Steel Box Cars

[Moundcity]

The Hawaiian Railroad books published by TRP have been popular over the past couple of years.   The Oahu Railway had some outside braced steel sided box cars that would make nice models.  These cars were larger than the current cars in the Bachmann line but not as long as some steel cars on some Latin American roads.  These cars were exported to other places like Mexico and maybe to Guatemala and El Salvador.  Please consider this as a possible future release.

Tom P.

[aussie30inch]

Hello

Yes Tom P what I good choice, those woul make an excellent choice and a more modern look of around the late 30's till the presant day how about Mr Bachmann and also perhaps some steel Fish Belly flats and a NEW Longer Caboose?
Looking forward to whats planed for us hope fully with some new annoucements sooon!

Geoff aussie30inch

[Lee Carlson]

The EBT's outside braced steel boxcars are pretty nice
cars, and the only US mainland narrow gauge steel cars,
to my knowledge.  The 2 EBT cabooses are pretty nice, too.
...
...
...
Not to mention Mikados (especially No. 12)

Lee Carlson

[NKline]

The EBT's outside braced steel boxcars are pretty nice
cars, and the only US mainland narrow gauge steel cars,
to my knowledge.  The 2 EBT cabooses are pretty nice, too.
...
...
...
Not to mention Mikados (especially No. 12)

Lee Carlson

I'll second Lee on this, I'd like to see steel EBT boxcars, also steel EBT flats and an EBT caboose.

-Nathan

[steinked]

If you can do with a "shorty", Dallas Mallerich (Boulder Valley Models) offers a nice and easy to be built 20' outside braced steel boxcar kit.

Regards Dieter

[Woody Elmore]

Nathan - there is a kit avialable for the EBT caboose in O scale so I doubt you'll see one in plastic from Bachmann. It would be bigger than the other On30 stuff. It seems that Bachmann trend is to do small prototypes.

[NKline]

Nathan - there is a kit avialable for the EBT caboose in O scale so I doubt you'll see one in plastic from Bachmann. It would be bigger than the other On30 stuff. It seems that Bachmann trend is to do small prototypes.

Yes, I realize that, however, it would be nice to have an RTR model and they already make one in their large scale Big Hauler line so why not go ahead and make it in On30? That's the only reason I mentioned it. It wouldn't be bigger than the other On30 stuff they make, alot of the other On30 stuff they make is to 3' gauge dimensions just like the EBT. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of their current On30 center cupola caboose, I'd prefer their large scale Big Hauler caboose in On30 instead, I like the looks of it alot better, I'm not sure why they didn't just go with this idea from the start.

-Nathan

[railtwister]

Nathan - there is a kit avialable for the EBT caboose in O scale so I doubt you'll see one in plastic from Bachmann. It would be bigger than the other On30 stuff. It seems that Bachmann trend is to do small prototypes.

Yes, I realize that, however, it would be nice to have an RTR model and they already make one in their large scale Big Hauler line so why not go ahead and make it in On30? That's the only reason I mentioned it. It wouldn't be bigger than the other On30 stuff they make, alot of the other On30 stuff they make is to 3' gauge dimensions just like the EBT. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of their current On30 center cupola caboose, I'd prefer their large scale Big Hauler caboose in On30 instead, I like the looks of it alot better, I'm not sure why they didn't just go with this idea from the start.
-Nathan

My biggest objection to the Bachmann On30 caboose is it's cupola. It looks as if it were added as an afterthought, and really doesn't fit in with the rest of the line. My solution was to build a different cupola out of styrene, one that is full width and perhaps a bit reminiscent of a D&RGW short caboose. I generally don't care for using 3' prototypes (especially Colorado ones) when modeling in On30, but the standard caboose was SO ugly, the Colorado look was an improvement. As an alternative, Mt. Blue Model Co. has several laser-cut plywood caboose body kits available that fit onto the Bachmann caboose chassis, including a funky little bay window job! They also have a longer drover's type and a SR&RL caboose that use a Bachmann passenger coach chassis. I am building the Mt. Blue bay window caboose right now and am very impressed with the quality of the kit. It's true that the EBT caboose was a pretty big prototype, especially for a narrow gauge caboose.

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
Florida On30 Renegades

[lvrr325]

Personally, I'd compare the dimensions to those for standard gauge cars in S scale.  I already converted a $1 die cast S scale steel flat car body to On30 by adding a set of On30 trucks.  I'm considering converting some of the common American Flyer 630 hoppers over, too.  Width is the same, height is the same, the length is just a little odd compared to the Bachmann On30 cars.  I think the 40' flat car in S works out to like 34 feet in On30.  (I'm too lazy to do the math to figure out the exact length).

So it might be possible to use an S scale steel box car as a starting point for a model of one of these cars in On30.

I don't think it would be too challenging to scratchbuild some of the simpler cars, either, I was thinking of doing a Carson & Colorado combine/caboose from some ancient RMC plans and maybe to save some trouble fitting it to a Bachmann coach frame.   

[Woody Elmore]

I have seen old American Flyer hopper and flat car used on On3 layouts. K line makes an S scale line, that uses former former Marx tooling and you might also be able to adapt these as well. There is a company that makes nice S Scale hoppers. These also can be used in On3/30 but the cars are kind of expensive to be kit bashing.

[Moundcity]

Well my other scale is S.  I have plenty of Des Plaines, PRS and S Helper cars to sample.  However,  all look like S scale cars next to an On30 locomotive.  The one possible exception is the DPH S Scale America 10k tank cars.  Comparing to  the photos of Mexican tanks they look quite good for 4K tanks. 

[Moundcity]

Last weekend I was able to get a back issue of NGSL Gazette with plans for the EBT box car.  It looks good and might work well.  However there are two things I noted that might count against it.  One is the z section outside braces.  This presents a molding problem for large production models.  A cap top seperate piece ads to the cost of production.   Some of the other prototypes had only a L section wich would allow fewer assmbly parts. 

A corrigated roof would be a nice option for steel cars and would be more typical of cars outside the US.  This brings up the possibility of a corrigated replacement roof for the existing line of box cars and stock cars.  This would be common for cars in Latin America, Africa and Austraila. 

Could this be marketed like the replacement underframes?!  Bachmann is an international company and could serve a wider market with these cars and a replacement roof it would serve a bigger clientel.

Tom P
Alexandria VA

[railtwister]

A corrigated roof would be a nice option for steel cars and would be more typical of cars outside the US.  This brings up the possibility of a corrigated replacement roof for the existing line of box cars and stock cars.  This would be common for cars in Latin America, Africa and Austraila. 

Could this be marketed like the replacement underframes?!  Bachmann is an international company and could serve a wider market with these cars and a replacement roof it would serve a bigger clientel.

Tom P
Alexandria VA

Mr. Bachmann,

Please take note of Tom's great suggestion and forward the idea to Lee Riley. Personally, I'm not that into foreign prototypes myself, but even I would buy a few arched corrugated roofs just for some variety. They could be marketed in three packs, just like the underframes. This idea could also be expanded by adding other roof types to the line that are US prototypes, such as tin panel roofs (like those used on the Maine two footers), canvas covered roofs (both arched & angled), and ribbed or capped roofs (like the ones used in Colorado). One style could be tried out to test the waters first, hopefully it would be the corrugated one, since that's the most difficult type for us to properly scratchbuild or kitbash ourselves (besides, that's the one Tom suggests in his idea). Great idea, Tom!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
Florida On30 Renegades

[the Bach-man]

Dear Tom and Bill,
I'll certainly pass that along to Mr. Riley.
Happy Holidays!
the Bach-man

[tom-ebt]

the EBT steel and wood boxcars are now available in Oscale from Funaro and Camerlengo for about $55.00.  they are taking orders for these cars.  they called me yesterday (12/16) after I gave them my name at the First Frost show (thanks for the tip Bach Man).  they are looking for a good response from people to see if they sell well.  if so, they will release EBT 800 series hoppers and other EBT cars in the future.  They did a small order for these cars about 20 years ago for someone.  they do not come with trucks, but bachmann makes vulcan trucks in On30.   I ordered two.  (Bach Man, I am the one that showed you the EMD export B12 meter gauge cab units)