GE-Ingersoll Boxcab

[Dakota7820]

Trying to put together a roster for a small railroad set in 1950's NE Texas and SE Oklahoma where I live. This fictional line will be somewhere around 60 miles in length. Traffic was consist of agricultural products (grain, cotton, some cattle shipments) and oil on the Texas side, and mostly lumber products on the Oklahoma side.

My question is, would it be plausible for a pair of GE-Ingersoll boxcab diesels to have survived into the 1950's on this small railroad? I plan to have 4 or 5 steam locomotives for the main power, but I like the looks of early boxcabs and want to represent some sort of diesel power. If so, I'm not sure that they would've been operated throughout the whole system, but maybe they could be seen carrying short loads of logs to sawmills in the Oklahoma hills, or similar types of work?

Thanks for any advice!

[Quentin]

Well, your answer is "yes" and "no". Let's start with the "no". -->There were none of those GE-Ingersoll boxcabs in Oklahoma OR Texas, and only 17 were built.

As for the "Yes": --> The last GE IR boxcab was withdrawn from service in the 1960's! Kinda surprising, until you learn that its last job was in a privately owned mine. This boxcab is the only surviving one, and is currently sitting on a flatbed car on a siding near a California railroad museum. In the elements. At least its still in (mildly) good condition... for now, unless they throw at least a carport over it.

[jward]

Texas Mexican operated homebuilt boxcabs into the 1950s,

[Quentin]

Those were operated on the Texas-Mexico Border, not the red river border. But still, pretty cool.

Hope all this helps!

-Quentin

[Trainman203]

You can do whatever you want.  I say run it.

Boxcab diesels are cool.  They look like electric locomotives of the time.   Streamlining was still a decade away, practicality ruled just like with steam engines.  Model Die Casting offered a boxcab model way back in the days of yore, one might turn up on eBay.  There may have been a brass one too.  They are a little too arcane for the Bach Man to tool one up, I'm afraid.

[Quentin]

I think the Bach Man should create a boxcab. It would be pretty cool to run on my 1930's era layout.

-Quentin

[Trainman203]

Those early boxcars were slow and weak, laughed at and written off by the mighty steam builders. The mighty locomotive companies were hidebound, didn't understand how rapidly technology would advance, and didn't try to build a diesel until 20 years later.  By then, though, the cat had been out of the bag for awhile.  EMC/EMD had perfected the modern template, and Lima/Baldwin pulled each other down under water, eventually getting into the heavy equipment business.  Alco did have locomotive success for awhile, but never was able to truly catch up.

[jward]

Most boxcabs were early, experimantal and underpowered. DIesel engine technology made incredible advances in the 1930s to the point where a decent horsepower rating could be obtained without being too heavy for the locomotive. WHo needed a 300 hp boxcab when by 1939 you could get a reliable 1350 hp road unit or 1000hp switcher that was much better suited to actual conditions? As such, boxcabs were relatively rare, and mostly built as an alternative to electrification of marginal urban operations in areas where there were strong pollution laws. In that respect, and in their reliability issues and inadequate power they were much like to-day's genset locomotives.

As such, while in theory it is possible that a 1930s shortline might buy boxcabs (see Texas Mexican) it is unlikely. Most shortlines weren't prosperous enough to invest in an unproven technology, especially when used steam power could be bought for little more than scrap value. Remember, in the 1930s, times were hard enough to bring even the big railroads into bankruptcy.

[Quentin]

Thanks for the info. There were only 17 of these boxcabs built, by the way.

-Quentin

[Piyer]

The Foley Brothers 110-1 (100 ton, 600hp) - the sole survivor, handled coal in Montana. I would suggest that this could be the genesis for your backstory. The oil company might have bought one or two for switching the oil fields and for showing off what their oil could be used for. The unit(s) could still be working for the oil company, handling cars to and from the interchange with your main railroad. You could even do the same with geared steam locomotives on your lumber company lines. Three railroads (four with your outside connection) on one model railroad. The two industrial lines could even use your roundhouse for routine maintenance - or the diesels could have their own shop on the oil line.

Just because a steam road shortline couldn't afford early diesels doesn't mean that its oil industry customer wasn't able to - especially in the year or so before the Stock Market Crash.   

[Trainman203]

Want to see one of these babies in action?

https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A33691

[Trainman203]

Who needs a backstory.  If you want to run one of these engines, do it.  Life is too short.

[ebtnut]

I  remember seeing one of the original I-R locos at the I-R factory. It was certainly on its last legs but was still operable doing switching on-site.  I probably took a pic of it out the bus window on an NMRA regional convention fan tour.  Buried somewhere in the shoeboxes full of yellow slide boxes. 

[Len]

Who needs a backstory.  If you want to run one of these engines, do it.  Life is too short.

That's what I love about my layout, when it's not in boxes, the 'KL&B Eastern Line Railroad Museum'. Eastern be defined as anything east of the Continental Divide. I can operate pretty much whatever I want, from any era, and the nit pickers can't say a word.

Len