I think my question about USRE rebuilding business awhile was prompted by a model I built many years ago of a Columbus & Greenville rebuilt steel boxcar based on a photo I saw in the Henderson Boxcar Book #1 published I think in the early 1990’s. This may have been my first kit-bash effort and as I was looking at it recently I decided I wanted to go back and make some improvements, mainly taking off the oversize rivets—really NBW’s—and replacing them with harvested rivets (or maybe Tichy’s .020 rivets).

The base model is an Athearn boxcar. The ends are Westerfield’s Murphy ends and Detail Associates Dreadnaught ends spliced together. I think the Youngstown doors are also Westerfield. The steel running board may be Detail Associates or Overland as this model dates from the mid-1990’s before there were other options.

I used Accuflex (long gone now) GN green applied with the Binks Wren “B” I had purchased as a lad. The decals are mostly Walthers while the USRE Map decal is from a Microscale minical for some sort coil car if my memory is correct.

I know the paint scheme was being used by 1957 because the C&G used it on the Pullman PS-1 boxcars they purchased that year. I suspect this rebuild dates from sometime in the 1960’s but in my “Ya’ll” universe it was reweighed in 1954 which coincidentally is when USRE started its business, a fact I did not know when I did the reweigh decals but I like the synchronicity.

I cannot find my Henderson book but Tim O’Conner sent me another prototype photo gleaned from the internet.

Bill Welch

Attachments:

• Columbus _ Greenville 3703 side view.JPG
• Columbus _ Greenville 3703 _B_ end.JPG
• Columbus _ Greenville 3703 left of door.JPG
• Columbus _ Greenville 3703 right of door.JPG
• Columbus _ Greenville 3703 roof _ steel running board.JPG
• Columbus _ Greenville _3703 40ft SD boxcar USRE rebuild combo dreadnaught Murphy end fresh-paint BirminghamAL 1972.jpg