Sliding Door Boxcar
Built 1883 to 1900
| 34' Run of the Mill Sliding Door Boxcar Built 1883 to 1900 | |
| By
the late 1880s, a majority of the boxcars being built for American
railroads were
34 feet long, and this length remained the most popular until very near the
turn of
the century, when 35 and 36 foot cars became more common. The majority
of the
34' boxcars on American railroads had relatively simple sliding
doors, and
we have based this kit on the sliding-door cars built for the
Colorado
Midland in 1889 by the St. Charles Car Company. The 1895 St. Charles catalog shows that the company turned out
cars like these for several other railroads and private
car lines, and the same basic design was used by numerous other car
makers as
well; the Wabash 'Fast Freight' car seen above, for example, was built
by the
Peninsular Car Company of Detroit, Michigan in 1885. Our HO scale 34 foot 'Run of the Mill' boxcar can be used to model almost any sliding-door car with a 5-rung side ladder and iron body bolsters, since the side doors can be installed to open either left (as above) or right (as below). And while our kit may be based on a common prototype, our uncommon attention to detail will make it a standout on your layout. Note the gorgeous beaded siding and double-groove roofboards! |
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| Outside Dimensions of Car | Length 34'3", Width 8'9" over sheathing, Body Height 8'9" from bottom of sheathing to top of roofwalk |
| Siding / Roof | 5¼" beaded siding / 6½" double-grooved roof boards |
| Lettering | The Yahoo EarlyRail group has a database of HO scale cars that can be modeled using this kit plus decals from Art Griffin ($6 per set) or dry transfers from Clover House. |
| Recommended Trucks | For CM cars:
Modified Rio Grande Models trucks for D&RGW narrow gauge ditcher OX
(not in the catalog but available if you ask). For Atlantic & Pacific or Burlington & Missouri River cars: Thielsen swing motion trucks, $8 per pair including Kadee® wheelsets from Trout Creek Engineering (part # TC-1). For other cars you can usually get pretty close using one of the many styles of trucks available from Bitter Creek Models. See our 'Run of the Mill' boxcar photopage for details of the trucks used on all of the cars shown above. |
| Estimated Construction Time | Basic kit: 2-3 hours including grab-irons and brake wheel Options requiring more time: underbody brake rigging on cars with air brakes |
| Kits Available From | Silver Crash Car Works ($27) |