I have two Pennsylvania 50" boxcars, one X-38 marked “Automobiles” and the X-51 83247. These are old Athearn kits. The X-51 has silver doors, which I have concern about, since I found the builder’s photos online which the doors are the same color as the car body. I model the mid-1950’s, and want to make certain the correct appearance of these cars. Any advice or opinion would be welcome. lois
Lois,
I assume you meant 50’ boxcars?
Tom
Lois,
Usually, a painted door indicates assignment to a particular freight pool. I’m not PRR expert. I did find a link to a bunch of detailed info, but nothing at a quick glance about any paint markings for specific pools.
Lois,
Many times a freight car is assigned service will have special colors or marking applied to the doors - this makes it easy for crews to pick out the cars. The SP had diagonal yellow marks on lumber service box cars, and the DW&P had green doors on newsprint service cars,
Jim
Lois.
The X51 did not appear until late 1957. If you model the mid fifties then that car was not built yet. Look at the class marking of the X38. If it is an X38f then that car is 1956 vintage. PRR eqipment diagrams can be found here.
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?sel=&sz=sm&fr=
If you really want to stick to some sort of proto fidelity then I emplor youto join the PRRT&HS. The society puts out a quarterly e-magazine called the Keystone Modeler or TKM for short. Fantastic resource for modelers. While the TKM is a free download for everyone I beg you to join for continual enjoyment for all.
As an aside. Cars in captive service especialy Automobile boxes would have a solid white line over the Pennsylvania or stenciled Automobiles with the white line either above or below it. Multi colored cars were LCL or mechandise service and stenciled that way. The silver door X51 is another Athearn dream scheme like the PRR bay window cabin.
Pete
Tom: Perhaps I should have said 50-foot boxcars or the actual length, which was 50’6". I had looked at the above mentioned page for the X-51, and it stated the class was assigned for the shipment of auto parts. I noticed some of the X-38 class were assigned for this use as well, being fitted with racks which meant that they could be used only for auto parts, and nothing else. My X-38, being marked for “Automobiles” I suppose was for shipment of finished cars. In that case, it provides a reason for it being on my N&W layout, in the shipment of cars to dealers. lois
I quickly checked the build dates on my cars from the prr.railfan.net site. X-38 74021 was built in 1941 and X-51 83247 was built in 1956. lois
Lois.
Look on the cars. The class numbers and sub class. The class is as an example X38. A rebuilt sub class would be a small letter after the X38. An example is X38b. While still an X38 it has been modified into a sub class at a latter date than the built date. There was an X38, X38a, X38b, X38c, X38f, X38h, and X38n. Each one was different from interior appliances to exterior looks. The X38b is nothing like the X38 but it is still an X38. See what I am getting at? To determine what your car is compare it with the tracings in the link I posted earlier. Only the X38 and the X38a with the end doors were built as automobile cars. If you have an X38h then it is just a box car that can be used for automobiles but is not lettered as such. The end doors were welded shut making an X38a into the X38h starting in 1964.
These sub classes and rebuilds can really reek havok with time based modeling. A good freind of mine has his home layout of the New Haven on Cape Cod set to a particular day in 1970. He fixated on everything from locomotives to the color of houses on a street to be as accurate as possible to model that day. He even has the right car number on the flat car spotted at Mid Cape home products with lumber on it. He found a photo taken that day that shows it in the background.
Some modelers are just crazy. I am lucky just to have cars set in the forties for my generic railroad.
Pete
Lois,
That could be. Alternatively, there were a lot of final assembly plants in Indiana, as well as parts suppliers in both Indiana and Pennsylvania. So it possible you could also be shipping parts in various directions form industries besides to new car dealers. Just gives you many more options.
An additional factor is the Ford assembly plant in Norfolk, that was served by the N&W and received frequent auto parts shipments. lois