Asheville, North Carolina: Tangent Scale Models is happy to kick off 2022 in style, with a brand-new car! Today we are announcing the first release of our Greenville 86’ High Cube Quad Plug Door Box Car! Yup! You have asked for the quad door cars, and here is our release of six paint schemes for the industry’s first “high-detail” 86’ quad door auto parts car system in HO scale. This is not a pre-order announcement – our new box cars are available right now!
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.
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. 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.
Our January 2022 release includes these six new paint schemes – available for purchase today!
– B&O Chessie “Repaint 1979+” offers one of the most classy railroad logos so frequently seen on freight cars over recent decades: the Chessie “sleeping cat.” This car has the largest Chessie 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 era-appropriate 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 accurate “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. We are now offering four B&O Chessie numbers. Chessie fans can now rejoice!
– Conrail (CR) “X60GR Repaint 1976+ Large Logo” is our first Greenville 86’ auto parts offering in the “early Conrail” era. These X60GR class cars represent the former Penn Central X-60-R original delivery cars that were produced in 1970. Conrail repainted some of these cars at Meadville, PA at the former EL shops, complete with a gigantic can opener between the paired set of doors. These 1970 cars have truck-mounted brake gear, End-of-Car Cushioning components and Gypsum crossover platforms along with accurate 70-Ton trucks and 33” wheels. Our Conrail 1976 models are ready to operate with four different road numbers!
– Conrail (CR) “X60R Repaint 1988+” offers a 1988 Conrail shop repaint 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 accurate rotating “Brenco-6” roller bearing caps. These beauties are available with four different road numbers!
– Grand Trunk Western (GTW) “Delivery 12-1969” is notable for several reasons. First, the classy GTW scheme looks especially good on this car (in our humble opinion) with the large GT logo centered between the paired doors. Second, 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 cars are sure to be crowd pleasers and were seen widely. 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 that 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. Our GTW masterpieces are available in eight different numbers.
– Southern (SOU) NS-era “BS-84 Claytor Repaint 1987+” is a very common 1980s paint job in the world of auto parts cars, this one for the Norfolk Southern (NS) system. 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. We have duplicated those same features underneath and on the ends, with the extended draft gear. The Claytor repaint features the original Apex crossover platforms with a Universal brake stand and brakewheel. Check out those gorgeous new 70-Ton Barber S-2 Birdsboro Foundry trucks with rotating “Timken” roller bearing caps, just like the prototype. These beauties are available with four road numbers!
– Union Pacific (SP) “Building America® Repaint 2011+” answers a frequently-requested paint scheme for the modern modelers! 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 (yes, we will offer original SP down the road). While some of these lasted in original SP paint into the 2010s, many of them saw Building America paint in a program fashion. These cars represent the SP cars after painting, and they retain their SP reporting marks but include a full complement of UP stenciling styles, UP shield, and UP Building America® graphics. The underframe features accurate Center-of-Car Cushioning details with extended draft gear and this replica rides on 70-Ton Barber S-2 Roller Bearing Trucks with 33” wheels, rotating “Timken” caps and truck mounted brake details. Each individual car features number-specific data, delineator, and tack board placement. In other words, each is a “little” different! Collect all four while you can, and enjoy this modern-era offering!
Want to build your own? Don’t worry. We are also releasing two undecorated kits to handle both of the Greenville quad-door production variations. Each kit includes a specifically-matching Greenville body for that group! Here is our listing of the variations with their originally-delivered Greenville paint schemes:
- Undecorated Version H: 1969-1970 End-of-Car Cushioning kit (B&O, DRGW, DTS, GTW, IC, NW, PC, PPGX, RI)
- Undecorated Version I: 1970 Center-of-Car Cushioning kit (MP, SOU, SP)
All of these models – and prototype images – can be seen at www.tangentscalemodels.com !
If your favorite railroad is not listed in this run, don’t fear, we have many more schemes coming. Please keep in mind that these were pooled boxcars which means you might consider buying cars in a variety of road names. For example: Prototype photos show the UP-SP car is going to look equally good rolling on the BNSF at Galesburg, the CN on the former IC “Main Line of Mid America” as well as being in Altoona PA or West Colton CA. GTW offline? Why yes, how about in Topeka KS or Cumberland MD? We have photos to prove it all. And these are just a few snapshots. GM and Oldsmobile auto parts pools provide many interesting modeling opportunities. Also, photo evidence shows consists of mixed quad and double door cars, especially post-1980, so the generalizations of only needing one type versus the other are generally wrong. Sorry. And in the 1990s and 2000s, when you saw a cut of these you still usually saw a mix of roadnames represented, although the mix is fewer of course due to the shrinkage in railroads!
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!
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.
That wraps up our update for today, and thank you for supporting the family-owned businesses in our industry!
David Lehlbach
Tangent Scale Models