Four Boxcars For Fall

Online shopping has been a boon to many but not to me, during the pandemic and after. However, I recently found an online marketplace listing for four boxcars that seemed to be just what my layout and I needed. The four were Accurail and Athearn products, reasonably priced, with metal wheels.

Though I usually don't dabble too deeply in rolling stock on this blog, I'm desperately trying to delve back into the layout room, now that the colder weather is upon us. The arrival of these cars and their subsequent pre-layout work seemed to be a worthwhile pursuit now that 'modelling season' is here. All these cars would be plausible visitors to Kingston, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in service.

It didn't hurt that I knew of Will the seller, and that he offered to affordably ship the cars from Quinte West using one of Canada Post's new flat rate boxes. This seemed like a good option with $1.50 per litre gas! Shortly after our transaction was complete, Will shipped the cars and they arrived quickly and in excellent condition. It was 'kid on Christmas morning' time, and I was pleased to find Accurail Southern Railway, Southern Pacific and Canadian National; and Athearn Grand Trunk Western cars ready for coupler conversion and some light weathering. Ready for their closeups:

The trucks and couplers were already blackened, though I added my customary X2F couplers. I was still able to work out in the sunroom in daytime, making these reconfigurations more enjoyable with natural light:

Each of the newer-prototype cars received ACI labels. I took a chance on this CN car with the 8-foot door. These were often used for newsprint service, and indeed I receive such cars of newsprint at my layout's Whig-Standard warehouse. If I had yellow paint in my tool tray, I'd make one side's door yellow. I did, and I did. I thought it looked good, though I decided to leave the other side's door brown, signifying Alcan ingot service, another reason these cars came to Kingston from Arvida, QC.

The Southern Pacific car, being a product of the 1940's, got a heavy dilute hobby-paint weathering, as well as some chalk-marks:

I also gave the SP car a roof treatment, being the side of the car most commonly seen on my layout, even with its 48-inch height.

I then took the cars down to the layout, registered them in the database, and posed them for photos (to send to Will) at the CN freighthouse. Not only are 40-foot cars quite prototypical for my circa 1970 modelled locale and era, but they allow me to handle more, shorter cars on the layout's CN and CP trains, because space in 10x11 feet is always at a premium.

Here are the four cars at the freighthouse, with the city of Kingston behind and the Great Cataraqui River Inner Harbour in the foreground. Workers and equipment are busy at Canadian Dredge & Dock's shipyard:

This project should mark the beginning of [indoor] modelling season, so I expect to share more modelling posts, as well as continuing with archival research and prototype history topics throughout the shorter-daylight months to come!

OCTOBER 3 UPDATE - I just tried to tell Will about this post, and received a response stating that Will has passed away. He died suddenly on September 25. This comes as quite a shock, knowing Will had much to live fore: recently engaged, two growing boys and many interests and friends in his life. These cars will remain a rolling memorial to Will.