Dear N Scale Customers;

Bluford Shops is excited to announce New 86ft Double Door Auto Parts Boxcars

Burlington Northern acquired this group of auto parts boxcars in their merger with Frisco joining similar cars originally acquired by Burlington Route. BN had the longest reach of any U.S. railroad during this period, going from Vancouver B.C. to the Florida Panhandle.

Santa Fe received this group from Pullman Standard in 1967. They were initially assigned for loading at a Ford stamping plant on the New York Central at Monroe, Michigan. Many years later, Santa Fe would grow to regret the “AUTO PARTS” lettering for security reasons and began to patch them out.

In 1980 under the Clayton administration, Southern Railway adopted a thinner profile lettering on freight cars and cabooses. Although it spread quickly, the transition was far from complete before this paint scheme was also replaced by the new Norfolk Southen image. Nonetheless, cars in this scheme remain in service today.

Following the 1982 acquisition of Western Pacific by Union Pacific, much of the WP freight car fleet retained their original road numbers and WP reporting marks even as the cars were repainted. It was an easy way to avoid conflicting road number series and it also elimenated the need to amend equipment trusts. In the case of these auto parts cars, it avoided any confusion as to what cars belonged to what pools.

Not surprisingly perhaps, Conrail had the largest fleet of auto parts boxcars and this group of relatively early repaints featured the largest Conrail logo used on any equipment on the system. The placement of the CONRAIL name and the arrangement of the road number and data varied from car to car and this practice is replicated on the 3 road numbers presented here.

Pennsylvania Railroad took delivery of 150 70-ton cars in 1964. The black ends add an extra touch of class but were actually the result of a clerical error. The ends were supposed to be the same red as the sides. PRR accepted them anyway and subsequent orders came with red ends.

Bluford Shops is bringing back our popular 86’ Double Door Auto Parts Boxcars. These will include our recently improved draft gear, magnetically operating couplers and metal wheels. The minimum radius is 11”. They also include separate wire grab irons and etched metal platforms on the ends. The draft gear is mounted to the body but has a spring centered swing action that both resists string-lining the train pulling through curves and resists the trucks climbing the rail during shoving moves.

These super-size boxcars were originally built to carry high-value low-density automobile parts such as body panels and window glass to final assembly plants. Cars were acquired in wide ranging pools including several plants and the railroads that connected them. It was common for cars to run for months or years without traveling on their home road’s rails.

Order Due Date: August 15, 2025

Anticipated Delivery Date: October 2026

Looking for more Bluford Shops Boxcars? Click here!