Large Scale Central

How tall is the average box car?

Prototypes
#1

I am building some rolling stock for the B & L Railroad & Mining Company. I need to build a couple of box cars and maybe a stock car or refer or two. The question comes up how tall?

The B & L is a 1890 - 1920 vintage (1:20.3 scale) road servicing the north Florida lunber and mining industries. I don’t have any cars of this type yet because I haven’t built them yet. I am making most of the cars roughly 22" long and I don’t have a clue how tall the prototypes are (to the top of the side).

I know their are sites with drawings but I couldn’t find any long into the night yesterday so I thought I would ask the experts. I did find some photos but nothing I could get dimensions from.

Thanks

Bob Pace
CEO/Chief Ditch Digger
B & L Railroad & Mining Company
www.largescaletrainsupply.com

#2

Bob, 22" seems a tad long. In 1:20, that scales out to over 37 feet. Most narrow guage boxcars were closer to 30 feet.

This one is 17 1/2" long and 4 13/16" high. Call it 5" to the top of the roof walk. Of course the usual caveats apply. It’s your RR, build what you like. :slight_smile: Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette has a wealth of plans - you might be able to find a copy at your library, or you can always order them. I found a book that gives me drawings and pictures of all the D&RGW cars. And, even though I don’t model that region, it’s nice to have some basis for my models.

#3

Thanks Bruce, that will give me a place to start.

They are 11.5" long (scale 23’) my mistake. My first guess was about 4" high and with your info that sounds about the right hight for a shorty car like I am making. Yours are at about 9.5’ high at 37’ long. We’ll see what they look like.

Thanks for your help.

Bob Pace
CEO/Chief Ditch Digger
B & L Railroad & Mining Company
www.largescaletrainsupply.com

#4

Bob:

Some minor corrections and further information:

If your 1:20.3 scale cars are 11 1/2" long, they represent a prototype length of 19’ 5 5/8".

Bruce’s 1:20.3 scale car at 17 1/2" long is equivalent to a prototype dimension of 29’ 7 1/2".

The 4 13/16" sidewall height puts them at a prototype dimension of 8’ 1 3/4".

I just measured one of my Accucraft D&RGW boxcars:

Length over the end sills: 17 13/16" = 28’ 10 1/4"
Height to top of roof at outside edge: 4 7/16" = 7’ 6 1/8"
Height to top of roof at centerline: 4 3/4" = 8’ 1/2"

Hope this helps.

Happy RRing,

Jerry Bowers