Test Track
Bx-97 Boxcars
Moloco Trains: Santa Fe Bx-94 &
HO — Canadian-based Moloco Trains had modest beginnings in the 1990s, producing fine detail parts for cabooses and freight cars and subsequent flat- stock caboose and freight car kits. Since then, the company has earned a place among the high quality manufacturers of- fering fully assembled, ultra-de- tailed RTR rolling stock. Moloco Trains’ latest effort is
Santa Fe’s Bx-94 and Bx-97 class boxcars. The road’s Topeka Shops began building 50-foot insulated plug-door boxcars of these de- signs in 1965. By 1967, Santa Fe
operated a fleet of 1,450 examples spread over three classes: Bx-94, Bx-97, and Bx-114. These pro- totypes possessed all the latest features necessary to attract and retain some of the most lucrative commodities traveling by boxcar, including canned goods, flour and baked products, processed foods, beer, wine, finished lumber products, and more. The insulat- ed interior of these cars could be configured in a multitude of ways — with load dividers, removable bars and gates, and side-wall fillers. Each car was configured specifically with these devices,
depending on the service to be assigned. Beneath the carbody, Santa Fe’s trademark “Shock Control” cushioned underframe also served to protect the boxcar’s valuable lading. Thanks in part to their mod-
est Plate B external dimensions, Santa Fe’s Bx-94, Bx-97, and Bx- 114 traveled virtually everywhere in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. These cars continued in service into the BNSF era of the mid- 1990s and beyond. Representa- tives from Moloco Trains shared with Railroad Model Craftsman a recent find of a repainted example
86 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
PRODUCT REVIEW
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