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.

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.

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