Athearn to release more 65' Mill Gons and Old Time Box Cars

[bbussey]

If these have been reworked to have functional drop ends and body-mounts, I'll have to watch for when Reading is reissued. Or, I could pick up a B&O/WAB and do my own.

[Missaberoad]

These cars went anywhere, to any destination that needed long steel pieces? Even if seen all over the country, did that mean most of them were owned by railroads serving steel-producing regions only? NH, NP or WP wouldn't have had any then?

NP and WP both owned 65' gondolas WP served steel mills and both railways hauled large wood polls...

[Missaberoad]

The dates I have for the "modern" logo are:

"Line" 1902-1944
"System" 1944-1957
"Railway" 1957-1972
"Employee Owned" 1972-1982
"System" again from 1982

Can't really say on the Athearn gon. Assuming Athearn is right, I guess it's possible P-S didn't get the memo on the logo change? Pure speculation there. The order could have been placed before the change to "Railway."

Thanks that explains alot, and clears up some of my confusion with my 1950s era equipment...

[nkalanaga]

The number series isn't specified, but here's a PS builder's photo of CNW 95052, new 1958:
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cnw95052&o=cnw
This car was built 3-21-58, so, depending on when the herald was changed, and when the artwork for the order was finalized, this may have been the last series built with the "System" herald.

And CNW 95151 in 1999, with an unreadable logo:
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cnw95151&o=cnw

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love the M&PA boxcar.  I'm guessing, though, that with truss rods and archbar trucks it would not have been in interchange service with the Pennsy in 1956.  Too bad!

Dude, it's the MPA... I wouldn't have been surprised, honestly.

[up1950s]

Dude, it's the MPA... I wouldn't have been surprised, honestly.

IIRC the truss rods just pop out , and if you wanted to you could add an easily fabed fish belly center sill to the existing sill . It's a piece of cake mod . Is it prototypical ....... chances are you would have to spend ours trying to prove it is or not , and maybe still be unsure .

[Mark5]

Dude, it's the MPA... I wouldn't have been surprised, honestly.

Dunno about interchange (in the "Notes" on the page below it says "Load to M&PA only" was stenciled on 700 series cars in 1929."), but 723 was sold to Strasburg RR in 1960. 726 was rebuilt to a tool car in 1940. 728 was scrapped in 1970.

Further down on the link below it states: The Company's freight cars were probably not used in interchange service after about 1929 due to their weak and outmoded condition except for the 1000 and 1100 series which, being more "modern", were kept in interchange service thru 1939.

Info from here: http://www.maparailroadhist.org/freight.htm There are some pix too!

Mark

[Cajonpassfan]

Oh, there were a large number of 36' cars that lasted well into the fifties, upgraded or rebuilt by the railroads by the thousands. The archbar trucks would have to go (outlawed during WWII in interchange), but truss rods were never outlawed per se, as long as the car had a steel sill, see pics.

I wish the 36' models could be available in more modern iterations, representing transition era cars rather than being marketed only as "old-time" cars with archaic paint jobs. And I love the way the shorties contrast with the forty and fifty footers....
Otto K.