Built late 1860s. Modeled as they looked
from the early 1880s to 1901.
| Central Pacific 25' Boxcar Built late 1860s. Modeled as they looked from the early 1880s to 1901. | |
| The Central Pacific built these simple 15-ton-capacity boxcars in the late 1860s, even as construction crews were pushing the company's rails eastwards from Sacramento. In 1888 the Official Railroad Equipment Register reported that the CP was still running 681 of them, numbered in series 180 to 1540 (even numbers only). Starting in 1891, all CP 25' cars were repainted with a large 'Ogden Route' herald, and renumbered in the 13576 to 13921 and 15706 to 15732 series. 47 of these cars remained on the SP / CP roster in 1899, and 14 were still in service in February of 1901. The cars underwent several modifications in the course of their long and productive lives. By the early 1880s (?), when this photo was taken at Cape Horn (the nearest 25' car is the 2nd one ahead of the caboose), the cars' roofwalks had been permanently removed, and their original canvas-covered roofs had given way to double-board roofs. The 1880s also saw the installation of air brakes and a small lumber door (in one end of the cars only). More photos of the cars in both their original and modernized guises, along with a folio diagram, can be found in Chapter 3 of Southern Pacific Freight Cars – Volume 4: Boxcars by Anthony W. Thompson. Our kit represents the cars as they appeared after being modernized. It features a one-piece body (like all of our boxcars) and is shockingly easy to build. These little CP cars will be real attention-grabbers on your railroad, and not just because of the contrast with your monstrous 34'- and 35'-long rolling stock. In keeping with the tradition of cutting-edge innovation here at Silver Crash Car Works, we've made these cars' double-board roofs out of two layers of individual boards in order to increase the chances of leakage. Please send any resulting damage claims to the guys at Masterpiece Models who did such a fine job of casting the cars for us. Click on these photos for full-size images:
|
|||
|
| Outside Dimensions of Car | Length 25'1", Width 8'5" over sheathing, Body Height 7'4" from bottom of sheathing to peak of roof |
| Siding / Roof | 2˝" siding / 3" roof boards |
| Lettering | Our Silver Crash Car Works PAINTING DEPARTMENT
official lettering set for 'CENTRAL PACIFIC EARLY 25' BOXCARS' will
give you decals to letter these cars the way they appeared from about
1880 to 1891. It will cost you $3 if bought with the kit, or $4 on its
own. Or use Austin Modeling Associates
decal set #57 for the appearance of these cars from 1891-1898 (see the
car above with the Central Pacific 'Ogden Route' medallion), and set
#58 for their appearance from 1899 to 1901 (with the SP 'Ogden Route'
medallion, not shown here). AMA sets are $4 each with the kit, $5 without, and are available from our Painting Department. |
| Recommended Trucks | These cars
rode on CP rigid trucks with a 4'6" wheelbase and strangely offset
springs between the truck bolsters. You can get reasonably close with Rio Grande Models
4'4" wheelbase HOn3 arch bar trucks (cat. #3220 at $6/pair) if you are
willing to make your own standard gauge bolsters for them. (Because of
their short wheelbase, these trucks cannot accomodate both 33" wheels AND the standard gauge bolsters sold
by Rio Grande Models.) |
| Estimated Construction Time | Basic kit: 1˝ hours including grab-irons and brake wheel (not included in the kit) Options requiring extra time: underbody brake rigging on post-1885 cars with air brakes |
| Kits Available From | Silver Crash Car Works ($27 plus postage) |
