OB box car 163235

Discussion in 'Boxcars' started by Oldguy, Sep 6, 2014.

  1. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    The Frisco USRA double sheathed boxcar fleet was the biggest of any railroad, if I remember correctly.

    Westerfield had a very nice kit - #3810 I think. The Accurail version is not too bad.

    Ken
     
  2. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    I might have to look up the Westerfield kit, or check 2nd hand for the Accurail kits. If I'd been smart, I would have purchased 50-100 of the Accurail cars and renumbered them when they first came out! Even still, I've often thought if one had the gumption, I could purchase a lot of Evergreen car styrene to go with some structural shapes and pre-cast ends and doors, and then set up an assembly line and scratchbuild several of these in HO-Scale.

    Of course, I have yet to try it out.

    Best Regards,
     
    Ozarktraveler likes this.
  3. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Chris -
    The Westerfield 3810 appears on eBay now and then. They sold a lot of them, so they are out there.

    Ken
     
    Ozarktraveler likes this.
  4. benscaro

    benscaro Member

    Hi

    I am wondering whether anyone has seen shots of the typical Frisco single sheathed boxcar with steel sheet replacing the wood planking. I understand a few were rebuilt this way.

    Regards,

    Ben Scanlon
    London , England
     
  5. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Ben -
    Good to hear from you. I have a good friend in London, and we communicate often about the situations our two countries face.
    Yes, the Frisco did utilize single sheathed box cars, but not the USRA design. The SLSF used a Howe truss design - steel side bracing, with wood plank sides, and fewer side panels than the USRA design as the truss was more robust. They, in fact, had a whole lot of these cars - 6500 such box cars were supplied by ACF, GATC, and P-S between 1926 and 1930. Their road numbers were SLSF 147000-149499 and SLSF 160000-163999. These cars served as a mainstay of the Frisco freight car fleet for roughly three decades. They replaced the earlier main work horse, the USRA double sheathed box car, of which the Frisco rostered over 3500 cars, more than any other road.
    As the Howe truss wood side single sheathed cars went through their long service life, many required rebuilding. The Frisco did that by retaining the frame and steel Howe truss side structure, but applied steel side panels to replace the wood. In this later life, many of the cars were renumbered.
    There is a very good article about these cars in RPCyc Volume 1, authored by Joe Pennington, which I believe is still available. It has a thorough description of these cars, with many photos, both wood and steel sided, many of which are excellent color pics, plus car diagrams and rosters. Good article! See www.rpcycpub.com
    Ken
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
    modeltruckshop likes this.
  6. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    modeltruckshop likes this.
  7. pensive

    pensive Member Frisco.org Supporter

  8. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Good ones, Rich - thanks!

    Best Regards,
     
    pensive likes this.
  9. Paul

    Paul Member

    I'm new to this site.
    Got an answer to my question before I even posted it.
    I read in Ken's message above that Frisco had single sheathed boxcars but not the USRA design.
    I recently purchased a single sheathed double door boxcar, USRA design, and decided to research it to see how accurate it was. Has wood ends, too.
    It looks like these kinds of boxcars were never purchased by Frisco, correct?
    Thanks.

    Paul Vassallo
    Narvon, PA
     
  10. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Paul -
    First, welcome to the site.

    You are correct. I have a Tichy USRA SS boxcar that I'd asked about some time ago, which generated a little discussion.

    Tichy USRA Single Sheathed XM on the SL-SF?

    I'm doing mine up as a PRR car. Feel free to share details of your modeling project(s) as well - always fun to see what other modelers are doing. Frisco First, however. :)

    Best Regards,
     
  11. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    If you have a USRA single sheathed 40ft boxcar kit, and the Tichy is a very good one, PRR decals would be a good choice as Chris is doing. PRR USRA "singles" certainly were seen on Frisco rails often.

    K
     
    Ozarktraveler likes this.
  12. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Welcome to the Frisco website, Paul!!!

    Joe
     

Share This Page