Tangent August Release: PS SP “Postwar” 40’6” Box Car

[lackawanna1223]

Great article on these cars:

prototopics.blogspot.com/2023/08/southern-pacific-lines-b-50-28-29.html?m=1

[wagnersteve]

August 6, starting 3:15 p.m.

lackawanna 1223,

Thanks very much for posting the link to the great article by freight car expert and veteran HO modeler and supplier Ted Culotta, which will be followed by two more. Among other things, it supplies details about the distinctive Improved Dreadnaught ends used on the car and listings of which groups of them had which brake wheels, which running boards & brake stand, as well as which doors.

[wagnersteve]

Tuesday, August 8, close to 7:30 a.m., EDT

I think Carrman may be right about these cars.

My small freelanced railroad is allegedly set in northeastern New York State. My favorite railroads are the D&H and the B&M, and I'm not especially fond of the Southern Pacific. But I've seen plenty of SP boxcars in the Northeastern US, often carrying forest products, along with many PFE reefers. I'm hoping at some point to buy one of the T&NO cars, since I have none with those reporting marks, and one with the absolutely classic Cotton Belt Blue Streak livery.

See the website of the Texas State Historical Society for information on why most major rail systems operating in Texas for decades had subsidiaries with different names in the Lone Star State. Louisiana may have had similar requirements. But I don't think I'm aware of Santa Fe's having freight cars with reporting marks corresponding to the names of its Texas subsidiaries during my lifetime, though the Burlington Route and the Missouri Pacific most certainly did.

My only quibbles with Tangent's announcement are the application of "infamous" to Pullman-Standard's PS-1 cars -- most of the D&H's and the Rutland's steel boxcars and many of the B&M's were of that type -- and the use of "prolific" to mean "common" or "numerous".

I'm one of those who doesn't mind wheel treads being a bit too wide, because ones with scale width probably would not operate well on the existing tracks on my small layout.

[Christian]

Aug 8, 2023 3:44:15 GMT -8 wagnersteve said:

But I don't think I'm aware of Santa Fe's having freight cars with reporting marks corresponding to the names of its Texas subsidiaries during my lifetime

Until 1965 most Santa Fe trains operated in Texas as the wholly owned subsidiary Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. From before the turn of the century the markings were those of the parent. In the accounting ledgers the rolling stock and structures were leased from AT&SF and the GC&SF retained the right of way as well as the land grants and concessions granted by the State of Texas during construction. AT&SF folded a lot of other Texas railroads into the GC&SF, again, land ownership.**

**Quick Internet research from several sites.

[sd80mac]

A beautiful car, one that I can't use, but happy to see another high-quality boxcar on the market.

[timvanmersbergen]

Aug 8, 2023 3:44:15 GMT -8 wagnersteve said:

Tuesday, August 8, close to 7:30 a.m., EDT


My small freelanced railroad is allegedly set in northeastern New York State. My favorite railroads are the D&H and the B&M, and I'm not especially fond of the Southern Pacific. But I've seen plenty of SP boxcars in the Northeastern US, often carrying forest products, along with many PFE reefers. I'm hoping at some point to buy one of the T&NO cars, since I have none with those reporting marks, and one with the absolutely classic Cotton Belt Blue Streak livery.


Careful with your era on these.  The T&NO cars lasted through 1965.  They were being renumbered to SP 131370-132338.  I have seen a picture of a patched SP 131415 dated 1962.

Tangent has a handy era date search feature on their website.

Tim VanMersbergen

[wagnersteve]

August 8, 2:27 p.m., EDT

Thanks, Tim!

[cpr4200]

Sorry to dredge up an old post. Is the roof molded onto the body on these cars? The Tangent 40' PS-1's have a separate roof. This car looks pretty close to the ex-B&O's that North Stratford had, but the NSRC cars had overhanging roofs (and 8' doors, but that's any easy fix). Another option for an NSRC bash would be to use Intermountain components. Easy to swap roofs.

[prr 4467]

I don't like the Tangent PS-1 because mine arrived with a few visible glue marks around the roof specifically at the doors.  The only way to fix them was to carefully sand down the areas (sandpaper on a sharp screwdriver blade) and then touch up the paint which I should not have to do on a $50 freight car.  The end result was not as clean as I would have wanted anyway.  I should just send anything that isn't right back to them rather than attempting to fix it.

I just got 2 of the SP boxcars and they arrived looking absolutely perfect.

[simulatortrain]

Oct 3, 2024 13:12:29 GMT -8 cpr4200 said:

Sorry to dredge up an old post. Is the roof molded onto the body on these cars? The Tangent 40' PS-1's have a separate roof. This car looks pretty close to the ex-B&O's that North Stratford had, but the NSRC cars had overhanging roofs (and 8' doors, but that's any easy fix). Another option for an NSRC bash would be to use Intermountain components. Easy to swap roofs.

The roof is part of the body, and the floor separate.

[riogrande]

Oct 3, 2024 15:41:51 GMT -8 prr 4467 said:

I don't like the Tangent PS-1 because mine arrived with a few visible glue marks around the roof specifically at the doors.  The only way to fix them was to carefully sand down the areas (sandpaper on a sharp screwdriver blade) and then touch up the paint which I should not have to do on a $50 freight car.  The end result was not as clean as I would have wanted anyway.  I should just send anything that isn't right back to them rather than attempting to fix it.

So rather than not like Tangent, reach out to them for a replacement. Tangent stand behind their products.

[prr 4467]

I have sent stuff back for replacement, but I also simply hate to go to that well too often.

Sometimes I think it is part of the "modeling" we are all supposed to be doing anyway to try to fix items that are not right, but sometimes that just doesn't quite work out.

[ChessieFan1978]

Oct 5, 2024 20:54:11 GMT -8 prr 4467 said:

I have sent stuff back for replacement, but I also simply hate to go to that well too often.

Sometimes I think it is part of the "modeling" we are all supposed to be doing anyway to try to fix items that are not right, but sometimes that just doesn't quite work out.

Don't get upset if things take a little longer.  Tangent is located in Asheville, North Carolina and is basically ground zero for the Catastrophic Flooding from Hurricane Helene.