Please click on the images at right for pricing, SKUs, high resolution photos, prototype photos, car number options, and/or to order!
We now have 11 new paint schemes for our Greenville Quad Door High Cube 86’ Auto Parts boxcars.
During the 1960s, the most radical freight car designs employed the extreme height clearances offered by Plate F car designs. In 1964, no car type articulated this extreme more than the 86-foot, purpose-built “Auto Parts” boxcars. They became fixtures on the rails all over North American mainlines, riding hot trains to deliver components vital to the productivity of auto plants. While several car builders offered 86’ auto parts boxcars, the most prolific builder was Greenville Steel Car Company of Greenville PA. Greenville produced their Quad Door design in the 1969-1970 period to meet the expanding needs of GM and Oldsmobile production facilities. Like the Double Door cars, these Quad Door cars were acquired by many railroads, and they were assigned to pools where cars from multiple railroads served a specific shipper.
Click the paint schemes in the grid at right to view more model photos and buy!
More about the models in a moment – let’s start with the prototype!
One of the larger orders of cars from this production were the cars built for Penn Central. Delivered as class X-60-R in February of 1970, the cars were painted with a large PC logo that dominates the center of these cars, with a stacked “Penn Central” on the far left. This 1970-built Greenville group features End-of-Car Cushioning details, Gypsum crossover platforms, and truck mounted brake hardware. This X-60-R order rides on 70-Ton Barber S-2 Birdsboro Roller Bearing Trucks, with 33” wheels and rotating “Brenco-6” roller bearing caps. These cars were part of the GM Lansing Stamping Plant car pool, with a return-when-empty stencil the GTW in Lansing, Michigan.
DRGW is one of the most requested schemes from Tangent for our auto parts cars. This order was part of the GM Stamping pool out of Indianapolis, Indiana on the Penn Central. The center area of these Quad Door Boxcars was just made for that big “Rio Grande” logo! These 1970 cars have truck-mounted brake gear, End-of-Car Cushioning components and Gypsum crossover platforms. These cars ride on 70-Ton trucks with 33” wheels.
Illinois Central had these cars as well. Delivered in February 1970, the IC orange orange paint scheme coupled with the sharp black and white split-rail logo is one of the most iconic schemes for that era. The IC cars were delivered with Gypsum crossover platforms, Ajax brake hand brake housing, Greenville-applied tack board locations and an End-of-Car Cushioning underframe setup. These cars have the IC-style dotted return route box with instructions to send the car back to the GTW in Flint, Michigan. 70-Ton Trucks with 33” wheels and rotating “Timken” roller bearing caps finish off Greenville’s “Mainline of Mid-America” offering.
Southern Pacific’s “B-70-54” class cars were also delivered in February 1970. This B-70-54 group covers SP’s first order of quad door cars that were part of the GM Stamping Pool out of Cleveland, Ohio on the B&O. The scheme, of course, is simply one of the coolest paint jobs ever applied to a Greenville 86’ boxcar. These cars have incredible stenciling right from Greenville, including the nuanced differences between “white” stenciling and “SP Lettering Gray” stenciling. Also note the huge dark gray arrows pointing to the centered SP logo. The SP cars as-built 1970 appearance includes Apex crossover platforms, a Universal hand brake housing (with separate long handle!) and a Universal brake wheel. SP ordered their cars with Center-Of-Car cushioning and draft gear. 70-Ton Trucks with 33” wheels and rotating “Timken” roller bearing caps were the SP spec for these cars.
One of the interesting repaints are the CSX repaints from 1991, which are repainted from B&O’s first order of cars in 1969. The railroad added a large CSX logo on the center of the sides and accurate “Ease up!” stickers on the corners. Apparently, the more the better, since CSX also applied tiny “Ease up!” stickers on each door. Also notice the CSX “Quality Check” oval sticker applied above the COTS by Grand Rapids employees. This Greenville car features Morton style crossover platforms, an Ajax hand brake housing, accurate End-of-Car Cushioning details with truck mounted brake hardware, and 70-Ton Barber S-2 Trucks with 33” wheels and “Timken” roller bearing caps.
The Southern (SOU) NS-era “BS-84 Claytor Repaint 1987+” is a very common 1980s paint job in the world of auto parts cars. This car was in service for Norfolk Southern. After the NS merger, NS continued to paint cars in pre-NS schemes, this “Claytor scheme” repaint included. The Southern cars were built in February of 1970 as part of a lot that included the distinctive Center-Of-Car cushioning details. The Claytor repaint features the original Apex crossover platforms with a Universal brake stand and brakewheel.
With a tremendous amount of surface area to paint on these cars, some railroads elected to repaint the cars with significant, complex stenciling. This fleet possibly had the largest Chessie “sleeping cat” logo you will ever see on an HO scale freight car! This group of cars represents the B&O Chessie Cumberland MD shops 1979 repaints of the original B&O cars, which were originally delivered in 1970. These cars stand out with the large yellow-painted doors, white “excess height” end painting, and galvanized silver roofs. They also include the safety-inspired “bowling ball” logo on them, as well as ACI and U-1 “wheel dot” stenciling! This Greenville car features Morton style crossover platforms, an Ajax hand brake housing, accurate End-of-Car Cushioning details with truck mounted brake hardware, and 70-Ton Barber S-2 Trucks with 33” wheels and “Timken” roller bearing caps. Interestingly, B&O was the second-largest purchaser of the Greenville quad door box cars, and these eye-catchers went literally everywhere.
Conrail (CR) cars were repaints of the Penn Central 1970-delivered cars. These cars were painted in Conrail brown paint in 1988 complete with the Conrail logo stenciling in white. This 1970-built Greenville group features accurate End-of-Car Cushioning details, replacement Morton style crossover platforms and truck mounted brake hardware. This X60R group of cars ride on 70-Ton Barber S-2 Birdsboro Roller Bearing Trucks, with 33” wheels and rotating “Brenco-6” roller bearing caps.
Another eye-catching scheme was found on the repainted SP cars. Union Pacific (SP) “Building America®” Repaint boxcars from the 2010s include a full complement of UP stenciling styles, UP shield, and UP Building America® graphics. Who cannot love the classy Union Pacific graphics? In 1970, Southern Pacific (SP) ordered two different lots of Greenville quad door auto parts box cars. While some of these lasted in original SP paint into the 2010s, many of them saw Building America paint in a program fashion. The underframe features accurate Center-of-Car Cushioning details with extended draft gear and this car rides on 70-Ton Barber S-2 Roller Bearing Trucks with 33” wheels, rotating “Timken” caps and truck mounted brake details.
Here is an example of a 1969-built Greenville 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car right after delivery. The classy Grand Trunk Western (GTW) scheme looks especially good on this car (in our humble opinion) with the large GT logo centered between the paired doors. GTW was the largest purchaser of Greenville’s quad door box car design, making them highly statistically relevant for modelers in the US and Canada. Painted in the characteristic GTW blue color with white stenciling, these 1969 cars were seen widely across North America. The GTW cars feature their as-built 1969 appearance that includes Gypsum crossover platforms, Ajax brake hand brake housing, Greenville-applied tack board locations and a beautiful End-of-Car Cushioning underframe setup. 70-Ton Trucks with 33” wheels and rotating “Benco-6” roller bearing caps finish off this dominant offering. 
Now, for the models! The Tangent Scale Models Greenville 86′ Quad Plug Door Box Car System continues the design and operational standards set by our industry-leading Greenville Double Plug Door box car models. Our product replicates multiple variations of these cars, including two different draft gear combinations, two underframe styles which incorporate Center-of-Car Cushioning and End-Of-Car Cushioning options, and multiple power brake options. We have now released NINE (9) different build variations of these Greenville prototypes! The Tangent Greenville 86’ Quad Plug Door Box Car includes accurate all-new 70-ton trucks with 33” wheels, and include “spinning” roller bearing caps appropriate for each paint scheme. Finally, our cars are weighted properly and are equipped with genuine Kadee® scale couplers mounted in specially-designed coupler pockets which means they operate as good as they look. Due to the car’s size, we recommend curves of 24” or larger for these models.
The Tangent Greenville 86’ High Cube Quad Plug Door Box Car System is a state of the art, dimensionally-accurate scale replica that was tooled to Greenville Steel Car plans and verified with field measurements. Our model comes with highly accurate “true-to-life” colors and “hyper-accurate” lettering including exact stenciling, fonts, and lettering placement. Our Greenville 86’ system of models offers a multitude of detail variations and phases to replicate the many different Greenville Steel Car offerings. We make the best cars money can buy in HO scale. A quick synopsis of our era and railroad-specific detail variations include:
• Dimensional accuracy – designed from actual Greenville blueprints and verified with field measurements
• Highly correct “true to life” colors
• “Hyper-Accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement
• Body shells with overlapping side panels
• EOCC (end of car cushioning) or COCC (center of car cushioning) “near scale” draft gear variations
• Genuine Kadee® scale couplers
• Separate flexible rubber air hoses
• Under car brake system variations
• “See through” etched metal end crossover platforms in three possible options: Gypsum, Apex, or Morton
• Side tack board types/sizes and locations
• Twelve (!) prototypically-accurate brake stands (Ajax, 2 Universal versions, 2 Equipco versions, 2 Miner versions, Champion-Peacock, 2 Elcon-National versions, Peacock 850, Klasing 1150)
• Two possible handbrake “brake wheel” options
• Optional 3rd door arm hinge parts to be configured one of three ways
• All-new 70-Ton Barber S-2 “Birdsboro foundry” Roller Bearing Truck
• 33” wheels, as applicable to these 70T models
• Truck brake beam part, accurate for these 1969-1970 built Greenville production cars
• Three “rotating” roller bearing truck cap options
• Recommended age 14 years and older
Finally, our Greenville 86’ High Cube Quad Plug Door Box Car models feature our all-new 70-Ton Barber S-2 “Birdsboro foundry” Roller Bearing Truck. And yes, these trucks are available separately! The separate trucks feature a choice of 3 different “rotating” roller bearing caps and 3 different wheel options. Each truck also has the option of two separate brake beam parts, either for body-mounted brake systems (which are our standard offering), or for truck-mounted brake systems (available as a swap-in part). Our trucks and parts are available separately right now, and our RTR-cars come equipped with the correct configurations of trucks and parts!
Here is the 70-Ton Barber S-2 “Birdsboro foundry” “3-Spring” Roller Bearing Truck:
Here is the 70-Ton Barber S-2A Roller Bearing Truck:
Here is the 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Truck:
These all-new truck options are systems of their own! They include your choice of 3 different “rotating” roller bearing caps and 3 different wheel options. Each truck also has the option of two separate brake beam parts, either for body-mounted brake systems (which are our standard offering), or for truck-mounted brake systems (available as a swap-in part). Our trucks and parts are available separately, and our RTR-cars come equipped with the correct configurations of trucks and parts!
With accurate roadname and era-specific details, genuine Kadee® scale couplers, and all-metal wheels, we provide you with a high-value model that will provide you with years of enjoyment and curb-appeal. Pricing for all RTR models in this release is $56.95, with quantity discounts for direct purchases from Tangent Scale Models.
Click the paint schemes in the grid at right to view more photos and buy!
