Latest (May 2016) run of Fox Valley B&O wagontops reservations open

[Snark45]

http://www.foxvalleymodels.com/2016MayWagontopBox.html

[eric220]

Ugh, you didn't use the scale icon. That's bait and switch to post HO products without saying so!   

[garethashenden]

Ugh, you didn't use the scale icon. That's bait and switch to post HO products without saying so!   

It looks like they're HO & N being offered. Two product numbers per road number.

[eric220]

Ah yes, I missed the N part numbers.  I retract my snarky comment. 

[thomasjmdavis]

I really like these guys.  They have figured out that N scalers are not looking for "generic" boxcars painted in 100 schemes, but will support a manufacture who turns out "signature" cars.  I own several even though I don't model B&O or MILW or the other roads they make prototypes for.  For more or less the same price as any other quality boxcar (actually less than many nowadays), you get something really unique, and you don't need to replace the wheels. 

[Lemosteam]

Need a  PRR  X31f from the off the beaten path theme. Might be a modest copy of the wagontop tooling to get it.

[Ngineer]

but will support a manufacture who turns out "signature" cars.  I own several even though I don't model B&O or MILW or the other roads they make prototypes for.

Likewise. 

I bought them for JUST this reason. To have prototypical, accurate models. Besides, the B&O model is SO unique.

   Javier

[nkalanaga]

Were any of these in service in mid 1974?  The latest pictures I can find are 1973, and those don't look like they had much longer.

[Snark45]

From the B&O RR museum website:

"Some of the wagon top boxcars survived into the 1970s. By the 1970s, the once popular design was considered small and lacked proper protection for cargo. The No.385897 retired from service in 1981 and a year later was sent to the B&O Railroad Museum."

http://www.borail.org/385897.aspx

Harry

[nkalanaga]

If it was retired in 1981, then it could have been in Montana in 1974.  Guess I'll have to buy one.

Thank you!

[Snark45]

Good on ya, brother!

I bought a bunch of these when FVM first released them, even though I model the PRR. Growing up in the 1940s - 50s near Delaware Ave in Philadelphia, the only two boxcar types I can clearly recall from my earliest years are the B&O wagontops and the DL&W “Phoebe [which 6-year-old Harry pronounced “Fobe”] Snow” boxcars. I still miss lying awake and listening to the sound of the switchers (early Baldwins and GE 44-tonners) revving their engines and squealing their wheels as they moved stuff around in the empty streets…

[nkalanaga]

Harry:  I ordered one.  One of the 1973 photos matched one of the paint schemes offered, so I got that one.

In the 40s and 50s the MILW horizontal ribbed cars show up in a lot of eastern photos.  Were they rare in your area, or you just didn't notice them? 

[Snark45]

Well I was just a pre-teen/teenager and didn't notice them. The cars I mentioned stuck in my young mind because: 1] The wagontops looked really different from other cars in shape and color (almost pink), and 2] I had no idea  who "Phoebe Snow" might have been, which was intriguing...

Philly was a very busy port then, lots of ships and trains, so my guess is that any large RR was represented. Great place & time to be a kid...

Best Regards,   Harry

[SkipGear]

Need a  PRR  X31f from the off the beaten path theme. Might be a modest copy of the wagontop tooling to get it.

Fine N Scale X31 and X31a kits would be an easier start it would seem.

[Lemosteam]

Fine N Scale X31 and X31a kits would be an easier start it would seem.

Sure, for a kitbash, I'm talking RTR for their next car.