Question: ATSF passenger train name boxcars

[nkalanaga]

Question:  How late were these commonly seen in service?  I model 1974, and suspect that most were repainted or retired by then.  If not, they'd be an interesting addition to my roster.  The online photo sites haven't been any help...

Thank you.

[Kisatchie]

I'm modeling 1971, and I have about a half dozen of the train name boxcars stashed away for when I can build my layout. I figure a few lasted into the 70s.


Hmm... it's hard to make
a stash of termites. They
keep crawling away...

[C855B]

'Fanning Santa Fe in the '60s and '70s... frankly? I don't recall ever seeing any. Not that there couldn't have been a few derelicts hidden out of view on forgotten spurs, but I think generally they were long gone.

[nkalanaga]

Mike:  Thank you.  I'll save my money for more modern cars.  Currently all of my ATSF boxcars are bright red 50 ft cars of one type or another, and I do need some older, or at least plainer, ones...

Kisatchie:  It's your railroad, you can run what you like.  Maybe in your alternate universe the ATSF wasn't as eager to repaint?  I know the GN had boxcars in late 40s paint schemes at the time of the BN merger (1970), so it isn't impossible that some of the ATSF cars would have been around.

Dee:  Have you tried making a cage from aluminum window screen?  Most American termites don't chew through metal, and it can be cut with an old pair of scissors.  Some aluminum angle from the hardware store will seal the seams at the corner, and it can be cut with Kiz's razor saw.  Glue it all together with cheap epoxy, make sure  the top fits tight, and they shouldn't get out.

[Kisatchie]

Dee:  Have you tried making a cage from aluminum window screen?  Most American termites don't chew through metal, and it can be cut with an old pair of scissors.  Some aluminum angle from the hardware store will seal the seams at the corner, and it can be cut with Kiz's razor saw.  Glue it all together with cheap epoxy, make sure  the top fits tight, and they shouldn't get out.

Hmm... Kiz is too cheap
to buy me any of the
items you mentioned.
Kiz gives the termites to
me in an old paper bag,
and when I open it, the
termites crawl away...

[nkalanaga]

Dee:  Not a very good idea at all.  If you don't open the bag, the termites will eat their way out, and either way, Kiz then has a house full of termites.  You might suggest that he invest in a better container to avoid expensive home repairs!  Even a wide-mouth glass jar with holes in the lid would be better than a paper bag.