request for help from the BC Rail guys.....

[Bremner]

OK, I am a BC Rail fan, been for years. My first cab ride was in the Vancouver yard in the Royal Hudson. I know that this car NEVER made it to Arizona, but is it correct for 1985?



I know running boards were gone in the 1970's in the States...but Canada might have different laws

[lock4244]

In Canada the running board rules basically reflected the US practice due to the interchange of equipment (though I can't speak to the regulatory realities). IIRC, if the ladders were cut down, the running boards could remain. I recall seeing a GTW 60' boxcar in Toronto about 10 years ago with a full length running board (in the old 1960's brown paint, too).

[Bremner]

thanks Lock, I found this from MT....

This 40' standard box car with plug and sliding doors is painted green with British Columbia Railway's dogwood logo and is lettered in white. It was built in October 1962, serviced in October 1978, and runs on Bettendorf trucks. BCOL 4947, a member of series 4901-4950, was one of many cars that were repainted in the British Columbia Railway light green scheme. This series received a complete paint and stencil during the 1970s. The last car of this series was removed from revenue service in 1988.

[BCR 570]

This model was produced from a photograph of BCOL 4947 on page 20 of CANADIAN RAIL CAR PICTORIAL Volume Nine:  Pacific Great Eastern/British Columbia Railway Boxcars (Part 1).  The photograph was taken on 8 June 1982 by Brian Rutherford and illustrates the car as stencilled by Micro-Trains.  It was repainted and re-stencilled in this scheme in October 1978.  AS far as paint and stencilling is concerned, yes the model is correct for 1985. 

Running boards were removed from boxcars from January 1966 onward in Canada, usually at the time of a major shopping and repainting.  If you are up to removing the running board, filling the holes and patching up the paint on the roof, your car will be even more accurate.

Tim

[Bremner]

thanks Tim! Now I will just have to get up the guts....

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What service were these cars in?

[cv_acr]

Double door cars were good for shipping lumber, and that was a main commodity off the British Columbia Railway (it wasn't "BC Rail" until 1984) so that's a good bet for a likely load in these things when shipped off-line.

[BCR 570]

Yes, primarily lumber for this particular series of car.  I have seen a photograph of one of these cars as far south as Texas.

Tim