I’m new here … and seeking advice about CP boxcars.
Your opinion please of best make and model numbers … with top quality authentic details, as well as good mechanical.
Im just getting into trains and model railway stuff … and would appreciate some help from people who know lots about trains and model railroads
My specific interest: CP diesel during mid 1950’s to early 60’s.
I’ve purchased 3 locomotives in HO scale … Intermountain FP7A, F7B and a Rapido FP9A.
And also six CP passenger heavies.
I have limited space, but was able to get an 8x5 DCC layout I like … just waiting for a few more track pieces to finish and then construct a table.
Fictional layout will have a small station in BC Canada for passengers and a freight building with team track on the other side. So am interested to have some boxcars for a LCL purpose train and separate passenger train. Or may, at times, run mixed.
I’m a CP fan too. I think you have already made some good choices. I have several InterMountain F series in CP maroon and grey and they run great. Rapido is a little out of my price bracket, but if I had the money I would certainly go for them.
InterMountain’s freight cars are very well done. Both Rapido’s passenger cars and freight cars are extremely well done, although the freight car selection is a bit thin. Another maker to consider is True Line trains. Atlas RTR is decent too.
In addition to the cars mention by Dave and Rick (the 1932 Atlas cars are actually of the ARA, not the later AAR, recommended design), Trueline offers the CPR Minibox (a CPR design, it was used by only the CPR) and they would have lasted well into your chosen era. Lettering would have been in either the original style or perhaps some of the later ones - you’d need to research that a bit. TrueLine’s version of the1937 AAR recommended design is, I think, the only truly accurate version of the CPR cars, as they have the NSC proprietary ends, and Trueline also offers the Fowler 36’ single sheathed wooden car. Those latter ones were also an original CPR design of the first decade of the 20th century, although a number of North American railroads owned versions, too. Despite their age, they were still in use in the '60s, often the only car suitable for grain loading on the lightly laid rail of prairie branchlines.
I’ll also include the Accurail and Walthers (formerly Train Miniature) cars. While they may not have the free-standing details of the others mentioned, they can be made into some very acceptable stand-ins, and the newly released Accurail Fowlers are certainly more affordable than the others. The CPR owned over 33,000 of them.
You’ll have four lettering schemes from which to choose, most of which are shown below.
This is an Accurail car, lettered with C-D-S dry transfers. It’s wearing a version of the original lettering scheme (not counting even earlier versions which would not have been in use in your chosen timeframe)…
…same lettering, but this time on a Train Miniature (now Walthers) USRA steel boxcar, modified to represent a 1932 ARA recommended design. It’s not totally accurate, but a reasonable (and affordable) stand-in…
