Welcome to the N-scale page! I've been playing with N-scale trains since 1967. At that time, I lived next to the C&O tracks in Groveport Ohio, where trains went by four times per day. If I wasn’t in bed or in school I would go outside to watch the trains go by. I was fascinated by the boxcars from all the different railroads. Ten years later, I began a forty-three year railroad career just as the colorful IPD (Incentive per diem) boxcars exploded onto the scene. Because of these experiences, one of my favorite aspects of the hobby is researching my model freight cars to learn more about them.
Over the years, I have collected several composition books of notes gathered from books, magazines, Official Railway Equipment Registers and the internet. My research spans from the late 40's to the early 80's; the twilight of steam to the twilight of the caboose. While I'm just getting started, this site will be dedicated to the historical basis of N scale model train cars. This site will endeavor to answer the following questions:
How accurate is the model?
How common was the prototype?
What years did it exist?
As far as accuracy goes, this will be more of an "In the ballpark" effort. Covering
all the many variations of every model freight car would be a herculean effort. Besides, if you're a "rivet counter", you should probably be working in a larger scale. There will be a page for each type of freight car; and I will cover them in roughly chronological order; the earlier cars first, as well as the many oddball models produced in the early years of N-scale. The links below will take you to additional information located at the bottom of this page.
-A brief guide to freight car lettering
Below is a listing of pages and the body styles I've completed so far:
-USRA double sheathed wood boxcars
-Double sheathed 1-1/2 door boxcars
-Large double sheathed boxcars
-USRA single sheathed wood boxcars
-single sheathed 1-1/2 door boxcars
-War emergency composite boxcars
-50' single sheathed 1-1/2 door boxcars
-50' single sheathed double-door boxcars
40' SINGLE-DOOR BOXCARS, PRE-WAR
-Milwaukee Road ribbed boxcars
40' SINGLE DOOR BOXCARS, POST-WAR
-PS-1 boxcars with Pullman Standard doors
-40' Hi-cube sliding door boxcars
-40' Hi-cube plug door boxcars
-"State of Maine" insulated boxcars
-Milwaukee Road ribbed boxcars
-Milwaukee Road ribbed boxcars
-Pullman Standard 4-door boxcars
-ACF late exterior post boxcars
-Berwick boxcars, Pickens doors.
-Berwick boxcars, Youngstown doors.
-FMC plate B boxcars 5,077 cu. ft.
-FMC plate C boxcars 5,347 cu. ft.
-CNCF 5,000 cubic foot boxcars
-PRR X58 nine-panel boxcars
-PC X65 eight-panel boxcars
-SOO eight panel boxcars
-PC&F seven-panel insulated boxcars
-NSC seven panel boxcars
-NACC seven panel insulated boxcars
-FMC seven panel boxcars
RIBBED DOUBLE-DOOR BOXCARS
-Gunderson double-door waffle boxcar
-FMC 5,286 double-door boxcars
-FMC centered double-door boxcars
-FMC offset double-door boxcars
-FMC combination door boxcars
-36' wood reefers
-40' wood reefers
-36' stock cars
-40' stock cars
-50' stock cars
-86' stock cars
-PRR H30 two-bay covered hoppers
-PRR H32 five-bay covered hoppers
-ACF two-bay covered hoppers
-PS-2 two-bay covered hoppers
-PS-2 2,600 two-bay covered hoppers
-PS-2 three-bay covered hoppers
-ACF 2,927 three-bay covered hoppers
-Four-bay covered hoppers
-Minitrix jumbo ACF covered hoppers
-Early ACF cylindrical Center Flow hoppers
- 2,970 two-bay Center Flow hoppers
-3,560 three-bay Center Flow hoppers
-4,600 three-bay Center Flow hoppers
-4,650 three-bay Center Flow hoppers
-5,250 four-bay Center Flow hoppers
-PS 4,000 three-bay covered hoppers
-PS 4,427 three-bay covered hoppers (early)
-PS 4,427 three-bay covered hoppers (late)
- PS 4740 three-bay covered hoppers
-GATX Dry-Flow covered hoppers
-ACF Flexi-Flo covered hoppers
-NATX 3000pd covered hoppers
-40' composite gondolas
-GS type drop bottom gondolas
-40' steel solid bottom gondolas
-Gunderson 2,420 gondolas
-50' composite gondolas
-46' straight side gondolas
-50' straight side gondolas
-Pennsy G26 gondolas
-Cement container gondolas
-G36c covered gondolas
-Ore gondolas
-42' flat cars
-45' flat cars
-50' straight side flat cars.
-50' fishbelly side flat cars
-50' flat cars with 2 trailers
-50' flat cars with 1 trailer
-Flexi-Vans
-Front Runners
-57' converted TOFC flat cars
-General American G-85 TOFC flat cars
-AAR 48'6" bulkhead flat cars
-Trailer Train F68AH bulkhead flat cars
-Container cars
-log cars
-Four axle center depressed flat cars
-Six axle center depressed flat cars
-Eight axle center depressed flat cars
-GSC well cars
-85' auto racks
-Vert-a-pac auto carriers
-Auto frame flat cars
-Trailer Train F68AH finger rack cars
-Skybox flat cars
-Airliner fuselage loads.
-War-emergency composite hoppers
-Rebuilt war emergency hoppers
-PRR Gla two bay hoppers
-USRA two bay hoppers
-Panel side two bay hoppers
-fishbelly two bay hoppers
-offset side two bay hoppers
-eight-panel two bay hoppers
-Composite three-bay hoppers
-Four bay ribbed hoppers (H21)
-Four bay offset side hoppers
-N&W H2a three bay hoppers
-three bay offset side hoppers
-AAR 70-ton three bay hoppers
-PS-3 three bay ribbed hoppers
-three bay 14-panel hoppers
-Ga-123 longitudinal hoppers
-Hart ballast hoppers
-Three-dome tank cars
-Vinegar tank cars
-helium tank cars
-94' eight axle jumbo tank car
-1:160 scale planes, ships, spacecraft etc.
NOTES ON SPECIFIC RAILROADS
ATLANTIC COAST LINE, SEABOARD AIR LINE- The Seaboard Coast Line did not list quantities of Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line car series after the 1967 merger. The amounts shown in the charts were from the post merger Seaboard Coast Line series. Therefore the amounts shown from 7/69 onward would include cars repainted for SCL.
CENTRAL OF NEW JERSEY- Between 1946 and 1952, the Jersey Central changed the reporting marks on some of their cars to "CRP". The "Central Railroad of Pennsylvania" was a paper road designed to avoid New Jersey state taxes. Though no "CRP" models are as yet available in N-scale, I've included them in the charts to provide a better insight as to the history of Jersey Central models.
MISSOURI PACIFIC- The Missouri Pacific began replacing their subsidiaries' reporting marks with “MP” in the late fifties with no change in car number. The totals from the 7/57 Equipment Register include cars re-lettered “MP”; the 4/63 register no longer lists the subsidiaries’ reporting marks.
MONON- Monon changed their reporting marks from CIL (Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville) to MON in 1956. Subsequent Equipment Registers list series as "CIL or MON" until the January, 1987 issue when "CIL" reporting marks were no longer listed.
UNION PACIFIC- The Union Pacific had begun re-lettering the cars of their subsidiaries “UP” by 1960. Totals from 4/63 Register and onward include those cars changed to “UP”.
A BRIEF GUIDE TO FREIGHT CAR LETTERING
This New York Central boxcar illustrates the standard arrangement for freight car lettering adopted in 1926. The reporting marks and car number were to be in a specified location on the left side of the car with a line above and below. The use of “Railroad Roman” lettering was encouraged, but not required. This made it easier for conductors and brakemen to read the numbers, a task often performed while the cars were in motion. Beneath the road numbers the following weight information is displayed:
CAPY (Capacity)- The weight capacity as listed in the Equipment registers
LD LMT (Load limit)- The maximum load that the car can carry.
LT WT (Light weight)- The weight of car when empty.
Just to the right of the weight information is the service date. This is the date that the car was last serviced, and is a valuable clue for dating your models. The “new” indicates that the car was serviced when built, which means it is likely that all the cars in this series had the same paint scheme. For subsequent service dates, which may not have included repainting, a two or three letter code indicates the location.
The dimensional data is located on the lower right side of the car. It includes interior and exterior height, length and width as well as the cubic capacity and built date of the car.
This Penn Central boxcar illustrates the changes that occurred over the years. By the mid-fifties, the lines surrounding the reporting marks and road number were no longer required. In April, 1966 new standards for freight cars were enacted; running boards were banned, the handbrake was lowered and platforms was added at the ends of the cars. Rebuilding the existing fleet took some time however, and the rebuilding of older cars wasn’t consistent. As a brakeman in the late seventies, I recall that running boards were a rare sight, but there were still a lot of high hand brakes around.
In 1967, the railroad industry adopted Kartrak Automatic Car Identification (ACI). This was an optical system that utilized placards with barcodes on every car, locomotive and TOFC trailers. Unfortunately, when the bar codes got dirty, they could not be read and the system was discontinued in 1977. Early N-scale models did not include ACI placards as they required at least three extra colors in the printing process. However, updating your old models is a simple project, as Micro-Scale offers ACI placard decals (60-4280). An “ACI” in the “ROAD” column indicates a model with placards.
In 1972, consolidated lube plates were adopted. They consisted of a black square with a white border which provided a place for information on car maintenance and type of brake valve. Like the ACI placards, they were often left off of early models due to the extra paint colors. Once again, you can easily update your cars with Microscale 60-5002. "L1A" or "L2A" in the road column indicate both a consolidated stencil and ACI placard.
This Alabama State Docks car illustrates the drastic changes in freight car construction and lettering that occurred in the seventies. In addition to the structural changes, freight car lettering is much “busier” with information on clearance (Plate C), floor capacity, door width, brake shoes etc. The model features the two-panel consolidated lube plate adopted in 1974; which is indicated by an “L2” in the charts. Of particular note is the yellow dot on a black square in the lower right corner of the car. A batch of defective wheel sets which caused several derailments prompted an inspection of wheel sets in March of 1978. A yellow dot indicated that the wheels were good, while a white dot indicated defective wheels. Models with inspection dots are indicated by “L2D” in the charts.
Around 1982, the consolidated stencil was changed from two panels to three, which is indicated by an "L3" in the charts.
In 1985, capacity "CAPY" was eliminated from the dimensional data under the reporting marks, reducing the number of lines from three to two.