Surviving 36ft Boxcars in the 50s

[sailormatlac]

Thank you very much Wayne, this is a terrific tutorial you did! Looks like a very fun build. The Hutchin ends are gorgeous! ;-) Do you know how much SU-class boxcars were in service by 1952?

You're right about the Erie Fowler cars. They were almost wiped out by the early 1950s. The only reason I did get one was because Harlem Station was an Erie terminal, otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered with it.

Originally, I planned to set the layout in 1957, but there was an Erie Magazine article from 1952 giving operation details and a customer lists. Over the time, while searching for suitable cars, it became apparent a lot of older cars of various road and vintage survived up until the early 1950s. Since most railroads got rid of their older rolling stock after WWII and the scrapping process took a few years to complete, it was a fitting choice. Thus, for the sake of variety, the early 1950s was a sweet spot.

Now back completing my 16 reefers... Madness, madness!

Matt