Kitbashing Southern Rwy.’s first 50-foot boxcars
ten-foot interior height, it is interest- ing that these cars were almost obso- lete by the time the Southern received them. The first of the Southern 50′-6″ boxcars were designed for furniture. The first order for 50 steel boxcars
was placed in 1938 with Mt. Vernon Car Co. under specification F-92. The design was based on the AAR 1937 40- foot, double-door boxcar with an inside height of only 10′-0″ and a clear dou- ble-door opening of 12′-6″. All of these cars received Youngstown 5-6-5 doors and Barber 50-ton trucks. They were equipped with 5/4 Dreadnaught ends by Standard Railway Equip. Mfg., roof panels from Hutchins, Universal brake wheel and mechanism, wooden run- ning boards and seven rung ladders. During the 1930’s and 1940’s car builders used major parts from a vari- ety of suppliers. Southern specifica- tions for wooden era cars were very specific. However, by the late 1930’s, the railroad appeared willing to accept car designs and components as sold by the car builders.
Many of these cars were retrofitted with stanchions (movable vertical posts) for auto parts service and many of the cars were assigned to Chevrolet’s metal fabrication plant in Flint, Michi- gan. These cars were regulars in the Midwest in this service. The cars were assigned to various auto plants and programs through the late 1960’s, when many were returned to regular service. Actually, many cars did not come south for most of their lives until the late 1960’s.
Southern renumbered many of the cars when they were re-equipped for dif- ferent types of service and if they re- ceived new trucks. For additional infor- mation, check the SRHA book on these cars since it covers all of them. We have found a memo in the SRHA archives dating from December 3, 1958, regard- ing the stenciling of the cars and several of these early 50-footers are on that list showing their assignments. One of the biggest flaws in the con- struction of these cars was that they were delivered with a single floor stringer between the center and side sills. In other words, the oak tongue and groove flooring simply could not take the weight of the forklifts that were increasingly being used to load and unload these cars. This floor weak- ness would continue to plague these cars for their lives. Later boxcar designs would incorporate three or even four stringers between the center sill and the side sills to support the floor. In 1939, 25 of these cars (Nos. 40175- 40199) were equipped with Evans Auto- Loaders. They were modified by making the door opening wider, to 15 feet. This
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was done by removing the first side pan- el to the left of the door and welding a three foot door section to the left hand six-foot door section. This new door ex- tension was operated permanently with the left hand door.
One other interesting note regarding these cars is that they were the only SR 50-foot, steel boxcars to receive the alu- minum stencil paint “Southern Serves the South” monogram in 1937. Although I’m a steam transition era fan, it is prob- able that these cars received various SR paint schemes up to and including the “Green Light” scheme in 1965. If you’ll note, the final picture in this article (page 67) shows Southern boxcar 40120 adorned in the “Green Light” scheme. For passenger service, 25 of these
cars,
(Nos. 40450 to 40474) were equipped with passenger service trucks, steam and signal lines, and marker light brackets, and were re- numbered as cars 3725–3299 for ex- press service. Later in life they were re- turned to freight service assuming
their original freight numbers with the removal of the passenger equipment. (This is a project for a later time. I nev- er realized I’d be so busy in retirement.) By 1970, Southern ordered that these cars were to be returned to general service or they were assigned to specific terminal pools to be allocated for loads out of those areas. In late 1973, nearly thirty years af- ter they were built, there were 109 cars from the original 40000–40199 se- ries still in service, including 19 of the 20 cars converted to and from box ex- press service. By March, 1977, only eight cars remained. One of the cars still survives at the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum.
Modeling 40148
I selected two Southern cars from the 1938 Mt. Vernon order, car No. 40148 with the twelve-foot door open- ing and the 1937 aluminum mono- gram, and No. 40175, the 1939 shop upgrade that added the three-foot door
NOVEMBER 2012
The author turned an r-t-r Life-Like car into a “flat kit” to get the parts he needed. The first cuts were on the ends between the top ribs. The next ones were across the top of the sides, then down the ends inside the rivet line. The final cut was above the sill line at the bottom.
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