By the time Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877, his railroad empire included the New York Central & Hudson River, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Michigan Central, and the Canada Southern. The empire continued to grow under the auspices of his son, William Henry, and grandson, Cornelius II. The Vanderbilts periodically attempted to enforce some degree of uniformity on the car shops of the various companies in their vast collection; thus, in 1880, the regional car shop superintendents from the Vanderbilt parent and leased lines were called to New York to discuss standard plans for freight cars. The eventual result of that meeting was the April 1882 unveiling of a standard 34' boxcar design for all Vanderbilt lines.
         Drawings for this 1882 standard boxcar appeared in the 1884 Car Builder's Dictionary (reprinted 1888); the low-slung car appears to be the work of Leander Garey, Master Car Builder of the NYC&HR and longtime president of the MCB Association. Thousands of cars were built to his design in the 1880s - not only for the 'Central', but also for the 5 Vanderbilt-controlled 'pseudo-private' car lines: the Red, White, Blue, and Midland Lines, plus the Merchants Despatch Transportation Company. The design was also adopted by the West Shore Railroad, which came under Vanderbilt control in late 1885. (Curiously enough, we have no evidence that the MC or LS&MS ever purchased boxcars built to Garey's 'standard' design. For MC cars, you can use our monster 35' Inbetweener Boxcar, and for LS&MS cars you can use our tall 34' Trans-Mississippi End-Ladder Boxcar.)  The Silver Crash Car Works HO scale Vanderbilt Lines / RGW Low 34' Boxcar closely follows the drawings in the 1888 CBD, with additional information provided by specifications for an 1886 order of MDT boxcars built by Pullman, and by a few later photos of the cars. 34' Vanderbilt-owned cars obviously turned up all over the country, and the line cars in particular - painted in red, white, or blue - will add welcome color to your freight trains.
        But as the name of the kit suggests, those who model the Colorado Midland have a further reason to get excited: the first 150 standard gauge boxcars ordered from Wells & French and the Litchfield Car Co. in 1889 by the Rio Grande Western, the CM's western connection, were practically identical to the Vanderbilt 1882 standard car. The major departure from the Vanderbilt design was in the side doors; these opened to the right on the RGW cars. Our kit can be built with the doors opening in either direction. The only other significant change made by the 'Western' was to replace the grab irons on the ends of the cars with wooden ladders - a trivial modification for the modeler.
        Like our other boxcars, this kit is easy to build thanks to its one-piece resin body, expertly cast by John Geigle and his crew at Masterpiece Models. Please keep in mind that trucks, couplers, and some detail parts for this car must be supplied by the modeler.