Updated: 24 Nov 2006, 23:00 ET
(Page created: 08 Jan 2000)
[Ref: This is boxcabmd.html (URL http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/boxcabmd.html )]
S. Berliner, III's
A "new" boxcab! Ingersoll-Rand Demonstrator #9681
(photo provenance uncertain; possibly from 1980s AAR flyer)
(American Locomotive Company - General Electric - Ingersoll-Rand)
There are now more than fifty-five (55) BOXCAB pages;
see the main Boxcabs page and the Boxcabs INDEX.
This site has now been visited 
times since the counter was installed.
On the Model Boxcabs Continuation Page 1:
MONSTER MODEL BOXCABS.
On the the model boxcabs continuation page 2:
(24 Nov 06)
LIRR 401 CNJ 1000
WOW! - There is now a Z-scale (1:220) boxcab model!
{Note that the stacks are now properly offset - gee, I wonder what boxcab fan(atic) pointed that out?} :-)
Freudenreich just "happened" make a one-off Z (1:220) 100-ton Boxcab chassis. No one else came forward for a Z 100-tonner, but you can see the chassis for LIRR #401 in Z 1:220 (with only one flywheel, after all - no room) on my new FR Z-scale page at FR BOXCAB LOCOMOTIVES.
[There just "happens" to be a second chassis and body which is available just in case anyone else is desperate for a #401 of their own in Z; let me know if you're that person (and serious - it won't be inexpensive!).]
Here is the completed FR body shell (I have a LOT of work to do):
That's a "gold" dollar.
(13 Aug 02 photos by and © 2002 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Here's a mock-up (using two FR 60-ton bodies; you can see why the chassis has to be narrowed and shortened):
Here's a mock-up (using a far-too-long FR 60-ton body):
See also FREUDENREICH's site!
BOXCAB MODELING NOTES:
(moved here from LIRR #401 and Sister Boxcabs page 24 Feb 00,
with major revisions of the following notes 10 Jan 01.)
[
- I added three pages of detailed photos of the CNJ #1000 (120 photos)
and two pages of detailed photos of the only surviving 108-tonner, Foley Bros. #110-1 (70+ photos).
1 - The first production engines (CNJ #1000, LIRR #401, B&O #1, and LV #100, for sure) did NOT have end doors. The balance definitely did have end doors (I've checked them out in TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #43). Both Brill LIRR (1st) #402 and AGEIR (2nd) #402 did. When GE took over production, they all did. I finally (Dec 98) located my copy of the First Edition (1963) of Armstrong's book with Erie I-R box cab #19 or 20 at the Harlem Station, Bronx carfloat, on page 62, to check that early one (it DOES have end doors!). All double-engined units after LIRR #401 had curved fronts, although LIRR (2nd) #402 was a one-off oddity (less curved).
2 - Side doors are always on the right facing either side; they are not symmetrical. They are not opposite each other (impossible if they are always at the right).
3 - The "drive" ("1" or "A" or "F") end near the "side door", as noted above, is confusing, most 60-tonners have the stacks offset to tne front, but one or more are definitely the other way (running "backwards", as it were). You can see how the later GE drawing (above) shows the stacks offset away from the engineer's cab. Campbell states this was because the motor-generator set was put more to the center on production units to balance the single-engined locomotives. Of course, LIRR #401 stacks are symmetrical (all four of 'em). To my knowledge (not verified on more than a few units), the brake wheel is normally at the left rear or "back" (2, B, R) end. To further confuse you, the sides are sometimes labelled "A" and "B", with the "A" side being the right side facing 'front" (HA!) and v.v. Got it? There WILL be a quiz in the morning!
4 - The front end windows are the same size as the side ones and all the side windows slide down into the body, except the engineer's front window, which tilts inward at the top, and the engineer's double horizontal-sliding side windows, which are wider, but all windows are the same height. My interior shots of the CNJ #1000 cab show quite clearly that the inner panel is the rear one and the outer one the forward one, with big hand grips on the inside faces, on the forward end of the front (outer) panel and on the rearward end of the rear (inner) panel. The grips keep the panels from passing each other fully. Remember that this holds for both ends (diagonally opposite - right side only, facing outward). All the others were drop sashes. Further, the engineer's front and back windows are single, solid sheets of glass, while the "fireman's" window and all other windows have crossed mullions (verticals) and muntins (horizontals) [2 over 2 panes].
Model Die Casting/Roundhouse still lists the HO BOX CAB DIESEL KITS, with 2810 Undecorated, 2811 Decorated (No Name), 2812 Maintenance of Way, 2813 Ingersol{sic} Rand, 2814 Ford Motor Company, 2815 Union Pacific {HA!}, and 2816 Erie; they run in the $26-$30 range. They are only available through dealers (if at all) and have the incorrectly symmetrical stacks and a weird disk housing under the chassis for model gearing.
Overall O'all Truck Wheel Deck O'all O'all
Length WB WB Dia. Height Height Width
_______ _____ _____ _____ ______ ______ _____
60t/300HP - #1000/#1 30' 0" 17' 0" 7' 2" 36" 48" 13' 9½" 9' 4"
100t/600HP - #401 40' 0" 29' 0" 7' 2" 36"
100t/600HP - #402 34' 0" 23' 0" 7' 2" 36"
(Cropped 06 Dec 01 from photo by J. Thiewes - all rights reserved.)
[All material on riding-scale model boxcabs has been moved to a new page as of 07 Dec 01.]
FINALLY! After all these years, I broke down and bought a brand new, unopened Model Die Casting #2812 BOX CAB DIESEL KIT (Maint. of Way) at the 05 Feb 00 Springfield (MA) show; we shall see what develops.
At the 07-08 Oct 00 Long Island Greenberg Show, I also treated myself to a heavily-discounted MDC #2796 Non-powered Track Cleaner, an abortion based on the boxcab (please don't ask me why or what I intend to do with it!).
I also had ordered (and picked up that 08 Apr 00 day) a tiny Jordan #302 Mack 15/25-ton locomotive kit, just for fun; it's not really a box cab but - HEY! Well, what to my wondering eyes did appear but a note that it will fit over a Bachmann Gandy Dancer (which I just happen to have already cut up)! Ooh, goody, goody, gumdrops!
Then, on 15 Jun 00, I finally got Grandt Line #7089, a "GE 23-ton* Box Cab Diesel Electric Loco, Motorized, Standard Gauge" (both axles powered! - emphasis mine). This little baby is a faithful model (except that mine is standard gauge and will have knuckle couplers) of one used by a private contractor relocating the D&RGW narrow gauge tracks during the building of the Navajo Dam on the San Juan River; it was coupled (link-and-pin, no less!) between a high-side gondola and a drop-botttom gondola for ballasting the relocated tracks.
Well, now (17 Dec 00), what to my wondering eyes should appear in my large collection of unfinished models but ANOTHER Grandt line HO kit, unpowered, and labeled only as a "GE BOXCAB Diesel Electric Locomotive", standard gauge Kit No. 5127, and stating "If you want to power this model, order MICRO-MO Drive unit No. 7054 HOn3 or No. 7055 standard gauge." The powered kit is cast in gray plastic, the unpowered in black, but they sure appear identical. However, the unpowered kit instructions say it is a 25-ton unit (while giving the exact same history).
Further, right from my own boxcab pages, John J. Blair wrote (16 Sep 98), "Hey what about the little 4-wheel boxcab diesels that GE built in the late '30's (a 3' gauge 23 tonner was used in a line relocation on the Sumpter Valley RR)". He said he'd research them for us. He should be well qualified; he's the OWNER of actual 12"=1' former NYO&W #7, a 23-ton endcab GE diesel (s/n 15007)! It was built for Wickwire Brothers of Cortland, NY, by GE in November 1941. John reminds me that Grandt Line produced an HO/HOn3 version of the Sumpter Valley boxcab a few years ago. Thanks, John!.
Well (01-02 Jun 02), along come Lee Snover [Stuff It Storage Co. (LeeTown Models)] and Rich Garich with a small run of O-Scale 23-ton boxcabs:
I threw the Mack in for good measure; another case of a model with a box and a cab
and not much else to excuse it being on this page!
25 Jun 02 - here's a view of a ¼"-scale 23-ton (??? - it has a thin deckplate!) GE unit:
For more on these folks and their models and the end cabber, see my MRR page.
For another O-scale manufacturer, here is Dallas Mallerich III's {can a "III" be all bad?} Boulder Valley Models , manufacturer of a fabulous conversion kit for the Bachmann Spectrum HO GE 44-tonner to create an On30 homegrown boxcab (#351 Boxcab-style Oil Electric Locomotive):
From the UK across the pond cometh one John Besley and his P & J Models, manufacturers of components for large scale garden railways, specializing in 2' narrow gauge at 16mm = 1' scale {? - a new one to me}; John made a gem of a boxcab for his Exhill Light Railway, No. 34 (obviously, it had cooling problems as evidenced by the "Americanized" roof radiators supplementing the tiny automotive radiator up front):
As of 10 Aug 02 (at least), the P & J site shows this picture of a free-lance boxcab in 16mm (1/19th or 1:19 - take your pick):
The Mack is glued to a Tenshodo SPUD (still available); he "had to file nearly through the running boards where the corners of the SPUD casing protrude upwards".
The last is one of Herr Eckl's favorites, a brass Japanese ED 14.1 painted for his private (interurban) line.
I no sooner posted the above than in came this picture, along with the explanation above, of the SVE #1620:
Then, on 08 Jun 02, Herr Eckl sent these four; two JNR ED16 brass models by Tetsudo Mokei Sha, both received derelict. He installed a new Roco drive from a Gotthard BE4/6 boxcab under the first one to get a hybrid resembling a N&W electric and will try to restore the second one to its original configuration but feels chances are poor as the original AC motor is in very bad condition:
Just for the record, even though it has nothing to do with Boxcabs, the sprawling Mack Truck Co. plant adjacent to the CNJ main line in Plainfield manufactured small railroad switching locomotives from 1927 to1937.
At the Sunrise Trail Chapter (NE Region, NMRA) Fall Meet on 21 Sep 02, what should I see running with a long NYC passenger string on the HOTrack modular layout than old buddy Bob Spohn's NYC #726 Tri-Power AGEIR boxcab! It was hand-made many years ago by someone named Al {surname?} who lived in Valley Stream (LI); the mark on the near tank is a scratch, through which brass shows:
The third rail shoes weren't out (there was no third rail) and I couldn't hear the oil (diesel) engine running, so I opined that it must have been running on bettery, eh? Bob was polite about this (we ARE old friends, after all).
#726? Was there a renumbering? Pinkepank and Marre show no such. If anyone knows about the road number or Al's last name, please let me know so I can advise here and credit Al for this great model. The lighting was simply awful, and I couldn't get the flash or the focus to register, so this is the best I can give you (artificially processed to bring up some color other than bright GREEN, at that).
Hal Carstens, publisher of RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN and RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazines, vaguely recalls an O-scale boxcab model, ca. early 1950s, made of flat cast Zamac pieces that screwed together (sounds almost like an Erector or Meccano set, but from Zamac); does anyone have any info. on any such?
There is a good (if ever-so-slightly erroneous) site about electric boxcabs at ToyTrains1, with prototype and model photos.
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
To tour the Boxcabs pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the preceding page 6 to the Boxcabs subject index, the first Boxcabs page, more Boxcab models, and on to continuation pages 3 and up, then 100-tonner LIRR #401 and her sisters, survivor boxcabs (with map) and survivor notes, survivor CNJ #1000 (the very first), Ingersoll-Rand boxcabs (with instruction manual), other (non-ALCo/GE/I-R) boxcabs, Baldwin-Westinghouse boxcabs, and finally odd boxcabs.
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