High Cube Box Cars when Introduced

[Sunshine Express]

I have bought a couple of High Cube  40ft.Box cars,and would like to know what year or era they were introduced in theU.S. please .Were they around in the last days of steam ?. My 10x5 Layout with 18 inch curves,features 40ft.maximum cars and 4 wheel truck Diesels with some small 6 couple steam locos. Thanks for your input here.

[OldTimer]

The prototype 40' hi-cube boxcars date to the 60's.  They were designed to carry appliances, a relatively low-density cargo.  The odd proportions of the cars earned them the nickname "Ugly Duckling."  The tall profile is still around, but the cars have gotten much longer.  There are 86-footers that are often used to carry automobile body parts.  At least Bachmann, Model Die Casting, Athearn and Tyco have cataloged these cars over the years.

[jward]

as oldtimer has stated these cars date from the mid 1960s. the earliest build dates i have seen on high cubes of any length are 1964. thus, these cars didn't appear until several years AFTER the demise of steam on mainline railroads. there were still shortlines using steam in 1964, but they would most likely not have hauled high cubes.

[pipefitter]

I remember seeing those in the early/mid 60's as others here have described. The boxcar ends were painted white where they extended above the height of conventional cars of the time. We also saw new, extra long boxcars (in handsome blue with yellow B&O lettering). We watched trains in the vicinity of the Forest Glen Rd grade crossing of the B&O in Silver Spring MD which was in the center of a tight "S" curve. It was really awesome to see these huge cars swing around those tight turns with lots of overhang. We counted freight cars and frequently there were 100 or more, and sometimes there would be about 150