Hello. I'm in the process of building a switching layout set in the 1970's and I was wondering when were cars of 36 to 40 feet in length officially removed from service? I have a grain elevator which is the main focal point of the layout and I would like to use a fleet of Athearn 40ft grain boxcars. Also were there any instances where these cars were kept in service because of a special situation? Thanks Jorge
Jorge- Out here in the NW USA, there were still plenty of 40' box cars during the 1970's. I would imagine the same was true all across the land. The amount still in service on a specific RR might paint a different picture. A possible resource would be finding someone with Official Railway Equipment Registers covering those years. I have only one, dated 1971. So that doesn't fill in many gaps. It appears that your chosen model RR empire is freelance? If so, remember it's your kingdom. So you can flex things somewhat to make it work. You're the only one who needs to be happy with the results! Boxcab E50
<font color="336633">I know the BN used 40' boxcars in grain sevice into the early 1980's This was for servral reasons the main one was that there was a lot of very light rail on the grain branches, and could not handle 100t covered hoppers.</font>
I didn't see too many 40-footers in northeastern Oklahoma, except on the MKT mainline- quite a few of 'em in red with "MKT" in large white letters (I was told they were meant for the Navy ammunition plant in Savannah, OK, south of McAlester). I don't know if you model a specific year, or the whole decade. There were more 40-footers in service the first part of the decade than the last part. But, it all comes down to what space you have, curve radius, and your own preferences. In short, it's your railroad, and running 40-footers is OK (it's also prototypically correct).
At the feed mill I run in wisconsin, we had 40' grain cars into the early 80's. I think the last one came in about 1984. They were the only way we could unload the grain. Then things changed and got more modern, they tore the siding out and it all comes in by truck now. The Milwaukee Road main line (CP) still runs 20' from the back of my mill!!!
