RIBBED PLUG DOOR BOXCARS
Plug doors began appearing in the mid-fifties. Though heavier and more complex than sliding doors, they provided better insulating qualities and a smooth interior surface for fragile lading. They first appeared on refrigerator cars, but were soon appearing on boxcars as well. The plug door spurred the development of the bunkerless refrigerator car. Designated class RB (or RBL if equipped with loading devices), they were simply insulated boxcars with no means of cooling. They were used to protect lading such as canned or bottled goods from temperature extremes.
Non-insulated plug door boxcars were commonly used for hauling easily damaged loads such as newsprint and provided a tight seal for hauling granular loads such as grain. Some boxcars even had small doors in the plug door for loading grain. In the charts on this page, boxcars and refrigerator cars are listed separately to help you utilize them properly on your railroad.
PENNSYLVANIA X58 PLUG DOOR BOXCARS
EASTERN SEABOARD MODELS and MRC / CON-COR
The Pennsylvania Railroad’s X58 boxcar was one of the earliest exterior post boxcars, with 2,565 cars constructed between 1964 and 1966. They were unique in having nine-panel sides, high handbrakes and roofwalks. All X58’s had end of car cushioning and featured “cushioned car” in yellow and a simplified PRR keystone on the right side of the car. Most were equipped with various loading devices which were indicated on the left side of the car in yellow. There were four subgroups of X58’s; 1,078 were insulated and classified as class RBL (Refrigerator, Bunkerless with Loading devices) with “Insulated” painted on their doors in yellow. The remaining 1,487 X58’s were boxcars of class XM (unequipped), XL (loader equipped), or XP (specific commodities). Because of these variations, there were six different “as built” paint schemes. Pennsy also built 100 X58’s for the Lehigh Valley, while the Burlington Route and Milwaukee Road owned similar nine-panel plug door boxcars. The X58 remained a common sight on both Penn Central and Conrail, with over seven hundred going into Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999.
In the early days of N-scale, a model of the X58 was produced in Japan by a predecessor of Kato, and sold first by MRC and later by Con-Cor. The apparent goal of the model was providing modelers with colorful paint schemes rather than prototypical models. While three of the road names (BN, CB&Q CR) could represent an X58 or similar nine-panel boxcar, most of the others represent very different prototypes as noted below. All of the private owner schemes represent seven-panel type RBL refrigerator cars leased from North American Car. In addition to the difference in panels, they had smooth-side plug doors, and cars built after 1966 had low brake wheels and no roofwalks.
Lima also produced what I suspect was supposed to be an N-scale model of the X-58 which was also sold by AHM. A Chinese-Made copy is currently being offered by Model Power. Unfortunately the model was shortened by about five feet, and lowered by a proportional amount, making it rather toy-like. In addition, a majority of the paint schemes produced were pretty rough, so this model will not be included here.
Eastern Seaboard Models introduced an N-scale model of the X58 in 2012. This state-of-the-art model is available with or without roofwalks and is offered in a large variety of road names covering a wide time span. Some of the schemes offered represent what are likely one-of-a-kind paint schemes, and are indicated by a single road number in the “Numbers” column. Eastern Seaboard Models offers their X58 decorated for a few western roads; while not true X58’s, they do represent similar nine-panel plug-door boxcars.
The chart below lists non-insulated and insulated boxcars separately, notes on stand-in models are as follows:
ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE- Though the road number on Con Cor 1471A doesn’t correspond with any actual series, it could stand in for Santa Fe’s Bx-94 and Bx-97 boxcars. These insulated cars had seven panel sides with a diagonal rib on either side of the plug door.
ATLANTIC COAST LINE- ConCor 1471B represents ACL’s fleet of fifty-foot boxcars equipped with end-of-car cushioning devices. However, these were smooth side cars with sliding doors. Quantities marked with an asterisk include cars with both ACL and SCL reporting marks, as Seaboard Coast Line did not provide individual quantities in the Equipment Registers.
BALTIMORE & OHIO- The road number on ConCor 1471E doesn’t correspond with any actual series, but the B&O owned a series of similar eight panel boxcars.
CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN- ConCor 1471Q represents a series of seven panel boxcars acquired secondhand from North American Car.
MISSOURI PACIFIC- ConCor 1471J wins the prize for biggest anachronism; it is numbered for a series of thirty-six-foot boxcars rebuilt for MP’s less-than-carload merchandise service in the fifties.
UNION PACIFIC- The road number on Con Cor 1471C doesn’t correspond with any actual series, however, the scheme is similar to three series of sixty-foot insulated boxcars with eight-panel sides, low brake wheels and no roofwalk. These cars differed from the model by having yellow doors and small shield logos on either end of the car.
DESPATCH SHOPS X65 PLUG DOOR BOXCAR
EASTERN SEABOARD MODELS
After building cars for the New York Central for decades, the Despatch shops finally closed in 1970 as a consequence of the Penn Central merger. One of their final designs was the X65 boxcar, which featured 10’6”plug doors, eight panel sides, cushion underframes and loading devices. Based on earlier designs built for the New York Central and Pittsburg & Lake Erie, Penn Central acquired a total of 380 X65’s while Lehigh Valley got 150.
Fox Valley models introduced an N scale model of the X65 in 2017. It is a nicely detailed model with body mounted couplers and metal wheels. The chart below is a comprehensive list of X65 boxcars. The New York Central cars are listed separately as they differed a bit from the model as noted below.
NEW YORK CENTRAL- The NYC model represents lot 976-B insulated boxcars built in 1966. They were similar to the X65 but the doors were offset 21”to the right with only seven panels to the right of the door. Two additional series followed in 1967: lot 112-B (78550-78699), which were insulated cars equipped with a different type of plug door and lot 115-B (48260-48323) which were non-insulated.
PITTSBURG & LAKE ERIE- The P&LE models represent lot 975-B insulated boxcars. As they were built just prior to the new freight car standards, they had high handbrakes and a roofwalk but were otherwise identical to the X65. The roofwalks were likely removed the first time the cars went into the shops for service.
