BN 200000-200249 Boxcars

OK fellow Forum friends, I’m in need of some help again. This isn’t a high priority build but I came across a reference to this series of BN rebuilds (BN 200044). I have a few questions: One, would a couple pair of Detail Associates 6202 doors be the right doors for HO scale? If not, what would be? Two has a decal set for these cars ever been produced? The roadname, car numbers and logo shouldn’t be a problem to find commercially (Microscale 87-251) but the dimensional data may be a problem (BN 200044). The font that was used is not one I recognize in commercial decal sets and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the RBLT in commercial sers before either. As usual, any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed.

Why not just use the Tangent Car, the kits are available if you want the later paint scheme?

Also, Tangent has all the doors for various PS1 boxcars they produced for sale on their parts page.

Rick Jesionowski

Unless I missed something, I didn’t see the doors I’d need in their listings. All I saw were 9’ Superior doors and the doors in question are not 9’ ones as I seem to remember the doors that were on the combo cars were both 8’ and the ones in the prototype pictures look to be 8’s as well. Edit: I looked closely at the prototype picture again. The doors appear to be 7’ each.
I already have a good idea of the car base I would use. (Either an Accurail combo door car or an Athearn G/L. Both seem to be correct.) While the Tanget car is probably a very nice car but I would rather cut on one of the afore mentioned cars and I can get all the parts at once.

According to the October 1989 “Official Railway Equipment Register”, BN cars in series 200000 - 200299 (279 cars) had a doorway width of 14 feet and a height of 9 feet, 9 inches.

The AAR mechanical designation was XM, and the car type code was B104.

The B indicates an unequipped box car.

The 1 indicates an inside length of less than 49 feet.

The 0 indicates sliding doors with an inside width less than 9’ 6 inches.

And the 4 indicates the doors are 10’, less than 11’ opening.

It is unclear to me how the B104 door info correlates to the 14 foot width in the first paragraph. But that’s beyond my pay grade.

Here is a picture of a Tangent Kit I built of the prototype before repainting.

The car had a 8’ plug and a 6’ Slider. The Tangent part needed is:

The use of the 8’ Plug and 6’ slider is for lumber service the 14’ door is available for lumber loading, but during the grain rush a standard grain door could be used behind the 6’ slider.

For a cheaper car than a Tangent one could use the Double Door Front Range car like this one on E-Bay, also I used a Tichy set of decals for the car above and the lettering style seems similar to the one in the picture you showed.

Rick Jesionowski

I’ll show you two cars I made to add some fun to the discussion, although they won’t be of any help to you. These are old models, and the ladders are molded as one with the body, so they’re far from the level OP is aiming for. I just removed the roof walks from a pre-painted kit and stuck on some plausible decals.

Accurail 3600 Series 40’ AAR Dbl Door Boxcar stock#3003, now #3613 released in 1994, the roofwalk removed by the poster.

C&BT Shops stock#13401, different doors were applied on the two sides, and finished by the poster.

@dti406
I have a few of that type of car as well. Two of the Accurail ones and two of the McKean ones.

@BN7150
I’m perfectly happy with the molded on ladders. A lot of the cars I have for my layout are Accurail and Athearn BB.

On a different note, I think i’ve figured out the door problem. With some kitbashing, the 6202 doors will work. For the four doors needed, I will need six of the doors or three packages total. Two doors will be cut in half (roughly three feet each.) The other four will be cut thusly: two about four feet from the left hand side and two about four feet from the right. Glue the pieces together for 7 foot doors.

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Good luck with those kitbashed doors. Let us know how this works out.

Rich

Won’t be for awhile yet. I already have a workbench full of projects. Four caboose (projects for the local museum), two other boxcars (a 40’ SD and 50’ DD) and a GP9.
I also still have to figure out the dimensional data before I get too far on it.

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