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4 different red SWIFT boxcars OO scale printed reefer sides, different numbers
$ 2.63
- Description
- Size Guide
Description
American OO scale is between HO and S scale in size. Four different pairs of boxcar reefer sides printed on 8 cardstock sides full color, a pair of each, six different numbers availableSRLX# 5501-5506
. If you don't want to build your own from scratch, glue them on wood or plastic cars, or buy old cars on ebay that have working trucks and couplers to attach these pairs of sides to.
SWIFT wood-style 40-foot refrigerated boxcar. Let me know if you want the printed red ends also, no extra charge.
The NMRA Bulletin (July 1969 issue) says butter was shipped in a boxcar with sawdust and ice on the floor in 1851. In the late 1870s, Mr. Swift of Massachusetts asked railroads to build a special refrigerated car specifically designed to keep beef from his meat processing plant cold enroute. The railroads refused, saying it was easier to ship live cattle in stockcars. But one railroad, Grand Trunk Rwy, said that if Swift built reefers at his own expense, they would haul them. The first ten, probably of the Zimmerman type, were a failure because they had ice above the meat and it dripped down onto it as it melted. An engineer from Boston helped him design a new car with ice in the ends and circulating air. Swift's new type of reefer was a big success and reefers like it made of wood or metal remained in service for almost a century, finally replaced by mechanical reefers in the 1960s. By 1885 there were 990 reefer cars in America, by 1900 there were over 10,000 and by 1923 over 117,000 reefers in use. In 1905, SP & UP finally decided to build the nation's first railroad owned reefers, for use between the west coast and Chicago. In 1906 they formed the Pacific Fruit Express, owned 50:50 by SP & UP, placing an initial order for 10,000 new reefers. Swift continued its own owner-operated fleet of reefers into the diesel age with all-new steel reefers.
Simply cut balsa or basswood to the size of the ends and then glue on the printed cardstock sides. A one-sheet of their instructions will be included with your purchase, or you could just glue them to the sides of an existing 40' boxcar with Elmer's glue. Strombecker suggested putting a 3rd piece of wood in the center to keep the sides from bowing, while Red Ball used solid wood sides. For N or Z scale, NMRA suggests simply cutting an entire piece of balsa wood to the size of a boxcar including the sloped roof
. Ordinary Elmer white glue or Testors wood cement should work just fine and give you plenty of time to position each side just right, these are not stickers.You could even buy plastic boxcar or reefer doors from another Ebay vender and glue them to the center for more of a 3-d look, and/or attach metal-type scale ladders to the side.
These would fit right in with any steam or early diesel-era layout. If you don't like it, send them back for a full refund
Note: shipping is about the same for US, Canada and world-wide.
If you want other sets, ask for combined shipping so I can put them on a single ebay invoice to wave shipping on the other sets.