Tangent Scale Models is happy to announce the third release of our Greenville 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car! This is not just a single box car model, but instead a system of 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car models. Today, we release six all-new paint schemes – plus three reruns – for the industry’s first “high-detail” 86’ auto parts car model in HO scale. This is not a pre-order announcement — the 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. These large boxcars 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 of the double plug door design was Greenville Steel Car Company of Greenville PA. More than 4,400 of these cars were acquired by most major railroads, and they were assigned to pools where multiple railroad’s cars served a specific shipper or shippers. Original utilization of these cars was for Ford, Pontiac, and Chrysler, as well as deliveries from 3rd party parts suppliers to the auto plants. Greenville’s 1964-1978 production was the longest run for this car type, with many still in service today.
The Tangent Scale Models Greenville 86′ Double Plug Door Box Car continues the design and operational standards set by previous models in the Tangent product line. Our product currently builds up to seven major build variations (yes SEVEN, you read that right), including three specific body variations, four different brake layouts (two brake systems), four different draft gear combinations, and three underframe styles which incorporate Center-of-Car Cushioning and End-Of-Car Cushioning options. The Tangent Greenville 86’ box car includes a 70-ton or 100-ton truck option, with selections appropriate for each paint scheme, and both include “spinning” roller bearing caps. Finally, our cars are weighted properly and come with Kadee® 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.
– Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) “Original 1969” offers one of the most iconic railroad logos so frequently seen on freight cars over the decades: the B&O Capitol Dome logo. Representing B&O’s first order of cars, which were initially assigned to Pontiac service, these cars also include the glorious yellow “script” “Cushion Underframe” stenciling so commonly found on the railroad’s pre-Chessie boxcars. All of that beautiful B&O car data is present, from the intricate “Cushion Underframe” script to the tiniest “Freightmaster” branded cushioning badge on the end of the car. This 1969-built Greenville car features accurate Apex style crossover platforms and a Universal hand brake housing. Check out those 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Trucks, with 36” wheels and accurate Timken rotating caps. We are pleased to offer six B&O numbers in the railroad’s classy blue scheme with yellow stenciling.
– Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy (CB&Q) “Original 1-1969” is our first Greenville 86’ auto parts offering for any of the “Hill Lines.” CB&Q was the only Hill Line railroad to take delivery of auto parts cars, and this release represents the first of CB&Q’s two orders of Greenville prototypes. Delivered in 1969 when the BN merger plan called for green car deliveries, these cars had their pre-merger paint scheme, complete with large “Burlington” lettering. For return route stenciling, these cars state “When Empty Return To GTW RR Pontiac MICH” on the side. For additional context for how far and wide these cars traveled, these cars served into Canada. The car side has one and a half inch stenciling stating “This Car Too High To Clear St. Clair Tunnel Port Huron Michigan.” This warning lettering varied from car to car, and we have duplicated this with car-number specific and car-side specific placement of St. Clair tunnel stenciling! The CB&Q cars feature 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Trucks, with 36” wheels, complete with accurate Hyatt rotating caps. These models are ready to operate with four different road numbers!
– Erie Lackawanna (EL) “Original 1965” represents the first of four Erie Lackawanna orders for Greenville 86’ Double-Door box cars. Delivered in 1965, this group of 100 cars featured Center-of-Car Cushioning with truck mounted brakes. This car includes the large spelled out Erie Lackawanna on the left side of the car, and a large gold “Cushioned Car” and large white Erie Lackawanna diamond logo at the right side of the car. We sweat the little details too – our model is equipped with an accurate Ajax hand brake, Apex crossover platforms and 70T trucks with 33” wheels and rotating Timken roller bearing caps. Remember those truck mounted brakes mentioned earlier? Yes, our trucks have the correct truck mounted brake beam to match that important detail. Finally, this Erie Lackawanna offering was part of the Ford’s Chicago Stamping Pool, resulting in an accurate Chicago Heights, Illinois return route stencil. Our EL masterpieces are available in six different numbers. EL Fans rejoice!
– Missouri Pacific (MP) “Original 1968” represents another frequently-requested paint scheme! MP ordered five different lots of Greenville auto parts box cars, and this lot was the largest at 157 units. The prototypes were delivered with MP “buzzsaw” logos on the right side of the car, and economical “Cushion Car” lettering on the left. Of course, as any self-respecting MP modeler will tell you, there is so much more to MP lettering than slapping a buzzsaw on the car. Tangent’s industry-leading artwork has duplicated the distinctive and intricate MP lettering style from the reporting marks down to the smallest stencils. The cars offered in this run were assigned to Ford’s Chicago Stamping Pool, resulting in an accurate Chicago Heights, Illinois return route stencil. Center-of-Car Cushioning draft gear detail variation with yellow end handles? Check. Distinctive Klasing 1150 hand brake? Check. Accurate Apex crossover platforms? Check. 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Trucks with 36” wheels and rotating Timken caps? Check, check and check! These cars lasted in original paint into the late 1980s and went everywhere. Our models are available with your choice of six road numbers, with three cars showing 8-68 build dates and three cars showing 9-68 build dates. Collect all six while you can!
– Penn Central (PC) “Original 1968” is our second foray into the world of Penn Central 86’ Boxcars. Previously, our PC offering was a repaint of a former PRR car. This time? We are living to the words of our last press release, where we promised delivery PC cars in the future. That future is now: the Greenville-painted original PC cars, classed as X-60M, are here. Built in October 1968, these cars have the large PC graphics on the side of the car. The “When Empty Return to” stenciling is to Chicago Heights IL, again representing the service to/from the Ford Chicago Stamping Plant. PC-distinctive details stand out on this replica, including a gorgeous Peacock 850 hand brake and Morton crossover platforms. 100-Ton Trucks with 36” wheels and rotating Timken roller bearing caps finish off this PC offering. These stunning models are now available in eight road numbers – do not miss them! Can you ever have too many 86’ PC Greenville box cars? We don’t think so…
– Wabash “Original 1964” 1965+ Era is one of the many “classic” 1960s schemes seen on these cars, and represents one of the last schemes the railroad wore before being merged into the Norfolk and Western! This rolling billboard features Wabash’s classy dark blue scheme with large Wabash lettering, and then undoubtedly the largest Wabash flag applied to any rolling stock, adorned with the “Follow the Flag” logo. Pure class. These cars were delivered in 1964 with full running boards but were soon modified in 1965. These significant modifications included the removal of the roof running board, the lowering of the brake wheel housing and removal of high grab irons and end ladders. Our Wabash model replicates this 1965+ look with exact features: an accurate 1964-built body, bolt “remnants” on the sides and ends of the model, and a roof with the old bolt locations of the running board supports! The features go on and on, including an accurate “lowered” Miner hand brake, 1965 replacement full-width Apex crossover platforms, 70T trucks with 33” wheels, truck-mounted brake details and rotating Brenco-6 roller bearing caps. This stunning model is available in four numbers.
This release also includes three “rerun” paint schemes, detailed here:
– Conrail (CR) “Quality 1992+” (Rerun with same numbers) represents our “repaint” offering for this production. This car comes with the classic Conrail “can opener” to the right in a medium size. On the left side of the car is a “Conrail Quality” logo as well. This former PRR prototype car was modified in 1965, with the removal of the roof running board, the lowering of the hand brake housing and removal of high grab irons and end ladders. If you look closely under the CR paint job, you can see all of these “remnants” on the sides and ends of the model. Even the roof on the model features the old bolt locations of the running board supports! 70T Trucks with rotating Timken roller bearing caps finish off this CR offering. Our “Conrail Quality 1992+” is available with the same four road numbers from our 2020 release.
– Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton (DT&I) “Original 1971” (Rerun with new numbers) is adorned in the classic, huge DT&I lettering and compass painted on a baby blue carbody screams early 1970s greatness. The “We have the connections” logo is true, with a return route to BN in Duluth MN! Typical of Greenville builder paint schemes, the doors are not painted but left bare aluminum. This car comes equipped with ACI label and a WK routing code hand painted on the side of the car, like the prototype. While the stenciling has significant lettering variation, the small details are specific to DT&I specs, including end of car cushioning, Gypsum crossover platforms, and Universal hand brake housing. Ah, and look closely: We even have the correct 100-Ton Barber S-2-C “Low Profile” trucks with Timken bearings and truck mounted brake beams. Available in 4 all-new numbers for 2021!
– Southern (SOU) “Original 1977” (Rerun with new numbers) is one of the truly classic schemes for these “rolling billboard” cars, complete with the “Southern Gives A Green Light To Innovations” logo. This stunningly accurate Southern Railway paint job is an exercise in details: a beautiful carbody freight car brown with the green “dot” inside the O of Southern and the “WSP” Woodhaven Stamping Plant code listing prominently displayed on the carbody. Like all 86’ auto parts cars these were pooled cars and ran on designated auto part routes – check out the photo on our website of one of these cars on D&RGW in Colorado! This 1977-built Greenville example features body-mounted brake rigging hanging down from the underframe and 100-Ton trucks with rotating Brenco-6 roller bearing caps, just like the prototype. These beauties are available with four all-new road numbers for 2021!
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 PC car is going to look equally good rolling through Cajon, California, Toronto, Ontario, or Bellevue OH. The MP car is going to be perfectly at home in Laguna, NM, Toronto, ON, Sharonville OH, or any E-W line between Chicago and New Jersey! Ford auto parts pools are a wonderful thing. The boxcar schemes were always varied in train consists unless you model the very modern era. And today, when you see a cut of these you usually see a mix of roadnames represented, although the mix is fewer of course due to the shrinkage in railroads!
This third release of our Greenville 86’ Box Cars includes 6 of our 7 possible different build variations! We have more body variations in progress, including the quad-door cars. Please keep in mind that quad door cars represented 8% of the overall Greenville Steel Car production. This is why we are continuing with this system of double-plug doors – in order to satisfy the greatest fleet and paint scheme percentages! These are the statistically-relevant cars from a prototype production standpoint, both door type (double plug doors) and builder (Greenville).
The Tangent Greenville 86’ High Cube Double 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. A quick synopsis of our era and railroad-specific detail variations include:
• Body shells with or without overlapping side panels
• EOCC (end of car cushioning) or COCC (center of car cushioning) “near scale” draft gear variations with genuine Kadee® scale couplers
• Separate flexible rubber air hoses
• Roofs with running board supports remaining in place (1965+ appearance since the running boards were gone by 1966) and roofs without running board supports (1965+ Greenville production)
• 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
• Ten prototypically-accurate brake stands (Ajax, 2 Universal versions, Equipco, 2 Miner versions, Champion-Peacock, Elcon-National, Peacock 850, Klasing 1150)
• Two possible handbrake “brake wheel” options
• Optional 3rd door arm hinge parts to be configured one of three ways
• Two truck sideframes: 70-Ton Barber S-2A Roller Bearing Truck or a 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Truck (outlined at the end of this press release)
• 33” or 36” wheels, as applicable to each model
• Two truck brake beam part options
• Three “rotating” roller bearing truck cap options
• Recommended age 14 years and older
Finally, check out the trucks on these cars! Our Greenville 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car models feature one of two truck options – either a 70-Ton Barber S-2A Roller Bearing Truck or a 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Truck. These 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 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 $54.95, 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