At a flea market, I found a strange scratchbuilt S scale 50’ boxcar that appears to have all the signs of being the production of a manufacturer rather than a hobbyist. It’s built up from heavy sheet ABS, and the workmanship is excellent, with the corrugated ends seemingly milled or otherwise cut out individually from heavy stock. Most small details are built up from sheet and Plastruct shapes, and the doors operate. (The doors are built up of 14 pieces of plastic each). The sides are painted blue and the paint is applied VERY smoothly. I initially thought it was just blue plastic. One side is decorated for Ann Arbor, with CDS transfers I think. It’s got old-style Flyer trucks held on with glued-in turned plastic kingpins.
I think it might be a Flyer prototype, but if so, of what? Did Flyer ever catalog a sliding-door 50’ boxcar like this, and when? And if this is an unproduced prototype, when was it made and why did it go unproduced?
I think it must be no older than 1968, because that’s when CDS and Plastruct started…at the same time, it can’t be that new, with those older style trucks.
I would guess that a prototype would not be so detailed that it would use 14 pieces of plastic to create a door. My guess is you have some sort of kit that someone installed older trucks and couplers on.
I think it must be no older than 1968, because that’s when CDS and Plastruct started…at the same time, it can’t be that new, with those older style trucks.
I had considered that but what kit would it be? It would have to be a flat kit of all ABS sheet and Plastruct shapes, and the ends don’t appear to be castings. It’s also quite odd to have the stirrup steps cut out in one piece with the sides, but filled-in steps would be right in line with a train set product. Plus, after going through all that work, to decorate only one side? That’s weird, but it’s seen pretty often on prototypes.
I was thinking maybe Fundimensions era. The Michigan colors and Ann Arbor lettering make a certain strange sense for a prototype created in Mt Clemens…
In general, I do not believe that Lionel production varied from the original flyer production, ie they pretty much just re-issued items similar to the Gilbert Flyer and did not experiment.
The A. C. Gilbert Company ceased production on American Flyer in 1966. Lionel’s successors didn’t really start producing an S-scale line until the late 1990’s, instead preferring to concentrate on reviving interest in their O and O-27 trains. Another detail that points to this being a scratchbuilt car, the particular style of metal-truck that was installed on your car was discontinued by Gilbert in 1961. All the Flyer rolling stock produced from 1961 to 1966 had plastic “Pikemaster” trucks with one piece molded plastic couplers. I assume that any Gilbert test model made in this period would use the production Pikemaster trucks.
