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Homepage/ News & Reviews/ Product Reviews/ Tangent HO Scale Greenville 86 Feet High Cube Box Car
These impressive details and operation of the boxcar are a compelling addition
These impressive details and operation of the boxcar are a compelling addition
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In the 1970s, tall cube boxcars seemed to be everywhere, thanks to the tangent scale model, the highly detailed model of the Greenville Steel Automobile Company. The 86-foot-tall cube can also roll on your HO layout.
These monster cars were made in the 1960s. At that time, the bigger the better, efficiency was the slogan of American companies. Earlier methods of moving car parts required specially equipped boxcars, which were actually only suitable for a single type of load. As automakers in the 1950s began to make changes to the styling of their cars every year, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s they began to expand their production lines to compact, medium and full-size cars, and boxcars that could only hold one part. Out of favor.
Designed to fit the load of pallets and "baskets", these pallets and "baskets" can be loaded into large boxcars with forklifts, so that these larger types of parts can be transported more safely and efficiently. Pallets and baskets appear at the end of the useful life of many boxcars, so it makes sense to develop cars that can better serve the automotive industry.
The first to appear on the scene were 60-foot auto parts cars used for higher density parts such as engines, gearboxes and axle components. But lower-density items, such as body panels and interior parts, are filled with 60-foot cars before they reach their load-bearing capacity.
Ford worked with American Car & Foundry (ACF) to develop larger cars to more closely match the weight and volume of the load. The result is an 85-foot prototype with a volume of 10,000 cubic feet and a height of 17 feet (a tall cube indeed!).
In addition to ACF, other high-cube car manufacturers include Greenville Steel Car Co., Pullman-Standard and Thrall. The production car is 86 feet long and equipped with four or eight doors (two pairs on each side). Greenville built more than 4,400 vehicles of this type between 1964 and 1978 for shared services across multiple railways. Some of these cars are still in use.
Our samples from Tangent were decorated with Penn Central and Erie Lacka-the paint scheme we wanted to deliver, representing some of the many variations Tangent designed for its high cube boxcar.
Our two cars have different buffer systems, the center of the PC car and the rear of the EL car.
Our samples also show two truck types designed for these cars: the 70-ton Barber S-2A or the 100-ton "low profile" Barber S-2-C truck. The car is equipped with 33-inch or 36-inch wheels, depending on the situation. Grab irons, cross-platforms, braking equipment and door hardware are among the many individually applied parts on these models.
Our models use opaque paint-Penn Central Deepwater Green or Boxcar Red from EL cars, both with metallic gray doors. All prints are clearly and easy to read under a magnifying glass. Penn Central cars represent cars delivered to the railroad in October 1968, originally painted in PC colors, rather than repainted Pennsylvania or New York Central cars.
The EL car was one of the first 100 cars delivered to Yili Lakwana in Greenville in 1965. Ilila Kwana returned to Greenville in 1966 and purchased 143 more cars, making it one of the larger roster in the Greenville High Cube.
A picture I found in Simmons-Boardman's Car and Locomotive Cyclopedia Centennial Edition in 1974 was all within a few inches. The font position of the PC car matches the photo in the 1970 Encyclopedia of Cars and Locomotives. The lettering on the EL car matches the photo in the EL Freight and Passenger Equipment Color Guide by Larry DeYoung (Morning Sun Books, 1995).
I tested the car on the Atlas. 4 and no. There are 6 turnouts on my shelf layout, and I can push or pull the car through the intersection and down into each yard and branch track without any difficulty. These models are designed for 24 inch minimum radius curves, but they will look better on wider curves within a 40 inch radius.
The CNC turned metal wheels with rotating bearing caps all meet the specifications, and the Kadee proportional size coupler is installed at the correct height. These carriages weigh 8.1 (EL) and 8.2 (PC) ounces, which is approximately 1 ounce heavier than the 7 ounces required in the National Model Railway Association recommended practice 20.1
As a fan of railways in the 1970s, I am very happy to see these cars. They are beautifully detailed and well operated, and I look forward to seeing these eye-catching paint schemes in my future layouts. Maybe there are some places on your model railway.
Price: $54.95 Manufacturer Tangent Scale Models PO Box 6514 Asheville, NC 28816 tangentscalemodels.com Times: 1964 to present, depending on the paint scheme. Road names: Penn Central; Erie Lakwana; Baltimore and Ohio; Chicago, Burlington And Quincy; Cornell; Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton; Missouri Pacific; South Lai. And Wabash features • 33" or 36" CNC machined metal wheels, according to specifications • Kadee scale coupler height is correct • Prototype specific details for multiple factory applications • Two truck brake beam component options • Weight: 8.2 ounces (based on 1.2 Ounce is too heavy) NMRA RP-20.1)
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