Please click on the images at right for pricing, SKUs, high resolution photos, prototype photos, car number options, and to order!
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!
Tangent Scale Models is pleased to introduce the Pullman-Standard PS-1 Combination Door Box Car in HO scale! This is not just a single box car model, but instead a system of 3 different carbodies and associated box car models. Tangent is pleased to introduce the industry’s first “high-detail” 40’ combination door box car model!
More about the model in a moment – let’s start with a quick review of the prototype cars!
Here is an example of the 12-59 and 1-60 built Pullman-Standard boxcars – a whole string of these “metallic brown” cars at Livingston, Montana! This string of cars are likely headed west, running extra behind a set of ABBA F-units in typical NP mainline style of that era, headed for Missoula or Parkwater (Spokane) to be dispersed into lumber products services. These cars were like cadillacs when they were delivered and were prized by customers for their easy loading with the door arrangement, spec’ed with an 8-foot plug door, plus a 6′ sliding door located in the center of the car.
These cars went literally everywhere with lumber products from the PNW. Here is one offline on the Southern Railway in 1963 in Tangent’s hometown, Asheville NC. This is a good shot to see weathering on these cars in the early 1960s! The NP cars include 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.
Here is one of the NP cars on the Lehigh Valley’s Owego branch headed to or from the D&H interchange (with an F unit!) in Campville NY in 1969!
Here is one on the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles. Yup, a routing via the GN/WP/ATSF via the Inside Gateway, or an SP routing would have been viable. The left side grab irons on the NP car are distinctive – how they extend beyond the side of the car just like the prototype. You can see them in this photo on the back side of this car, at the right side of this image.
The NP cars lasted into the 1980s BN era.
The Milwaukee Road Pullman-Standard PS-1 Combination Door box cars came in Milwaukee Roads freight car red color and included the classic Milwaukee Road logo on the right side of the car. 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, which of course is different from the NP cars delivered a year later. The MILW cars lasted into the SOO era, as well as the WC era.
The Union Pacific cars 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 to be similar to the offerings that MILW and NP received from Pullman-Standard. 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 similar to 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. Union Pacific painted these cars with oxide red paint to designate their non-cushioned car status.
True to form for these cars, they went everywhere. Here is one of the UP cars parked on an industry spur on the Southern Railway at Manassas VA.
Our focus with our new release is with these three Pullman-Standard 40′ PS-1 combination door box cars, each of which is different. No other railroads had 40′ combination door Pullman-Standard built cars. Everyone needs these three railroads represented for their “foreign road” cars, even if you don’t model MILW (SOO), NP (BN), or UP.
Now, for the models! 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 schemes selected mirror a majority of the prototype photos shown above. Our first image at the top of this page shows off the “group of 3” schemes for our first run. This image shows the roofs of the three cars, and the paint variations present:
Please click on the images at right for pricing, SKUs, high resolution photos, prototype photos, car number options, and to order!
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:
– Specific body side configurations for doors
– 2 different PS-1 end configurations
– “See through” running boards (in 2 possible combinations)
– “See through” brake steps (in 2 possible combinations)
– 2 different brake housings (Equipco or Ajax, as appropriate)
– 3 different brakewheel options (Equipco, Ajax, and Universal)
• CNC-machined 33” wheels, with blackened or nickel-plated semi-scale tread (0.88”) available separately
• Recommended age 14 years and older
Finally, check out the TRUCKS on these cars! Two All-New precision truck options are available with this new car (these will be available for purchase separately in Summer 2021!)
• 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!
• Tangent Scale Models 50-Ton Barber S-2 Plain Bearing truck
Don’t forget, 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, 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!