That was my first thought as well, but Bob’s EBT kits are a steel car. The outside bracing wasn’t provided in the kit - just the car body in clear acrylic.
I have several un-built around here somewhere.
Edit to add that the horizontal siding is pretty and not common on US cars.
All the wood was replaced with new a few years back.
They did a great job. It was pretty far gone in that video, now it looks new!
I’ve not seen that construction approach before, steel exo-frame and interior wood sheathing, cool.
Might you just 3DP the framework, adhere the internal wood, and secure it to a flat car?
And taken from here just for further knowledge: PRR Class X23 boxcars
http://prr.railfan.net/photos/kebaythumbs/X23__40001.jpg
The class X23 box car was adopted by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a standard boxcar in 1912. It was their first 40-foot standard box car (nominal length), and was also their first built with a steel underframe, steel body framing and wood sheathing. Technically it was known as a composite single-sheathed house car. It was also the first PRR box car to be built using a combined alpha-numeric designation as all previous PRR box car classes had been identified using only alphabetical characters (XA through XL). The class X23, as built, had a light weight of about 48,000-pounds, a nominal capacity of 100,000 pounds and a cubic capacity of 2,682-cubic feet. The first car (PRR 40001) was built by the railroad’s Altoona Car Shops and was placed in service during November 1912. Between November 1912, and December 1915, when the last car was completed, 6,911 class X23 box cars had been built by five different organizations. The railroad had built 1,011 cars at its Altoona Car Shops, the Pressed Steel Car Company had built 3,000 cars at its McKees Rocks plant, the Western Steel Car & Foundry Company had built 1,700 at its Hegewisch plant, the American Car & Foundry Company had built 600 at its Berwick plant and the Standard Steel Car Company had built 600 cars at its Butler plant.
The basic configuration of the X23 boxcar was also the basis for the class R7 refrigerator car, of which the PRR had 3,304, the class class K7 stockcar of which the PRR had 25, and the class class X24 automobile car, of which the PRR had 2,000.
In 1943, during World War II, the PRR was experiencing a shortage of cabin cars (cabin car is a PRR term for caboose ) so 75 class X-23 box cars were converted to cabin cars and designated as class NX23.
The first 2 pics of the car at EBT in Rockhill Furnace are certainly the same construction as the Museum.
I may just do that or mill the bracing on the CNC.
Dan, back in the Dark Ages, there was a ‘BUDGET BOXCAR’ kit produced for us by Jeff Saxton. I still have one somewhere.
My reason for mentioning it is that Jeff used a simple box of luan plywood as the frame, with the box sideways so the sides were top and bottom of the car. Then he had us glue the scribed siding on the box.
With horizontal scribed siding, I suspect you could easily reproduce that basic boxcar, And while outside frames and rivets are fun, they are also tedious, so maybe a 3D printed strip complete with rivets would make life easier!
All 3 are pics I took back in October 2020.
The wooden outside braced cars were in Mount Union? I think those were Army cars (not EBT) and were scrapped several years ago.
Nope they were all in RockHill Furnace right behind the trolley shed.
You two are talking about different cars. The Rockhill Furnace cars are steel, and have no wood whatsoever. But they are outside braced.
That wreck is not at the EBT. David, you may have taken the pic in 2020, but the car with the steps (pic 2) is not an EBT car. It appears to have standard gauge Bettendorf trucks!
The other presuasive evidence is the corrugated iron building behind. As this pic shows, the Rickhill Furnace EBT site has wooden buildings!
Pete,
I’m sorry but you are incorrect! THEY WERE taken at RockHill Furnace and I did not say that it was an EBT car? Yes, it is a standard gauge car just like the trolleys are. The steel building is the trolley shed and storing some EBT cars as well. Remember the trolley line is dual gauge.
Right. I’ve never seen them, but the trolley museum has a bunch of stuff stored outside and it changes a lot. Not sure if they are still there. It’s no longer possible to wander around without an escort.
Thanks for the clarification.
I’ve seen a few pics of that car at Rockhill including this one next to a trolley.
I believe the car is located here.
I stand corrected, but they still are not EBT cars! It must be an RTY [Railways to Yesterday] car.
Yep. The author was born and raised in Putnam CT and worked as a schoolteacher while writing the books. I drive by the museum all the time.
