits once in a while at very good prices. 

Remember in this time frame lots of boxcar still had roofwalks.

Here a couple of mine:

First up is a CP Rail car modeled using the KD kit car (where I filled in the roof walk holes) and lettered using CDS dry transfers.

four.jpg  





Nice CP car, is would this car be seen in 1974?
Reply 1
Chris VanderHeide cv_acr Super User 2,354 posts
Chris VanderHeide cv_acr
Deemiorgos wrote:


Nice CP car, is would this car be seen in 1974?


Absolutely.

The CP Rail red paint scheme was introduced in October 1969, and this is a 1970s repaint. CP and CN both had thousands of 40' boxes still in service into the eighties.

Chris van der Heide

My Algoma Central Modelling Blog

Canadian Freight Car Gallery

CPR Sudbury Division (Waterloo Region Model Railway Club)
Reply 3
blindog10 Prolific poster 3,335 posts
blindog10
The OP mentioned the Southern, my alma mater, and the thing about the Southern is they rebuilt almost all of their 40-foot boxcars between the mid '60s and the early '70s.   Often with wider doors and reinforced sidesills, plus as he mentioned, all the ladders were cut down and the handbrake lowered.  Most other roads left the handbrake where it was and only cut down the ladders on the other end of the car.

I've removed the running boards from some RTR models like Intermountain's and cut down the ladders.   A little paint touch up is usually all that's required.   So don't be afraid to try it.

A couple more possibilities for the OP to think about:

MDC:  They did a "modernized" 40-foot boxcar with no running boards.  Still available in Athearn's "Roundhouse" line.  Yes, you have to carve off the ladders to taste.  Comes with an 8-foot Youngstown door, and the Southern had some cars very much like this.

The old McKean 40-footers:  McKean did a Great Northern-only double-door box and a couple PS-1s.  These originally had separate ladders and handbrakes.  Accurail later bought the tools and cut those details into the carbody, so I look for the original McKean versions at train shows.  An important caveat:  they all share the GN car's floor, which is wrong for a PS-1, but more importantly the coupler box is too low and that requires surgery.   Not terribly difficult but not everyone's cup of tea.

Front Range:  A couple years after the McKean cars came out Front Range released a series of 40 and 50-foot boxcars.   All had "late" Improved Dreadnaught ends, so they represent cars built in the mid to late '50s.  The ladders weren't terrible but stood off from the sides too much.  The underframes were crude, and the trucks and especially the wheels were crap.  Paint was okay but the lettering was often crude.  Again, with a little work they can be modernized and made to operate reliably.  Some of the tooling later went to Accurail and some went to Red Caboose/Intermountain. 

IMWX:  Made by Intermountain and now sold by them, the IMWX 1937 AAR box is a very nice kit and can be easily built as a modernized car.  They didn't do any post-1970 paint jobs so you'll have to paint and decal your own.  Still seen at train shows but not as often as McKeans or Front Ranges.

CB&T:  Did a variety of 40-footers that represent prototypes built from about 1944 into the mid '50s.  The bodies and doors were okay, but the detail parts, trucks, and wheels were total garbage.  Paint and lettering were better than Front Range but not up to today's standards.

Rib Side Cars:  Made a line of the Milwaukee Road's homebuilt boxcars, all the cars that ExactRail and Intermountain didn't do.  The quality of the detail parts was okay but not great.  Did not require much extra work to operate reliably, so I consider them better than CB&T, Front Range, or McKean.  After the owner's passing Accurail bought the tooling and has just started re-releasing the models.  I don't know if they cut the ladders into the carbodies.  I hope not.

I mention all of these lines because they didn't have mounting holes in roofs for running boards and except for the MDC they had separate ladders, so modernization goes much quicker.  I find them pretty regularly at train shows and rarely pay more than $8 for them, and I enjoy building them.

Scott Chatfield 
Reply 1
blindog10 Prolific poster 3,335 posts
blindog10
20220117_000155_LLS-1.jpg 
Here's an Intermountain "postwar boxcar" that I'm modernizing.  I clipped off the ladders with sprue nippers.  As you can see very little touch up is required.   Next step, weathering! 

Scott Chatfield 
Reply 1
blindog10 Prolific poster 3,335 posts
blindog10
20220117_004440_LLS-1.jpg And here's an old Front Range that I redetailed (wire grabs and new stirrups), then painted and decaled.  Burlington and subsidiaries C&S and FW&D bought a bunch of these 40-footers in the mid to late '50s.  Trucks and wheels are from Lord Knows Where.  And Lord Knows where the brakewheel went....

Scott Chatfield 
Reply 1
Deemiorgos Super User 7,338 posts
Deemiorgos
blindog10 wrote:
20220117_004440_LLS-1.jpg And here's an old Front Range that I redetailed (wire grabs and new stirrups), then painted and decaled.  Burlington and subsidiaries C&S and FW&D bought a bunch of these 40-footers in the mid to late '50s.  Trucks and wheels are from Lord Knows Where.  And Lord Knows where the brakewheel went....

Scott Chatfield 


That's nicely detailed. I remember those kits.
Reply 0
ctxmf74 Super User 15,992 posts
ctxmf74
40 foot modernized boxcars   
 This SP&S car has the roof walk and A end ladder removed but retains the high brake wheel and ladder.  The SP(ex Golden West ) car was a later car built without roof walk, it was for copper ingot service so didn't need a lot of volume ....DaveB
sps.jpg 
40copperbox.jpg 

1990.jpg 
Read my blog
Reply 3
Ken Hutnik huthut Regular poster 191 posts
Ken Hutnik huthut
Nice work all around Dave @ctxmf74

Ken
My projects: Ken's Model Trains
Reply 0
jimfitch Prolific poster 5,291 posts
jimfitch
Since my last post, Tangent Scale Models has release a couple of runs of 40' boxcars that could be "modernized" for late 70's running including UP, NP, MILW, GB, C&NW etc.

.

Jim Fitch
northern VA
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