Broadway Limited Stock car

[reinhardtjh]

BLW now has a page for taking reservations for the BLI N scale Stock car.  Both with and without sound.  But the without sound cars only come in a 4-pack for $99.99 (MSRP) or $82.49 (BLW discount)

Roads offered are ATSF, CNW, CP, MILW, PRR, SP, UP plus several private names - Dubuque Packing, Elmo's Glue Factory, and Union Stock Yards with a undecorated available also.

Sounds cars are available in cattle, hog and mule (!) varieties but not all are available with each road/company name.

http://www.blwnscale.com/bwl-stock-car.htm

It is listed as a PRR class K7a car so I guess the other names are foobies unless the PRR design was generic enough to cover other roads.

The BLI site still says "Announcement coming soon" so I don't know where BLW got it's info from.  BLI says ETA is August 2015.  So pull your K7a's with M1a's. They will be out about the same time. Hopefully.

2015 Catalog entry: http://www.broadway-limited2.com/productguide2015/html5/index.html?page=76

Edit:  Added catalog entry for K7a. Thanks Bryan! (Although there is no direct link on the BLI site to this catalog as of yet. I had to find it in the NYC USRA Box car thread)

[bbussey]

The K7a information is in the latest BLI catalog.

[towl1996]

This time the packaging makes sense,  I'm glad they're offering these with either option.  But four without sound for me, plus my two traincat cars, and it will make up a nice train. Thanks

[bbussey]

I will procure one non-sound Pennsy car, to support the cause. Also will obtain one of the NYC USRA boxcars when they are released.

[reinhardtjh]

It's really too bad that it can't be a CV setting to change between the cattle, hog and mule sounds.  Having a car fixed to sone type doesn't allow for much variety without forking over a pile of $$$.

I wish I'd had the cash at the time to buy a couple of the TrainCat brass kits.

I'll probably go for a 4-pack of non-sound PRR cars.  Maybe trade one away.

[eric220]

Ugh. A PRR prototype car, in CK paint... that I have zero need for...

I should probably get some to support the cause anyway. I can always assign them to a through train with no on-layout destination.

[C855B]

... It is listed as a PRR class K7a car so I guess the other names are foobies unless the PRR design was generic enough to cover other roads. ...

It's a foobie for UP. I wish somebody would do a fresh version. The Atlas 40' appears to have followed the UP prototype, but it's A1G tooling and they only ran it once in yellow and silver.

I can't speak to other roads, but being a Western line UP had hundreds of stock cars, ran entire trains of them and was the last RR to run livestock service - even into the '70s!

... I can always assign them to a through train with no on-layout destination. ...

My reading on UP livestock operations indicated that livestock traffic rarely interchanged. It required specific support facilities and couldn't tolerate the time it would take for switching, even if highly coordinated. The animals had to be fed and watered, or it would result in excess "shrinkage", where they would lose weight en route, therefore losing market value. That's why livestock operation was one of the first mass-commodity shipments to make the jump to trucks - end-to-end time was critical.

[eric220]

My reading on UP livestock operations indicated that livestock traffic rarely interchanged. It required specific support facilities and couldn't tolerate the time it would take for switching, even if highly coordinated. The animals had to be fed and watered, or it would result in excess "shrinkage", where they would lose weight en route, therefore losing market value. That's why livestock operation was one of the first mass-commodity shipments to make the jump to trucks - end-to-end time was critical.

Hence the through train that pops up at one end, runs through the layout, and disappears at the other.  I'm planning on having a few of those just to give the impression of heavier traffic and generally clog up the mainline.

[asarge]

Don't necessarily have a need for 4 of any one road but may a couple each from roads that connected with C&O in Chicago.

[OldEastRR]

The UP version does have added logo boards at one end for the road name, so BLI must have provided for variations in the production.

[Cajonpassfan]

I will procure one non-sound Pennsy car, to support the cause. Also will obtain one of the NYC USRA boxcars when they are released.

Same here on the Pennsy stock car, it's a very distinctive prototype and I can justify maybe two, to support the cause, but sans the sound.
As to the foobs, not so much. IM makes a very nice ATSF stock car (and ATSF had the largest stock car fleet in the country at one point) and even the aged Atlas UP S-12 is preferable to me...with some reworking like trucks, stirrups, brakewheels and running boards. The MT stock car is a nice model of a NYC prototype, especially when lowered. I don't know what the other Atlas (Roco?) stock car is based on.
Still, I hope BLI continues (?) to do well with these, proto cars and foobs, so they can be enticed to bring us more.
Regards, Otto K.

[Mark5]

I can't speak to other roads, but being a Western line UP had hundreds of stock cars, ran entire trains of them and was the last RR to run livestock service - even into the '70s!

I'm guessing UP had thousands. N&W had over 260 in 1969 (141 of which were original N&W).

Mark

[C855B]

Yes - the Atlas car is a pretty reasonable representation of UP's S-40-12 and S-40-13. 500 each of these two classes were constructed, with well over 900 active in 1972. UP was rebuilding cars for hog service in 1976.

Total UP stock cars in service in 1938 were 6308. Wooden cars were purged from the roster between 1946 and 1952, with new steel cars reaching a peak of 3598 in 1957. There were 2081 cars active in 1972.

Roster info from UPHS The Streamliner, Vol. 23 No. 2 (Spring 2009), compiled by Don Strack from ORER.

[brill27mcb]

Ugh. A PRR prototype car, in CK paint... that I have zero need for...

I should probably get some to support the cause anyway. I can always assign them to a through train with no on-layout destination.

You may want one or two anyway. My Pennsy expert friend told me that after refrigerator cars hauling meat replaced cattle cars hauling livestock (meat is much easier to handle than live animals), the Pennsy regularly used stock cars in place of boxcars when hauling goods not damaged by rain or wind. Examples would be terra cotta tiles and pipes, etc. That's why I'll get one...

Rich K.

[eric220]

You may want one or two anyway. My Pennsy expert friend told me that after refrigerator cars hauling meat replaced cattle cars hauling livestock (meat is much easier to handle than live animals), the Pennsy regularly used stock cars in place of boxcars when hauling goods not damaged by rain or wind. Examples would be terra cotta tiles and pipes, etc. That's why I'll get one...

Very interesting. Might not save them from the through freights, but interesting none the less.