Roundhouse Overland
40 Foot Double-Sheathed
Woodside Boxcar
Roundhouse Trains
Manufactured by:
Athearn Trains
1550 Glenn Curtiss Street
Carson, CA 90746
www.roundhousetrains.com
HO Scale
Available Sets:
2 Road numbers each decorated for Santa Fe, Great Northern, Western Pacific, Lehigh Valley, Southern Pacific, And Northern Pacific
MSRP $16.98
Wooden rolling stock was once the mainstay on the railroads. Wood construction gradually began to be phased out in the mid-1930s as steel construction became standard. Only a brief reprieve was granted for the wooden car during the Second Word War since metal for the war effort was at a premium, however, wood would not survive the 1950s.
The recently released Roundhouse™ model is representative of the change over to steel that began in the 1920s. While the sides are still of wood construction; the ends, under-frame and roof have been replaced with steel. For those modeling the pre-war years up until about 1950 this model would be right at home on your layout.
The Roundhouse™ No. 84666 ready-to-run Lehigh Valley wood side box car was submitted for review. This model is an improved, ready-to-run version of the Athearn 523x series “wood side” double-sheathed 40’ box car ‘Blue Box’ kit. The new Roundhouse™ car is essentially the same as the Athearn kit car, with the substitution of a Superior welded steel door for the Youngstown corrugated type door used on the older kit. However the parts list included with the car indicates that the Youngstown door also may still be used on some versions of this car.
The car, including the plastic under frame and sheet-metal weight, are all painted a semi-gloss chocolate brown color. The white lettering has good density, is neatly applied, and all of the dimensional data is legible. The reporting marks are also applied to the car ends. The car rides on Bettendorf type trucks with free-rolling blackened metal wheel sets, and has factory installed Kadee-compatible couplers. The car weighs 3.5 oz., only slightly less than the NMRA recommended 3.8 oz. for a 5 ½” long car.
The model carries road number 76303. A contemporary Railway Equipment Register indicates that this was one of a series numbered 75060 to 79349. A color photo of Lehigh Valley car 75077 in this same series is available on the www.RR-FallenFlags.org web site. This photo shows a wood sided car having slightly different doors, ends and lettering. Most model railroaders will find this Roundhouse model to be a very acceptable representation of this prototype. - Gary Quale
