Tangent Scale Models - HO Scale - Greenville 86 ft Double Plug Door Box Car - Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) #110106 - X60B “Delivery 1964” 1965+ Era - Brown/Grey/White With Yellow/White Lettering (SKU 20009-25032-06)
Available On: November 1, 2021
During the 1960s, the most radical freight car designs employed the extreme height clearances offered by Plate F car designs. In 1964, no car type articulated this extreme more than the 86-foot, purpose-built “Auto Parts” boxcars. These large boxcars became fixtures on the rails all over North American mainlines, riding hot trains to deliver components vital to the productivity of auto plants. While several car builders offered 86’ auto parts boxcars, the most prolific builder of the double plug door design was Greenville Steel Car Company of Greenville PA. More than 4,400 of these cars were acquired by most major railroads, and they were assigned to pools where multiple railroad’s cars served a specific shipper or shippers. Original utilization of these cars was for Ford, Pontiac, and Chrysler, as well as deliveries from 3rd party parts suppliers to the auto plants. Greenville’s 1964-1978 production was the longest run for this car type, with many still in service today.
Tangent Scale Models is pleased to introduce the Greenville 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car in HO scale! This is not just a single box car model, but instead a system of 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car models. Tangent is pleased to introduce the industry’s first “high-detail” 86’ auto parts car model!
Our focus today is with the double plug door box cars from Greenville. The “other” 86′ Greenville auto parts cars – the quad door cars (four doors visible on one side) – represented 8% of the overall Greenville Steel Car production. We have more body variations in progress, including the quad-door cars for GM and Oldsmobile service (original assignments which changed with time) as well as other double-door variants!
Now, for the models! The Tangent Scale Models Greenville 86′ Double Plug Door Box Car system continues the design and operational standards set by previous models in the Tangent product line. Our product builds up to seven major build variations (yes SEVEN, you read that right), including three specific body variations, four different brake layouts (two brake systems), five different draft gear combinations, and three underframe styles which incorporate Center-of-Car Cushioning and End-Of-Car Cushioning options. The Tangent Greenville 86’ box car includes a 70-ton or 100-ton truck option, with selections appropriate for each paint scheme, and both include “spinning” roller bearing caps. Finally, our cars are weighted properly and come with Kadee couplers mounted in specially-designed coupler pockets which means they operate as good as they look. Due to the car’s size, we recommend curves of 24” or larger for these models.
The Tangent Greenville 86’ High Cube Double Plug Door Box Car system is a state of the art, dimensionally-accurate scale replica that was tooled to Greenville Steel Car plans and verified with field measurements. Our model comes with highly accurate “true-to-life” colors and “hyper-accurate” lettering including exact stenciling, fonts, and lettering placement. Our Greenville 86’ system of models offers a multitude of detail variations and phases to replicate the many different Greenville Steel Car offerings. A quick synopsis of our era and railroad-specific detail variations include:
• Body shells with or without overlapping side panels
• EOCC (end of car cushioning) or COCC (center of car cushioning) “near scale”draft gear variations with genuine Kadee scale couplers
• Separate flexible rubber air hoses
• Roofs with running board supports remaining in place (1965+ appearance since the running boards were gone by 1966) and roofs without running board supports (1965+ Greenville production)
• Under car brake system variations
• “See through” etched metal end crossover platforms in three possible options: Gypsum, Apex, or Morton
• Side tack board types/sizes and locations
• Seven prototypically-accurate brake stands (Ajax, Universal, Equipco, Miner 6600, Champion-Peacock, Elcon-National, Peacock 850)
• Two possible handbrake “brake wheel” options
• Optional 3rd door arm hinge parts to be configured one of three ways
• Two brand new truck sideframes: 70-Ton Barber S-2A Roller Bearing Truck or a 100-Ton “Low Profile” Barber S-2-C Roller Bearing Truck (outlined at the end of this press release)
• 33” or 36” wheels, as applicable to each model
• Two brand new truck brake beam part options
• Three brand new “rotating” roller bearing truck cap options
• Recommended age 14 years and older
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) X60B “Delivery 1964” 1965+ Era is our first PRR offering in the Greenville auto parts world and of course PRR purchased a large group of 145 cars prior to the PC merger. Painted in the characteristic PRR freight car red colors with large PRR keystone and gold “Cushioned Load” stenciling, these cars are sure to be crowd pleasers and were seen widely. The PRR prototype car was modified in 1965, with the removal of the roof running board, the lowering of the Miner brake wheel housing and removal of high grab irons and end ladders. If you look closely, you can see all of these “remnants” on the sides and ends of the model. Even the roof on the model features the old bolt locations of the running board supports! 70T Trucks with 33” wheels and rotating “Timken” roller bearing caps finish off this X60B offering. Our PRR masterpieces are available in six different numbers. PRR/PC fans rejoice!
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