Accuracy and Detail… in Scale

 

Dear PWRS and NARC customers,

We are VERY pleased to announce that ALL of the drawings are now accepted and approved for the PS 5077 box car project! It's been a long haul and now it's time to start cutting metal. We are offering 35 versions (HO) of this car (not including paint schemes), when you take into account all the detail differences.

No matter what era you model between October 1972 and today, or what area of North America you model, there are cars in this project you need to accurately reflect traffic on your railroad.

We want to thank everyone at our factory in China for their excellent effort in getting this project to this point. We also want to thank our customers that helped the project by providing photographs and feedback as the design phase moved forward. We've had a few issues along the way related to making sure the plans were correct and by taking the time necessary to research the issues to be sure we got details right, we think the time and effort will be well worth it. We think you will, too.

We are really proud and excited with the level of detail and accuracy that our factory and their team have been able to incorporate into this very complex project. No one has ever done anything this complex in a model freight car project before and we truly believe that you, our customers, will not only be impressed with the end results once you see them in person and online. 

What was so complex about this project? There are multiple bodies (2), ends (4), side sills (5), underframes (2), doors (8), upper door tracks (3), lower door tracks (3), door stops (5), logo plates (3), door opener wheels (3), hand brakes (3), stirrup steps (3) and roofs (2), covering all the original production variations, plus modifications made to the cars later in life, like plug doors or extended roofs, doors, modified ends and multiple vent styles for baled wood pulp loading.

To date about 40% of all the cars are pre-sold, so it's time to get your orders in for this exciting, game changing car!

We will now move to the next step (cutting the moulds) and we are really looking forward to seeing samples! We hope to have the test samples in 4-5 months.

It's involved a Herculean effort in getting drawings to the point of approval, because the project is so complicated, but we know you will be impressed once you see the results. Stay tuned…

Thanks,

NARC design team

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Accuracy and Detail… in Scale

You are already familiar with our first project, the never before produced Hawker Siddeley 4550 cf. 4-Bay Cylindrical Hopper, presented in 2009 to coincide with the introduction of the brand new Government of Saskatchewan green Tiger Lily paint scheme. We went beyond industry standards as we produced this car, and other roads using Hawker Siddeley 4-bay hoppers, in 15 different body variations.

In 2013, we brought the 4000 cf. Coal Gondola, to the modelling world in 4 versions: Hawker Siddeley Trenton; National Steel Car; Marine Industries Ltd; and CN Transcona Shops. Here, too, we produced each road name with the minor variations needed to make each model unique and prototypically accurate.

2016 saw the introduction of the National Steel Car Potash Service 4275 cf. 3-Bay Covered Hopper, complete with 7 different body variations.

Here we are in 2017! Getting ready to manufacture the newest project:

Once again, North American Railcar Corporation has pushed industry standards, with the newest addition to our proud line-up of high quality model rail cars!

 Here it is, a new model, never before done by anyone…

"Wait," you say. 

These have already been done. Didn't Atlas make this car in HO scale?

"No," their cars are 5077 cf. FMC Boxcars, ours are Pullman Standard boxcars

We asked our director of research: "Aren't these cars the same?"

His comment was: "Are 5 Litre Ford Mustangs the same as 5 Litre Chevy Camero's?"

We said, "No."

So then why would an FMC 5077 be the same as a PS 5077?

These cars have never been done before, there are numerous paint schemes, and they are seen all over North America.

 

Our Boxcars are 5077 cf. 

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Introduction

Pullman Standard built 4,301 5077 cubic foot plate B box cars with sliding doors between October 1972 and August 1979 for seven original customers. In addition, Pullman supplied a total of 300 superstructure kits (car bodies and doors - Berwick Forge and Fabricating supplied the underframes)  to Golden Tye at Pickens, South Carolina for assembly during 1975-76 for the National Railway Utilization Company (NRUC). These kit cars were originally operated by St. Lawrance Railroad and Pickens Railway with NSL and PICK reporting marks during the IDP boom.

The original non-kit customers were: 

• Penn Central (PC) - one order (Lot 9602)
• Railbox (RBOX) - three orders (Lots 9794, 9831, and 9832)
• Chicago and Illinois Midland (C&IM) - one order (Lot 9831)
• Pearl River Valley (PRV) - one order (Lot 9916)
• St. Johnsbury & Lamoile County (SJL) - one order (Lot 9916)
• St. Lawrence Railroad (NSL) - one order (Lot 9962)
• Chicago and North Western (CNW) - one order (Lot 1059)

for at least nineteen (19) detail parts such as body side sills, steps, ends, doors, roofs, hand brakes and housings, underframes, ladder stiles and rungs, etc. each appropriate to the model

 

The original kit-supplied/customer-assembled customers were: 

• St. Lawrance Railroad (NSL) – two orders
• Pickens (PICK) – six orders

Unique Features

Body Style Features

There were two basic body styles incorporated during the PS production run, both incorporating ten foot wide door openings. The first body utilized twelve side posts. The first post, with the inboard ends of the grabs attached was a “Z-post” section while the remaining side posts were “hat” sections. The first body with twelve side posts was utilized only on the original order, Lot 9602 for Penn Central.

The second body style utilized on all of the following 5077 orders was modified to include only ten side posts, all of them constructed from slightly wider “hat” sections of steel channel.

Pullman supplied the car bodies and appliances for the kit-built cars for NRUC, so the body is identical to the PS-built cars.

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Five Different Side Sills: 

There were four side sill variations employed by Pullman over the five year production span. The first sill was fabricated from L-angle, with the narrow leg at the top of the sill and a notch cut out at each end for access to the trucks. 

The next order of cars were delivered with a side sill fabricated from C-channel, with a section of the web removed and the lower leg bent to follow the removed section and welded into place:

   
The next five orders were delivered with side sills fabricated with plate steel with the lower edge bent into an L-shape, with a notch at the stirrup steps.
 

The final order was delivered with a side sill similar to that on the second order, with the difference being there is a radius along the lower edge.

On the PS-supplied kit cars, the side sills (along with the bodies) were supplied by Pullman and look like the typical Pullman side sills on 5077 cubic-foot cars. But, since the underframes were supplied by Berwick Forge and Fabricating, the location of floor joists differed from the Pullman underframes and therefore the Huck bolts that fasten the underframe to the side sill are in different locations on the two different versions of the similar sills.

Side Sill 5 (Kit-built orders for NSL and PICK) – note the lack of jack pad and different locations for Huck bolts (rivets) on the side sill

Now, who else would go to the trouble to reproduce this kind of detail? Five different side sill variations!

Again, North American Railcar is providing all five side sills, applied to the appropriate cars to match the prototype. We’re thinking outside the box!

 

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Two Different Roofs + a Roof Extension

For all the orders, with the exception of one, Pullman equipped the cars with their proprietary 15-panel "bow-tie" roof. The PS-supplied kit cars were also delivered with the bow-tie panel roof.

The one exception was the order for NRUC (NSL), which cars were equipped with Stanray's 15-panel "diagonal-panel" roof.

We’ve even included the seam cap rivets on both roofs. No detail is too small to overlook!

North American Railcar has even tooled a roof extension so that three series of these cars, modified for baled wood pulp and paper service can be accurately modeled. This is another first!

For baled wood pulp and Paper

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Three Different Ends

There were three ends provided over the production span of these cars:

Pullman N4/5 "sine-wave" corrugated  (narrow top corrugation)
Pullman 5/5 "sine-wave" corrugated
Pullman 5/5 "sine-wave" corrugated with vents

 

Plus, when cars were modified for baled wood pulp and paper service, the car ends were reinforced by welding plates between the corrugations, protecting the ends from damage when pulp bales or paper rolls shift.

North American Railcar is providing all three original end variations, appropriate for the order depicted, plus, the reinforced 5/5 “sine-wave” end that was modified for pulp and paper service. No one else, before North American Railcar, has been able to offer multiple, accurately detailed ends to their freight car reproductions and still keep them competitively priced.

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Eight Different Doors

Pullman delivered most of these cars with their own proprietary embossed panel doors. However, two roads (NSL and CNW) chose their cars to be equipped with YSD 5/6/6 corrugated doors, which differed slightly in details between the two orders.

Pullman delivered most of these cars with their own proprietary embossed panel doors. However, two roads (NSL and CNW) chose their cars to be equipped with YSD 5/6/6 corrugated doors, which differed slightly in details between the two orders.

 

Repairs

Over time, as cars were shopped, doors were often replaced. To represent this activity, North American Railcar is also tooling an additional five doors, including a plug door with separate details. The additional doors are:

• YSD corrugated (common on CSX)
• EZ-Roll 7-panel
• RCS 6-panel
• YSD Exterior-Post, Horizontal Gear (plug door) with separate door rods, door handle and crank arm (at the top of the door)
• Prime 8-panel  (plate C, extended height cars for pulp and paper service)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modifications

BC Rail and Canadian Pacific had cars from two lots modified for pulp and paper service in 2000 (BCOL) and 2002 (CP). The modifications included increasing the capacity to 100-tons, raising the roof, applying stiffeners (plates) to the ends, installing vents along the floor and roof lines and installing taller doors.

Lot 9602 car, CP 214456 (nee-PC) has been modified for baled wood pulp and paper service by raising the roof and adding vents along the roof and floor lines to allow moisture from the warm, wet pulp bales to vent outside, keeping the interior of the car drier, reducing rust and related issues. The ends have aslo been modified by welding nine strips of steel between the corrugations (see the close-up above, in the ends section) to help resist damage from shifting loads. The original 70-ton trucks with 33” diameter wheels have been replaced with secondhand 100-trucks with 36” wheels and the bolster and underframe have been upgraded to handle the increased load limit. The original PS embossed door has been replaced with a taller, plate C Prime 7-panel door to go with its raised roof. This version is faithfully reproduced in HO scale by North American Railcar and these cars are seen all over North America, hauling baled pulp, rolls of paper or building materials such as plywood, particle board or oriented strand board.

 

Darrell Sawyer photograph

Lot 9831 car, CP 214870 (nee-RBOX) has been modified for pulp and paper service as well. All three versions were modified slightly differently. The CP cars were all modified at Alstom Transport Services, Calgary, Alberta. Compare the vents on the three different cars. North American Railcar has faithfully reproduced all the various vent designs (upper and lower) and applies them accurately, based on photographs. We don’t just break the mold by including vents, we hand apply the correct size vent on the correct cars!

Darrell Sawyer photograph 

As delivered, all the Pullman Standard 5077 cubic-foot cars came with doors that covered a 10-foot wide by 9-foot, 11-inch wide opening. The cars modified for pulp and paper service got their roofs raised by 5-inches (from 10-feet, 7-inches to 11-feet) which increased the height of the door openings by 8-inches (from 9-feet, 11-inches to 10-feet, 7-inches).

North American Railcar is replicating these cars by providing cars with a roof extension, stiffened ends, 3 different side vent styles, the taller Plate C Prime 8-panel doors and 100-ton Barber S-2 trucks. Who would have thought that you’d be able to roster such unique cars on your layout without having to resort to brass, resin kits or a major kit-bashing or scratch-building project? Only from North American Railcar!

Because of North American Railcar's modular approach to tooling, we can offer a variety of detail part options and still keep assembly costs competitive. For example, as mentioned, the doors are all separate parts instead of cast-on. While this approach increases our up-front tooling costs, we can later use these doors (and other detail parts) on other box car projects, saving future tooling costs, which means higher detail and more variety for you, without you having to pay more for your highly detailed, super accurate freight cars.

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Hand Brakes

The hand brakes equipped on these cars were provided by Ajax, Ellcon-National and Universal.

 

 

Naturally, North American Railcar is applying the correct hand brakes as were applied to the prototype cars, based on photographic evidence.  Who else would do that for you?

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Trucks

North American Railcar has tooled an all new ASF 70-ton Ride Control roller bearing truck with free rolling scale 33" diameter wheels and rotating bearing caps to accurately match the trucks that were delivered on the prototype cars. With a magnifying glass, you can even read the foundry data cast onto the side frames!

After a number of years in service, some cars were modified and equipped with 100-ton trucks with 36” diameter wheels. North American Railcar will include our highly detailed, very free rolling Barber S-2 100-ton trucks on appropriate models to match the prototype.

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Brake Systems

Two different brake system options were available on the Pullman Standard 5077 - horizontal and vertical brake levers. Four orders were equipped with the horizontal brake lever version while three orders were equipped with the vertical brake lever (hook and eye) option.

 

The kit cars were provided with horizontal brake lever systems, and of course, North American Railcar will provide the correct version for each order modeled.

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Draft Gear (Coupler Pockets)

Pullman equipped these cars (as a customer option) with either rigid draft gear (coupler boxes), or draft gear with 10" travel end-of-car cushioning units. Later, some secondhand cars were modified with 10” end-of-car cushioning. Of course, depending on the order, the appropriate draft gear will be applied by North American Railcar.

Our customers have told us that they’d like to see future releases come out with “semi-scale” draft gear. Well. The Pullman Standard PS5077 box car is the first North American Railcar model with semi-scale draft gear. We listen to our customer’s feedback!

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Detail Parts:

North American Railcar Corporation is NOT skimping on individually applied detail parts. This isn’t your Grandpa’s 1990s freight car model! There are very few details cast onto this car. The roof is separate. The doors. Plug door rods and crank arm are all separate. The upper and lower door tracks. Upper door stops. Hand brake housings. The hand brake wheels, separate. Bell cranks. The etched metal end crossover platforms. The stirrup steps. Ladder stiles. Ladder rungs. All individually applied by hand. Coupler boxes and covers. Door opener tracks and wheels. The underframe brake rigging. Brake hangers. Brake release rods and hangers. Brake rods. Air hoses. See the pattern? If it’s a separate part and it’s interchangeable on the real car, then it probably is on the North American Railcar model!

 Speaking of stirrup steps, we’ve tooled three different styles of stirrup steps. These are finely detailed steps, complete with rivets where required and separately applied to the car at the factory. And did we mention the two different styles of bent wire coupler cut bars? One style for cushioned and one style for non-cushioned cars! And the bent wire ladder rungs? All 32 of them hand applied.

And the door tracks! Both upper and lower door tracks are super detailed, separate parts. But there’s not just one style of door track on the real cars, so there’s three different styles of door tracks, depending on the car modeled. And of course you need door stops to keep the doors from running off the end of the tracks. Like the prototype, we’ve tooled five different door stops! Now, how’s that for prototype fidelity?

Our customers have told us that they’d like to see future releases come out with “semi-scale” draft gear. Well. The Pullman Standard PS5077 box car is the first North American Railcar model with semi-scale draft gear. We listen to our customer’s feedback!

Some second-hand cars were modified with plug doors and some with end-of-car cushioning. North American Railcar is making these options available to you as well, decorated for the appropriate roads. We’ve got a car for everyone!

PWRS/NARCorp is tooling this iconic Pullman Standard 50 ft plate B boxcar with all the various side sills, ends, roofs, hand brakes and steps, plus the various door styles, for a total of thirty-five versions to be produced! Nobody else could get away with doing thirty-five variations of a car in plastic and still keep the price the same or lower than other comparable cars on the market. These cars were seen all across North America starting in 1972 and some of these cars are still on the rails today.

Each version of this box car has been meticulously researched and designed to incorporate many separately applied detail parts, including wire grabs, etched brass end platforms, plastic steps, ladder stiles, hand brakes, etc. Each car modeled will be equipped with all the correct details (body, side sills, steps, ends, hand brakes, roof, doors, underframes and trucks, etc.) based on photographs of that particular car. The paint and decoration has also been thoroughly researched and the cars are marked with super sharp graphics and accurate colors. You can even read the text on the trucks and hand brakes!

As is North American Rail Car practice, the Pullman Standard 5077 cubic foot box car is equipped with genuine Kadee #58 semi-scale couplers, NARCorp High Performance/Low Friction super detailed trucks with metal wheel sets for reliable operation. The cars weight was determined for smooth tracking and superior performance and meets NMRA standards.

North American Railcar is pushing the envelope and offering model railroaders cars that they could otherwise never expect to be produced in plastic, in quantity. And at a competitive price! Stay tuned for upcoming images of pre-production samples.

For detailed information on each lot, click on the linked (blue) roads - only those will be done in this first release:

Lot 9602 (PC*, CR, CP) - HO Scale

Lot 9602 (PC*, CR, CP) - N Scale

Lot 9794 (RBOX*, SOU, SSAM, WC) - HO Scale

Lot 9794 (RBOX*, SOU, SSAM, WC) - N Scale

Lot 9831 (RBOX*, ATSF, BN, C&O, CSXT, SBD, SOU, WC) - HO Scale

Lot 9831 (RBOX*, ATSF, BN, C&O, CSXT, SBD, SOU, WC) - N Scale

Lot 9832 (RBOX*, MRL, UP) - HO Scale

Lot 9832 (RBOX*, MRL, UP) - N Scale

Lot 9916 (PRV*, SLJ*, WVRC) - HO Scale

Lot 9916 (PRV*, SLJ*, WVRC) - N Scale

Lot 9962 (NSL*) - HO Scale

Lot 9962 (NSL*) - N Scale

Lot 1059 (CNW*) - HO Scale

Lot 1059 (CNW*) - N Scale

Kit Cars (PICK*, B&O, CNA, TM) - HO Scale

Kit Cars (PICK*, B&O, CNA, TM) - N Scale

*Original owners

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Look for these Roads in our First Production of

Pullman Standard 5077 cf. 50' Single Door Boxcars

Available in HO and N scales

         

 

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We meticulously research each and every model type, with all their variations. We design our cars, using builder's blueprints, to produce highly detailed, prototypically accurate models. We will not go to production until we are satisfied that we have achieved perfection.

Model Features:

• Separately applied detail parts, including photo etched brass and lost wax castings, for at least nineteen (19) detail parts such as body side sills, steps, ends, doors, roofs, hand brakes and housings, underframes, ladder stiles and rungs, etc. each appropriate to the model
• Etched metal crossover platforms                
  Fine painting with road markings, numbers, and dimi-data with correct graphics, fonts and locations as per prototype
• Readable Text on trucks and hand brakes (some persons may need magnifier)
  NARC High Performance Low Friction™ metal wheels & trucks for reliable operation, 33 inch  and 36 inch as appropriate
• Properly weighted for smooth tracking and superior performance
• Factory installed Kadee^® # 58 "Scale" couplers (HO Scale)
• Micro-Trains^® Magne-Matic couplers (N Scale)

Accuracy and Detail… in Scale

Lot 9602-1 - Penn Central (PC)

 

Lot 9602-3 - Conrail (CR)

 

Lot 9602-4 - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)

 

Lot 9794-1 - Railbox (RBOX) Early Version 

 

Lot 9794-1 - Southern (SOU) ex-Railbox

 

Lot 9831-1 - Santa Fe (ATSF)

 

 Lot 9831-1 - Burlington Northern (BN)

 

Lot 9831-1 - Seaboard Systems (SBD) ex-Railbox

 

Lot GT-4 - Chessie System (B&O)

 

Lot 9831-4 - CSX Transportation (CSXT)

 

Lot 9832-3 - Union Pacific (UP)

 

 Lot 9832-1 - Railbox (RBOX) Late Version

 

Lot 9832-2 - Wisconsin Central (SSAM)

 

 Lot 9832-2 - Montana Rail link (MRL)

 

Lot 9962-1 - St Lawrence Railroad (NSL)

 

Lot 1059-3 - Chicago & North Western (CNW)

 

Reservations Still Being Accepted

Expected Release: Spring 2018