Attached are three photos of a "rehabilitated Athearn 40' O scale boxcar using your decals.
The
rest of the story...... Although I don't have a layout, I have modeled
in O scale (not Lionel tinplate) for about the last 55 years! While I
model specifically a branch line of the PRR in 1940, and collect Lobaugh
models, over the years, I have ended up with too many cars which just
don't fit my for ideal timeframe. And so for the last 4 years I have
been finishing and rehabilitating some of the cars which I just don't
need and selling them on eBay...this NKP Express Box car (which is, of
course, a "postwar" car) is my 46th monthly listing.
Athearn offered two (I believe) O
scale models of 40' aluminum express boxcars back about 1950. One was
lettered Rock Island, and I, believe, the other was Great Northern.
Athearn also made an aluminum 40' PFE reefer and this one was reissued
by Menzies (Pacific HO) in the early 1970's. The Rock Island car is
fairly common on the used car market, although I have not seen the GN
car lately (if there really was one). It has aluminum ends, roof,
doors, door tracks and roof walks, with shiny stamped tin sides, so no
painting was necessary, except for the underframe and floor.
It is possible that Athearn also offered this car in HO at that time, in their lineup of metal boxcar kits.
I
stripped the black Rock Island lettering from the car and added the
door steps and handrails. The previous owner added air, signal and
steam lines. All in all the car turned out pretty well.
