Micro Trains 120 series doors

[mkearns]

I’m trying to put a steel door onto a Micro Trains 042 series double sheath wooden boxcar, as was actually done by C&O during a rebuild of wooden boxcars in ‘37. But the MTL 6’ Youngstown door readily available as spare parts (1090) is too tall and the placards are wrong.

I’m looking for info on Micro Trains Youngstown steel doors for the 120 series boxcars (USRA, X29, M26, etc). Compared to the MT-1090 6’ Youngstown door it looks like a better match for my project, slightly shorter and with the placard in the roughly correct spot.

Can anyone with an extensive MTL collection confirm if a 120 series steel door will fit on a 042 series wooden boxcar?

Are these 120 series 6’ Youngstown doors ever sold separately?

If not, does anyone have 4 of these doors to spare?

General pictures available from spookshow:
042 series wooden boxcars - the base of the project: http://www.spookshow.net/freight/mt40woodsidebox.html
120 series USRA boxcars - with the smaller Youngstown door that I'm interested in: http://www.spookshow.net/freight/mt40usrabox.html
020 standard boxcars - with the MT-1090 6' Youngstown doors: http://www.spookshow.net/freight/mt40standard.html

Thanks.

[JoeD]

message me your shipping info and I'll send you some

Gozer (the engineer formally known as Joe)    

[mkearns]

Thanks Gozer. I sent you a message. I'm a little surprised there is a gap, as I thought the 042 and 120 car bodies would be a little closer in height (I don't have any of the 120 series cars, so I couldn't measure the car/door height). I'll figure out something to make it work.

I don't have enough posts to add a picture of my prototype for anyone curious about the project. It's in the May 2019 issue of COHS magazine.

[thomasjmdavis]

Joe...err....Gozer....is that an optical illusion, or is the door for the rebuilt car shorter than the door for the USRA car?

Atlas made their USRA cars (both single and double sheathed) in both wood and steel door versions (and I think the steel doors also interchange with their USRA rebuilt car).
http://www.spookshow.net/freight/atlasusrabox2.html. I don't know how rare those "Master Line" cars are, but I did get a single sheathed car with steel door on eBay a couple years ago.  They do (as of when I write this) show the door for their rebuilt car as in stock in the parts listing for the car.

http://www.spookshow.net/freight/atlasusrabox2.html

If I can figure out how to get the doors out of these various cars without breaking anything, I'll try to do some mixing and matching to see what works.

[bbussey]

All of the doors on the Atlas Master USRA boxcars are interchangeable.

[thomasjmdavis]

Here is an MTL car with an Atlas door.-
The door is a pretty good fit, but because MTL and Atlas mounting is a bit different, it does not open without falling off the door track.

[mkearns]

Thanks for the pic. That’s exactly what I’m hoping to bash together.

The Atlas door looks like the best fit for the project, and are available as a standalone part from Atlas  I’ll just glue them shut, no big loss.

[mkearns]

@thomasjmdavis
On further review: is that just a shadow or is the width of the Atlas steel door not sufficient to cover the door hole?

[bbussey]

Why not start with the Atlas model instead?  It has multiple variations, stand-alone detail and scale ride height.  You always can augment with the MTL vertical brakewheel if preferred over the Atlas version.

[thomasjmdavis]

It is a shadow.  The door covers, not by much, but it does work.  That said, I agree with Bryan- the Atlas car is the place to start if you can find one.  But, as someone who has several of the MTL cars, I think I may use this Atlas door replacement on some of mine.

Here is an earlier "take" that I rejected because the lighting was too flat, and the boards did not show on the car- but same car, same doors. Even this shot has a bit of shadow- but hopefully clear that it is a shadow on brown paint. I gotta get a proper N scale photo studio.

[bbussey]

I used to have multiple MTL USRA cars also, but I unloaded nearly all after the Atlas models arrived. The rebuilt model is more appropriate for my era to begin with. But I have a MTL 1-1/2 door, which Atlas never tooled, and a CV release, which Atlas never has done. Maybe one or two others.

[mkearns]

Thanks for the second photo.

I’m using the MTL car because it’s already painted for C&O. The MTL road number is even in the 84000 series, which is among the cars C&O did this door thing to. I was considering getting rid of the MTL car as a bit old for my transition era layout, but then came across the COHS article about the ‘37 rebuild of these wood cars with the new steel doors and decided it would be an easy project to have a unique and better model. I appreciate everyone’s input here.

[bbussey]

Understood.  Atlas has released the single-sheathed model in C&O but not the double-sheathed model.  They've also released the rebuilt model in the late 1950s blue and yellow LCL scheme.

[mkearns]

Yeah. I gotta swap the under frame of the MTL boxcar too. The fishbelly is a bit dated for the rebuild.

I love that C&O LCL scheme. That, along with RS3 and RSD12, are about the only things I have past 1953.