In Praise of the Blue Box Rolling Stock.
- Thread starter Greg@mnrr
- Start date
montanan
Whiskey Merchant
Nice looking car Greg. Like it.
I love the old blue box cars. I would say that at least half of my rolling stock is probably blue box cars that I started collecting and custom painting some for my railroad. Almost all are still on the layout doing just fine.
They may not be as well detailed as other freight equipment, but I really have no problem with that. They may not have individual grab irons and ladder rungs may be a little heavier, but when they're in a train with a number of highly detailed cars, you have to look hard to tell them apart. I can't see going through all of the underside detail as I have in the past either. Can't see tht detail when they are right side up on the rails. That's the way I usually run mine.
I love the old blue box cars. I would say that at least half of my rolling stock is probably blue box cars that I started collecting and custom painting some for my railroad. Almost all are still on the layout doing just fine.
They may not be as well detailed as other freight equipment, but I really have no problem with that. They may not have individual grab irons and ladder rungs may be a little heavier, but when they're in a train with a number of highly detailed cars, you have to look hard to tell them apart. I can't see going through all of the underside detail as I have in the past either. Can't see tht detail when they are right side up on the rails. That's the way I usually run mine.
bobby pitts
Member
goscrewyourselves
I'm the one
Bobby,
That is a great looking tank car. Is it original or have you added to it?
That is a great looking tank car. Is it original or have you added to it?
bobby pitts
Member
It started out as a blue box 62' tank car. I made all of the boxes and handrails and pretty much everything else.
Bobby
Bobby
goscrewyourselves
I'm the one
Impressive Bobby, excellent work!
bobby pitts
Member
Thank you Tony. I pretty much scratch most of my freight car builds or bashes.
Bobby
Bobby
goscrewyourselves
I'm the one
Well, your work is excellent ... and definitely something to aspire to - if I live that long 
IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
Yes, I have a few dozen - but not quite as many as I once did. Most BlueBox that I have is 50ft gons restricted to scrap metal service:
...however, I do have a handful of the 40ft boxcars, like this one being used to deliver firebrick:
...one of my earliest attempts at weathering, some 25 years ago!
...however, I do have a handful of the 40ft boxcars, like this one being used to deliver firebrick:
...one of my earliest attempts at weathering, some 25 years ago!
goscrewyourselves
I'm the one
Ken,
Very nice as well mate and really like your Box Car. I am going to have to learn to weather.
Very nice as well mate and really like your Box Car. I am going to have to learn to weather.
I think I had 130 of the BB N&W 2 bay hoppers. I put Kaydee #5's and Jay-Bee metal wheelsets on all of them. I took a sharpie marker and blacked out the last 2 numbers on many of the hoppers. Then I took my extra caboose numbers and put THOSE for the last 2 numbers on the cars. No effort was made to make sure the numbers were the same on both sides. Now the long strings of hoppers don't look like all the same car. I also had 6 4 bay hoppers I modified to look like the older N&W HUa hoppers. A few Westerfield HP hoppers and ONE HR giant one of a kind fill out my hopper fleet. I had about 60 percent of the hoppers were filled and the rest were empties.
montanan
Whiskey Merchant
Ken, you did bring up numbering. While the layout was being started, I bought quite a few undecorated BB kits. Freelancing gave me the opportunity to number the cars any way I wanted. Box Cars were numbered 1000 through 1999
. Of course I didn't have that many, but the numbers fell in that bracket.
Reefers started at 4000
Hoppers started at 7000
Gave me something to do while the track was going down.
. Of course I didn't have that many, but the numbers fell in that bracket.Reefers started at 4000
Hoppers started at 7000
Gave me something to do while the track was going down.
Greg@mnrr
Section Hand
My main coal hopper, all eight, have the same numbers, but the fellow who weathered them did the weathering so heavily you don't see all of the numbers. I purchased them with coal loads, KD's and metal wheels for $8.00 a piece. These Athearn cars were from the Milwaukee Road Historical Society and I found some more new in their original boxes, the new coal hoppe cost $8.00 without loads, KD's or weathering.
Greg
Greg
2Tracks
Ol' School
I first acquired one of these back, well, in the middle of the decade that man landed on the moon......fast forward to a few months ago when I went to a train show/swap meet over the hill in Medford and a guy has one for sale. I picked it up for pretty cheap and thought I'd make a fleet so I found a couple more on ebates.
Here's the group waiting for attention on the work bench......the car in back without roof walk & hatches is the one from long ago......
I added roof corner grabs, different brake wheels, painted hatches & hatch hardware....
All the couplers are now Kadee's, with the trip pins removed, (just never did care how they looked), with Kadee air hoses added....
This car came with side panels and tanks, so I made it an open sided car.....
All of the cars had their trucks reworked and Reboxx 33" wheel sets installed along with the appropriate weight making for some very smooth, free wheeling cars......
The only car that retained it's original "73" number is the one I originally had....
I haven't done any weathering yet, as kit bashing is new to me so I've been enjoying that aspect of model railroading, along with building fleets, as you can see part of the tank car fleet in the first pic..... (did I ever mention that this is a disease?).....
Here's the group waiting for attention on the work bench......the car in back without roof walk & hatches is the one from long ago......
I added roof corner grabs, different brake wheels, painted hatches & hatch hardware....
All the couplers are now Kadee's, with the trip pins removed, (just never did care how they looked), with Kadee air hoses added....
This car came with side panels and tanks, so I made it an open sided car.....
All of the cars had their trucks reworked and Reboxx 33" wheel sets installed along with the appropriate weight making for some very smooth, free wheeling cars......
The only car that retained it's original "73" number is the one I originally had....
I haven't done any weathering yet, as kit bashing is new to me so I've been enjoying that aspect of model railroading, along with building fleets, as you can see part of the tank car fleet in the first pic..... (did I ever mention that this is a disease?).....
Nice shots of the cars, and what a great looking layout. Need to get you to post some more photos of your layout!
wheeler1963
Aurora & Portland Owner
Blue box kits were the starting point for so many cars and engines. I miss them!!!!!
flyboy2610
Loveably weird
They're still all over everywhere! I find a lot of them at train shows. I really like the BB cars. They are easy to assemble, have decent detail, and can be had for $5-10 each. Add Kadee couplers and metal wheels and they're still under $15 each. That's a bout half of what a good quality RTR car will set you back!
I've been meaning to ask (you may have said and I missed it), when you do your spraying of dirt along the bottom, do you just shoot straight at it at a a right angle and adjust the nozzle so as to concentrate the bulk of the color down low? Do you remove the wheels and do them seperately? If not, what do you do to get an even finish on them and keep the paint off the treads?
montanan
Whiskey Merchant
Toot - When I sprayed the cars, I used Floquil "mud" which is fairly close to a buff color. Black chalk was applied using a stiff bruch to give the appearance if soot running down from the roof. The air brush was set to a fairly small volume and the air brush was passed along quickly at about a 30 degree up angle. A final coat of Dull Coat was applied when this was finished. I took no measures to protect the wheels. I was a novice with an air brush and didn't have a clue what I was doing. It sounded like a good idea, so that what I did. Passed that class in the school of hard knocks.
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