I recently acquired an N scale 40' SLSF Frisco boxcar in a light blue scheme, "Ship it on the Frisco". Not being a Frisco guy, is this paint scheme reality? I cannot find a single photo of a blue Frisco boxcar of any length. I'm suspecting it is bogus.
I don't have Nick Molo's Frisco/Katy car guide, but IIRC that color is legit. I can say that Frisco had different-color boxcars denoting the type of freight they carried. For instance, orange was for cereal, tan for beer. The BCR was general freight. When I get back to the apartment after work, I'll consult the Molo book and let you know for sure, unless another Frisco guy beats me to it (which is not a bad thing).
Thanks Bob, I would like to know what it carried. I thought the car was cool when I got it, but do like to keep things fairly proto. It's an older Atlas USA PS1 with sliding doors.
Nick Molo's book that Bob referenced is the only material I've come across that mentions their use. Nick speculates they likely carried food products from General Foods based on the color used. Mike Condren has a photo of one of these on his site: Frisco Box Car Photos Look about a 3rd of the way down the page, car 15519 shows a heavily weathered blue Frisco although it is a 50 footer. 75 of these cars existed: #s 15500-15574. I haven't seen any pics of 40 footers in the blue scheme however. -Mike
Good info, thanks so much Mike. That's a nice gallery. Carrying food is good, I can go with that. OK then, I think I'll weather the heck out of it. That photo you provided is about what I had in mind already.
After doing a little digging, I discovered Frisco had 50-foot boxcars painted blue apparently for servicing the General Foods plant in Memphis. They were leased from Chicago Freight Car, and numbered in the 15500-15574 series. Judging by the photo, they also have plug doors. Unfortunately, no 40-footers in blue. In the strictest prototypical sense, your 40-footer is incorrect. However, were it orange, it would be plausible for service carrying Kellogg's products. If you want to use the car on your railroad, I won't sic the prototype police on you
Interesting, and thanks Bob. Not the first time I've picked up a 40-footer with a 50-footer-only scheme. It seems to have happened a lot on older N releases. Now I'm hungry, think I'll have a bowl of cereal.
