A couple of UP Box Cars

[twforeman]

I joined the HO Swap email list a while ago, and have bought a few things from people there. This is both a good thing, and a bad thing.

Anyway, the last thing I purchased was a set of three box car kits. Two UP and one Frisco. My general rule for buying rolling stock these days is that I have to think it looks neat, and it needs reporting marks pre-1958 (but not too much before that.)

I liked the slogans on these three box cars, and they were cheap, so I pulled the trigger. Over the last couple of days I took a break from Tylick Tool and put together the two UP cars.

The first one is an Athearn 50' single door with a Branchline paint job on it.


Being an Athearn kit, I pretty much just put it together. I did paint the underframe and trucks and installed Kadee couplers and metal wheels.

The second one was a McKeen Kwikit model of a 40' single door. It's a simpler kit than the last McKeen I built - it only had separate roof, roofwalk, underframe and doors. I did manage to immediately break off a stirrup, not sure how, so I finally got to use some of the A-Line metal ones I bought a while ago.



Another pair of nice editions to the fleet I think.

 

[twforeman]

Apparently I'm a little slow today. I just realized that the 40' box car has a different slogan on each side! This is the side that was showing in the ad and the reason I bought the car.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

I just realized that the 40' box car has a different slogan on each side!

COOL -- That's like two cars for the price of one?
We can pretend that anyhoo.

 

[dave1905]

Both the ATSF and UP did that, have different sides.

 

[Alcomotive]

Looks great....I have about 100 variations of these UP cars lol....I won't have them on the current layout but hope to when my future garage expansion is added I will.

 

[tomstockton]

I remember reading in 'Model Railroader', years ago, about how one of the "great model railroaders of the past" increased the size of his rolling stock fleet by taking a standard color box car and putting the markings of one railroad on one side and a different railroad on the other side. I guess that would work on a layout where you didn't see both sides of the car on a single given pass around the layout...

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I remember reading in 'Model Railroader', years ago, about how one of the "great model railroaders of the past" increased the size of his rolling stock fleet by taking a standard color box car and putting the markings of one railroad on one side and a different railroad on the other side. I guess that would work on a layout where you didn't see both sides of the car on a single given pass around the layout...

Same trick works for a building or a vehicle's reflection in a mirror installed on a layout. Ala John Allen and his G&D layout.

Greg

 

[cv_acr]

I remember reading in 'Model Railroader', years ago, about how one of the "great model railroaders of the past" increased the size of his rolling stock fleet by taking a standard color box car and putting the markings of one railroad on one side and a different railroad on the other side. I guess that would work on a layout where you didn't see both sides of the car on a single given pass around the layout...

Or don't do any sort of car-forwarding operations where you track cars and car numbers...