86’ Double Door Auto Parts Boxcar - Western Pacific 86073



Bluford Shops is introducing a new run of our N scale Pullman Standard 86’ Double Door Auto Parts Boxcars. This new set of releases feature a new draft gear design that accommodates 1015 and compatible couplers (included,) our latest 70 ton roller bearing trucks and metal wheels. The minimum radius is 11” (note the old “lift kit” for even tighter curves has been discontinued.) They also include separate wire grab irons and etched metal platforms on the ends. The draft gear is mounted to the body but has a spring centered swing action that both resists string-lining the train pulling through curves and resists the trucks climbing the rail during shoving moves.

These super-size boxcars were originally built to carry high-value low-density automobile parts such as body panels and window glass to final assembly plants. Cars were purchased in pools that included several railroads (based on mileage) and several auto plants. For instance, a pool could include plants in California, Michigan, Georgia and New York and include boxcars from more than half a dozen railroads. Cars could be assigned to any destination in the pool whether or not it was on the home road. This led to situations where some cars from Western Pacific for instance would be running from Buffalo to Atlanta and back without ever seeing home rails. As a result, you would see a wider range of road names in a block of auto parts cars than you would with other types of cars. In later years, these cars could be found carrying other low-density loads such as turbine fans, paper pulp, breakfast cereal and even peat moss used in landscaping.

Placement of road numbers, some data elements and even logos may vary by road number based on the prototype. 

Western Pacific took delivery of these cars from Pullman Standard in 1967 in the “Distribution Dividend” paint scheme. As they came due for repainting, they received this paint scheme. WP served a Ford plant in Milpitas, California and was therefore obligated to contribute cars to the pool for that plant. This pool included plants in New York and Georgia leading to some WP cars moving back and forth between those two plants – far from their western home.