Tangent’s April 2021 release kicks off with our first ALL-NEW HO freight car system for 2021: HO Scale Pullman-Standard 40’ PS-1 Combination Door Boxcars! No pre-orders are required – these cars are available right now! This is the second Pullman-Standard boxcar system – after our PS-1 Mini Hy-Cube – in our line of cars that introduce market-leading design and tooling practices, and is geared toward consumers who desire the most accurate models with a “family-appearance” between prototypes manufactured by the same builder.
Pullman-Standard’s PS-1 box car line evolved to feature a variety of door combinations to satisfy customer requests for 40-foot “purpose-built” box cars. In the late 1950s, the first “combination door” PS-1s were built to a new design: one plug door was flush with the car side, and the other door was a traditional sliding door. Three western railroads operated slightly different PS-1 combination door box cars: Milwaukee Road (built 1958), Northern Pacific (built 1959/60), and Union Pacific (Rebuilt 1963/64). These railroads intended to utilize the door combination to improve loaded car miles, where consumer products or grains could be hauled west, and lumber could be hauled east. The combination door cars were mostly used for forest products, and they wandered all over North America in revenue service into the 1980s. Yes, everyone models a little MILW, NP(BN) and UP: Pacific Northwest forest products shipped everywhere!
The Tangent Scale Models PS-1 Combination Door box cars include incredible road-specific detailing for these three specific MILW, NP, and UP models. We have produced three road-specific body shells featuring accurate plug and sliding door combinations. Each car includes see-through running boards, accurate hand brake options, wire brake piping, release rods, separate stirrup steps, and fine bracket grabs and ladders. Like all Tangent models, these cars come standard with HO scale’s most accurate colors and car stenciling. These new box cars are finished with two different all new truck possibilities: our new ASF A-3 50-Ton Roller Bearing truck, or our new Barber S-2 plain bearing truck. Finally, our cars are weighted properly and are equipped with Kadee® couplers which means they operate as good as they look.
Our April 2021 release includes three railroad schemes, one from each of the native railroad schemes found on these cars:
– Milwaukee Road (MILW) “Original 1958” illustrates our Milwaukee Road combination door box car offering, delivered in Milwaukee Road’s standard box car red color. The Milwaukee combination door version of the PS-1 has a 15’2” door opening. The car was spec’ed with an 8-foot Youngstown sliding door, plus a 7’2” plug door located to the left of the sliding door. The Milwaukee Road PS-1 combination door includes the classic “The Milwaukee Road” stenciled herald in white on the right side of the car. The left side of the car includes the typical MILW reporting marks and numbers. The roof has red overspray, just like the prototype did. This new model rides on an all-new truck for Tangent Scale Models, the 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck. Our Milwaukee Road model is offered with 12 road numbers, with the first 6 numbers having a 7-58 build date and the second 6 road numbers having a 8-58 build date! The MILW cars lasted into the SOO era, as well as the WC era.
– Northern Pacific (NP) “Original 12-59” offers another classic combination door box car scheme, this time the Northern Pacific “metallic brown” car with black ends. This beautiful car includes the sharp, large 60-inch “Northern Pacific Railway” logo and includes the “Route of the Vista-Dome North Coast Limited” lettering adjacent to the logo. The left side of the car includes the large, nested “NP” shadowed letters. Like we said, each combination door on this series of cars is different. For the NP variation, the opening was 14 feet in width, with a 6-foot sliding door and 8-foot plug door. The left side grab irons on the NP car are distinctive – how they extend beyond the side of the car just like the prototype. The roof has brown overspray from the sides and black overspray from the ends, just like the prototype did. It also has black paint applied along the roof seams. This new model rides on another all-new truck for Tangent Scale Models, the 50-Ton ASF A-3 Ride Control Roller Bearing truck – with rotating “Timken” bearing caps! That is correct, a truck never-before available in HO scale! Our Northern Pacific models are offered with your choice of 12 road numbers. The NP cars lasted into the 1980s BN era.
– Union Pacific (UP) “BC-50-10 11-63+” provides an interesting slice of history for a PS-1 combination door box car. In 1963-1964, UP’s Albina Terminal shops rebuilt 500 1948-built PS-1 6-foot door cars into combination door box cars. This was an early example of UP combination door cars that were built and rebuilt by the railroad. The UP cars were distinctive for several reasons: UP built a large sill on this car, and also added an end door to the A end of the car (for lumber loading). Like the NP cars ordered from Pullman-Standard, the UP cars were built with a 14-foot opening. The doors were reversed from the NP configuration, where the centered sliding door was 6 feet in width, and the plug door was 8 feet in width. Our gorgeous UP oxide red model is painted in the “Ship and Travel the Automated Rail Way” scheme, complete with a large UP red, white, and blue shield. Like the Milwaukee Road cars announced above, this new model rides on an all-new truck for Tangent Scale Models, the 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck. Union Pacific painted these cars with oxide red paint to designate their non-cushioned car status. Our Union Pacific models are offered with your choice of 12 road numbers. SKUs 01-05 have an 11-63 shop date, SKUs 06-09 have a 12-63 shop date, and SKUs 10-12 have a 1-64 shop date. These UP cars lasted into the late 1970s era.
– Undecorated Milwaukee Body KIT offers a kit version of the Milwaukee Road Pullman-Standard PS-1 car described above. This is a great option if you want to build or customize a car for a particular modeling project. It is based on our Milwaukee Road carbody, featuring the 15-foot door opening, and includes 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck, etc. Ready for painting and lettering in a prototype or your own private road. You supply your own favorite couplers.
– Undecorated Northern Pacific Body KIT offers a kit version of the Northern Pacific Pullman-Standard PS-1 car described above. This is a great option if you want to build or customize a car for a particular modeling project. It is based on our Northern Pacific carbody, featuring the 14-foot door opening, and includes the 50-Ton ASF A-3 Ride Control Roller Bearing truck, etc. Ready for painting and lettering in a prototype or your own private road. You supply your own favorite couplers.
– Undecorated Union Pacific Body KIT offers a kit version of the Union Pacific Albina-Shops rebuilt PS-1 car described above. This is a great option if you want to build or customize a car for a particular modeling project. It is based on our Union Pacific carbody, featuring the 14-foot door opening, end door, and early PS-1 roof and ends, and includes the 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck, etc. Ready for painting and lettering in a prototype or your own private road. You supply your own favorite couplers.
All of these Pullman-Standard PS-1 Combination Door Boxcar models can be seen at www.tangentscalemodels.com !
These products are shipping today! A quick synopsis of our era and railroad-specific detail variations include:
• Dimensional accuracy – designed from Pullman-Standard plans
• Highly correct “true to life” colors
• “Hyper-Accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement
• Genuine Kadee® scale couplers
• “Near-scale” draft gear box with beautifully-rendered side “key” detail
• 12 road numbers for each scheme
• Very fine Pullman-style ladders
• Very fine Pullman-style bracket grab irons
• Rubber air hoses
• Road-specific details for each scheme, including:
o Specific body side configurations for doors
o 2 different PS-1 end configurations
o “See through” running boards (in 2 possible combinations)
o “See through” brake steps (in 2 possible combinations)
o 2 different brake housings (Equipco or Ajax, as appropriate)
o 3 different brakewheel options (Equipco, Ajax, and Universal)
• Two All-New precision truck options (these will be available separately in Summer 2021!)
o Tangent Scale Models 50-Ton ASF A-3 Ride Control Roller Bearing truck – with rotating “Timken” bearing caps! Yes, this is a truck never-before available in HO scale!
o Tangent Scale Models 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck
• CNC-machined 33” wheels, with blackened or nickel-plated semi-scale tread (0.88”) available separately
• Recommended age 14 years and older
Don’t miss out on the Tangent Scale Models PS-1 Combination Door box cars, which went everywhere in North America! Everyone needs “lumber door” box cars! With accurate roadname and era-specific details, genuine Kadee 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 RTR models is $52.95.
That wraps up our update for today, and thank you for supporting the family-owned businesses in our industry!
David Lehlbach
Tangent Scale Models