Atlas - 1932 ARA Boxcar

On this Atlas 40' car I added a note on each tack board.

Earlier this winter I picked up two used Atlas ARA boxcars that Peter and I would re-letter. We did not like the stock lettering so Peter went to work digging into his decal collection. We came up with a Seaboard and Western Maryland as the two we would go with. Peter went with the ribbed ends car which left me with the flat plate ends. The only prototype photos I could come up with was for a Seaboard boxcar found in the Sept. 2005 RMC article by Ted Culotta. Check out Ted's great article for more details and photo. It appears Seaboard had 1,000 of these cars built in 1934 followed by a second batch of 1,000 in 1937.

This 54" emblem replaced the 40" one beginning in 1947. This car was built in 1934. This car's details are pretty nice right out of the box although the couplers are over-scale.

The cars are repainted Floquil boxcar red followed by a coat of gloss. I used a set of Champ decals HB-8 which is good for 40' and 50' cars. Since the set did not have the classic "Orange Blossom Special" I went with the as delivered look to the car, but with the larger emblem. Although my car is finished at some point when I track down this slogan and the built dates...they will be added. The car got a coat of flat finish followed by Bragdon powders. The powders are not sealed so they can be washed off if I ever find this slogan...George Dutka

Builders photo found on-line views as-delivered with the 40" emblem.