Okay, I was looking for a "quick" Christmas project that would get me modeling but not something that would clutter my workbench. So I picked up the nov/dec 2014 issue of N scale Railroading. In it was a short article on how to lower the height of a MT 60 ft. excessive height boxcar by using BLMA trucks and body mounted couplers. I had everything on hand so I gave it a go....Simple...right??? Well mounting the couplers is a breeze, (and I'm really loving body mounted couplers), but the BLMA trucks WILL NOT work with the 36" wheels they come with. Did the prototype cars come with 33" or 36" wheels??? Anyway they do work great once the 33" wheels are put in the trucks and the extra side sill is attached..... I'm just saying.....:cute:
It depends on the service that the cars are in. Autoparts 60' boxcars typically were rated for 70-tons and had 33" wheels being used in the same trucks (appearance wise) to that of the Appliance cars while the Appliance cars were rated at 100-tons and used 36" wheels because of the additional weight involved with shipping their loads, which includes large (6' or so wide) rolls of paper. It is all wrapped up in what service the cars were being used for. There was a great article in Railroad Model Craftsman some years back that discussed Appliance boxcars that included a number of great photographs of these cars used by a variety of owners but a search of the Train Magazine Index does not bring the issue up in the results (not unusual since they revamped the Index which now misses more than it finds except that you know the exact title of the article, and even then it is up in the air as to whether it will display it or not). CSX has the following explanation on-line about the 60' hi-cube cars... "60' hi-roof cars are the primary choice for appliances, along with rolled paper and auto parts. The additional space makes it especially useful for lighter products that tend to 'cube out before weighing out.' They can be used for all the commodities handled in other 50’ or 60’ boxcars."
