Large Scale Central

Steel box car length?

Prototypes
#1

From a USAT starter set comes a beautifully painted steel sided Railbox boxcar. I had thought about selling it but it does look sharp. The car looked a bit short and it wasn’t until I hooked up 2 other “steel” sided cars behind it that I noticed the size descrepency. The USAT is actually a steel sided 40’ and shorter in height than my LGB and Aristo, cars which are models of 50’ers.

Did USAT cheapen the starter set by using a shorter 40’ car or if it is a prototype did it just come from a different era then a more modern and taller 50’ long boxcar?

Is there a prototype for this car?

#2

Boxcars range in length from 40’ to 89’. So the short answer is yes the 40’ car is based off a prototype somewhere. I haven’t really gotten into a rivet by rivet count to see what the 40’ car is a prototype of, but it generally represents the 1940-1960’s era when boxcars of 40’ were common. Now boxcars of 60’-80’ are common. So it depends on what era you want to model or if you even care about a specific prototype.

Craig

#3

I was thinking that Craig. The 40’ steel car looks OK next to wood boxcars of the same length but kinda not right next to the 50’ steel ones. I’m not a rivet counter but sometimes things just don’t feel right.

Thanks

#4

The 40 ft boxcar saw service on common carriers from the 40’s through the 80’s. The 50 footer began service sometime in the 50’s, and some continue to serve today.

It was quite common to see them together.

Only if you model after 1986 exclusively, will your 40 footer not find a home on a Class I Railroad. All bets are off on Regionals, though.