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CNW 65000-67418 XM

mopacfirst
 

These series of cars, CNW 65000-67418, appear to be 1937 AAR design, 3716 cu ft, 80000 capy.  The number of cars were decreasing in late 1950s ORER.  Were they sold, or converted to something else?  Not long after this CNW started acquiring a number of other 40' boxcars on the used market.

I don't see them in the Hawkins lists, and haven't found photos in the Color Guide or on line.  Mostly I'm interested in whether these cars were indeed off the roster by the end of this list.

Ron Merrick

Steve and Barb Hile
 

The photo I have of 65492 shows a rebuilt USRA double sheathed car with new steel sides.  As I understand it, the C&NW sold off many of these cars in the 50’s.  The RI got some as did FtDDM&S.

 

Steve Hile

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of mopacfirst
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2023 9:42 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] CNW 65000-67418 XM

 

These series of cars, CNW 65000-67418, appear to be 1937 AAR design, 3716 cu ft, 80000 capy.  The number of cars were decreasing in late 1950s ORER.  Were they sold, or converted to something else?  Not long after this CNW started acquiring a number of other 40' boxcars on the used market.

I don't see them in the Hawkins lists, and haven't found photos in the Color Guide or on line.  Mostly I'm interested in whether these cars were indeed off the roster by the end of this list.

Ron Merrick

mopacfirst
 

Aha.  I even built one or two of the Sunshine kits.  

My question was prompted by finding an IM kit in my stash, which I'd set aside as a foobie (I have a special shelf for these.)  Now I know why, since the kit is an actual 1937 4-5 end boxcar.  Too bad, because the paint and lettering looks very well done, much better than, say, the early IM PS-1 kits (the 1 series cars, which IM painted all one color on sides, ends and roof).

With regard to the Sunshine kit, I think this was kit 2.3.  I have one I picked up recently, but the instruction sheet is missing from it.  I kept all of the instruction sheets and PDF sheets from Sunshine, but after I moved, I don't know where they currently are.  The prototypes ended up, I think, as RI 134000 series, and if these are the ones, one still exists, off its trucks, in Salina, KS.

Ron Merrick

anthony wagner
 

Ron, I don't know if this is any use to you but in my 1-1-50 ORER there were 1753 cars in that series even numbers only. The reason these were not listed by Hawkins is that they were rebuilt on what appears to be USRA DS underframes. See attached photo.

The car has a fishbelly underframe, Andrews trucks, a 1937 reweigh date which was probably the rebuild date, but a 1918 built date, and an 80000 lb capacity. By 1960 the underframes were over 40 years old and a 40 ton capacity was no longer considered to be adequate. My guess is that they were being retired and cut up for scrap. Tony Wagner

On Monday, January 23, 2023 at 09:41:55 AM CST, mopacfirst <ron.merrick@...> wrote:


These series of cars, CNW 65000-67418, appear to be 1937 AAR design, 3716 cu ft, 80000 capy.  The number of cars were decreasing in late 1950s ORER.  Were they sold, or converted to something else?  Not long after this CNW started acquiring a number of other 40' boxcars on the used market.

I don't see them in the Hawkins lists, and haven't found photos in the Color Guide or on line.  Mostly I'm interested in whether these cars were indeed off the roster by the end of this list.

Ron Merrick

Steve and Barb Hile
 

The RI 134xxx series were the Rock’s own rebuilds, 800 of them.  They later got some of the ex-C&NW cars circa 1955, numbered 38000 – 38101.

 

The RI and C&NW cars were alternates to the 2014 Cocoa Beach Shake n Take project.  I believe that Chad Boas also has castings for the sides and ends.

 

I remember having a dickens of a time with the early Sunshine kit, trying to install little fabricated side supports on the recessed sills in the Alumilite castings.

 

Steve Hile

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of mopacfirst
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2023 10:06 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] CNW 65000-67418 XM

 

Aha.  I even built one or two of the Sunshine kits.  

My question was prompted by finding an IM kit in my stash, which I'd set aside as a foobie (I have a special shelf for these.)  Now I know why, since the kit is an actual 1937 4-5 end boxcar.  Too bad, because the paint and lettering looks very well done, much better than, say, the early IM PS-1 kits (the 1 series cars, which IM painted all one color on sides, ends and roof).

With regard to the Sunshine kit, I think this was kit 2.3.  I have one I picked up recently, but the instruction sheet is missing from it.  I kept all of the instruction sheets and PDF sheets from Sunshine, but after I moved, I don't know where they currently are.  The prototypes ended up, I think, as RI 134000 series, and if these are the ones, one still exists, off its trucks, in Salina, KS.

Ron Merrick

Charlie Duckworth
 

Here’s the RI cars Steve’s writing about.  I’ve built two of Chad’s RI kits and enjoyed them. 


--
Charlie Duckworth 
Omaha, Ne.

pennsylvania1954
 

Weren't these cars the subject of the 2014 Cocoa Beach Shake-n-Take? Here is the instruction pdf.

https://groups.io/g/shake-n-take/files/2014%20Shake_n_Take%20PPT%20CNW%20Rebuilt%20USRA%20car/COCOA%20BEACH%202014%20CNW%20USRA%20rebuild%20instructions.pdf

--
Steve Hoxie
Pensacola FL

O Fenton Wells
 

Yes they were,and here is a poor photo of my effort


On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 12:30 PM pennsylvania1954 <stevehprr@...> wrote:
Weren't these cars the subject of the 2014 Cocoa Beach Shake-n-Take? Here is the instruction pdf.

https://groups.io/g/shake-n-take/files/2014%20Shake_n_Take%20PPT%20CNW%20Rebuilt%20USRA%20car/COCOA%20BEACH%202014%20CNW%20USRA%20rebuild%20instructions.pdf

--
Steve Hoxie
Pensacola FL







--
Fenton Wells
250 Frye Rd
Pinehurst NC 28374
910-420-8106
srrfan1401@...

mopacfirst
 

Thanks to all for setting me straight.

I also have a copy of Eric Lombard's list of rebuilt boxcars, where these ex-CNW, later RI, cars are shown.  Looks like I may have another project.  Boy, do I remember inserting those triangular fillets in several of the Sunshine rebuild kits.

Ron Merrick

O Fenton Wells
 

They are not that bad to kitbash using Chad Boas parts.  Not tiny triangles to insert
Fenton

On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 2:02 PM mopacfirst <ron.merrick@...> wrote:
Thanks to all for setting me straight.

I also have a copy of Eric Lombard's list of rebuilt boxcars, where these ex-CNW, later RI, cars are shown.  Looks like I may have another project.  Boy, do I remember inserting those triangular fillets in several of the Sunshine rebuild kits.

Ron Merrick



--
Fenton Wells
250 Frye Rd
Pinehurst NC 28374
910-420-8106
srrfan1401@...

Dennis Storzek
 

I suspect many of the USRA rebuilds spent their last days in various lease fleets. The Soo Line found itself short of boxcars after WWII and ended up leasing 1500, IIRC, cars. What they received was a motley collection of USRA steel rebuilds and decommissioned 40' auto cars; impossible to tell which roads they came from as the lease included repainting and application of Soo graphics. These only lasted 3 or 4 years and then they were gone. I assume other roads finding themselves short of boxcars did likewise.

Dennis Storzek

Jeff Eggert
 

From the CNWHS Archives, the car cards for CNW 65000-67418 even, show a bulk of the cars with a 1955 retirement or disposal date.  This gleaned from a quick glance at them.  A few cars made it to 1960 and one to 1962, but by far the bulk have 1955 dates.

 

The cards also reveal the series these cars came from CNW 141200-143698 even, built by ACF.  At first, their 1955 disposal seems to coincide with the delivery of 1600 PS-1s in 1953 & 1954, car numbers 1-625 & 656-1655.  This seems reasonable and the cards seem to show a conclusion to the story – typically a future number is noted in the disposition if there is one.

 

However, the rabbit hole keeps going.  While looking at the card for 1655, I saw card 1855, one of the next CNW card numbers.  600 cars that were sold to International Railway Car Co in 1955 were leased back after being repaired and renumbered 1855-2254 incl. and 3237-3436 incl., then repurchased in 1959.  Many of these cars have disposition dates of 1961 & 1962.

 

A diagram for these cars confirms this and further shows cars CMO 1658-1844 appear to be products of the same rebuild, sale, lease, and repurchase cycle.  The lineage for the CMO cars should be 36000s > 37000s > 1658-1844. 

 

Finally, completing the freight car circle of life, 24 rebuilt cars from all the above series were renumbered as MOW cars X 250666-250720 starting in 1965.  A couple of these cars survived in active MOW service till 1986.

 

A few sample cards are attached, including the cards to follow 142960 > 65030 > 1874 and 142368 > 65004 > 3240.

 

Individually the car cards tell just a little, but together a bigger picture emerges sometimes.

 

Jeff Eggert

Eric Lombard
 

Hello Folks,

Ron in his initiating post stated: "Mostly I'm interested in whether these cars were indeed off the roster by the end of this list."

My children at young ages said to me after a long explanation about something "Dad, we just asked what time it is, NOT how to build a clock!"

I can never resist building clocks...

          The attached spreadsheet is a formatted dump from my box car database and includes the relevant data for the series contributing to the clock building. Double-click on any cell to expand it showing all included information. This is particularly important for the SERVICE field, each of which contains a minor novel. One can maneuver inside the cell by holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse to scroll.
          Ron's "what time is it" question can be answered in an instant in the "GONE BY" column. Juicy details and fun facts are the reward of clock-building which is available in the SERVICE column. RMFS which occurs often in that column is a stand in for ReMoved From Service.
         The data in the SERVICE column comes from the ORER, C&NW car cards, and other publications. The C&NW Historical Society deserves a loud shout out from us all for the very hard work put into digitizing the cards and making them available to us all. Were this data in the native database the cryptic blob of numbers at the heading of each series in the SERVICE field would be linked to the bibliographic sources. 
          I have appreciated the opportunity to revisit this data - such an opportunity offers time to recheck...always a good thing.

Eric Lombard
Homewood, IL

On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 9:41 AM mopacfirst <ron.merrick@...> wrote:
These series of cars, CNW 65000-67418, appear to be 1937 AAR design, 3716 cu ft, 80000 capy.  The number of cars were decreasing in late 1950s ORER.  Were they sold, or converted to something else?  Not long after this CNW started acquiring a number of other 40' boxcars on the used market.

I don't see them in the Hawkins lists, and haven't found photos in the Color Guide or on line.  Mostly I'm interested in whether these cars were indeed off the roster by the end of this list.

Ron Merrick

?
C&NW 65000-65498.xlsx

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