CPR Boxcars - White Division Fleet

Here we see my small fleet of CPR steel sided boxcars. The one next to the caboose is my new True Line Trains 1937 Minibox  offering.

After being over at Don's I decided to purchase one of the CPR True Line Trains cars. I picked the Spans the World logo as that is my favourite. I actually have a couple other CPR boxcars in my fleet. I had to dig them out from the back of my display case. One is a PS-1 International of Maine car I painted and lettered and the other an Athearn blue box kit that I built back in the 1980's to represent the same cars True Line released.

CPR 240007
This boxcar is a True Line Trains model that looks great. There is not anything one needs to add. I normally over spray my cars with Floquil boxcar red to tone down the shine. Since I was not planning any air brushing last week I gave the car a coat of Bragdon powders. Mainly dark rust but a bit of soot is also applied. I think the car looks good and the powder appears to be staying in place well while handling the car.

CPR 223235
This car I built sometime in the late 1980's. It is an Athearn blue box kit that I added wire grabs, bleed rod, air hoses, uncoupling levers, styrene roof walk, stirrups, Kadee's, brake piston and chain and cut down the door with a new track. During that era those were the changes most of us did to improve the looks of our cars. It was painted Floquil boxcar red and CDS dry transfers are applied. I believe all the weathering was chalk applied at a much later date. I took a close look at this car as I could not remember if it was brush painted or air brushed. The finish appears smooth, so it probably was one of the first cars I airbrushed.

CPR 269479
When they first came out I bought a load of McKean PS-1 boxcars (still have a half dozen un-built kits in my drawer today...not sure why). One was painted and lettered for the International of Maine Division. Although they are a better detailed car than the early Athearn cars were for that era I still did add operating levers, Kadee's, new stirrups, air hoses and bleed rod. I used a CDS dry transfer set for this model which was applied after I air brushed it boxcar red. For some reason back then I did not paint the ends black. It is on the shop track waiting for the airbrush to come out....George Dutka

Here we see a comparison between a True Line Trains boxcar, left and an Athearn blue box kit, right.

This CPR boxcar number tells us it was built in 1939. I used an Athearn boxcar to emulate it as best I could in the early 1980's. It still remains in the WRD fleet but is used infrequently.

My recent addition to the WRD fleet is a CPR 1937 Minibox car.  All I did before putting it into service was add a bit of Bragdon powder weathering.

CP International of Maine Division boxcar is a McKean kit I built back in the 1990's.