N-scale Boxcabs

Anyone know if any N-scale Boxcabs have ever been offered?

Heck, is there an easy project/kitbash that could be done to accomplish one?

Big Daddy

 

I honestly does help some. But what I'm really after, and I should have said so in my first post, is a GE 20 tonner. I was going to start a shelf layout and wanted one with a big snowplow for more of a fanciful piece of equipment.

 

I'm sure JnJ trains was doing a GE 20 or 40 tonner,I nearly bought one about two years ago but balked at the price.These where resin & photo etch,r t r I think,& looked very nice.
I might go & have another look now that xmas has passed & the wallet has fattened up abit.

 

I recall an article years and years ago about kitbashing a boxcar, using the bodies of a couple of Santa Fe steel cabooses. (The ones with 3 windows on one side and 5 windows on the other.) I think it was in Railroad Model Craftsman.

 

Dismay shock horror,just come from JnJ Trains,& they cancelled the GE 44 tonner awhile ago.I cant believe it,this was a great looking little loco.Maybe peer presure can change their minds???

This was a fly wheel powered by the looks of it Faulhaber motor,white metal body,with photo etch bits.A great shame me thinks...

 

The Kato recently offered a JNR three axle electric boxcab that could be bashed into all sorts of things, electric or diesel.

I bashed a boxcab diesel from two front (cab/baggage)halves of the Bachmann doodlebug. I made a trailer coach for the doodlebug from two back (passenger) halves. You could also bash a boxcab electric from these.

As for a GE 20 tonner, I do not know much about them. I do not think that anyone has ever offered one.

 

Boxcab,
I have e-mailed them & expressed these concerns,I eagerly await their reply.Maybe if enough people from this group e-mailed them (peer pressure) they might change their minds.

Any way have alook at their site,still shows some early production photo's of the GE.

 

You can always go the scratchbuilding route as I have. Here is a pic of an N scale boxcab that I bashed back in 1985 or so:

It is made from an Atlas caboose, some spare, junk details and it sits on one of them old Bachmann 0-6-0 Plymouth switcher mechanisms. Not the best runner but pretty neat all the same. I have 2 more that I scratchbuilt and the next one will be a bigger one based on the LL SW chassis.

Happy railroading!
Russ

 

I wonder what happened? Whenever people starting talking of units not yet available, this type of diesel seems to be way up there on many wish lists. If anyone ever got a decent quality, good runner on the market, I'd think they'd sell very well.



Boxcab E50 </font>[/QUOTE]I think that they found the project to be too hard to pull off, at least in any way that anyone would be happy with. The big problem with trying to produce any of the small GE switchers is that there simply is no where on them to put in enough weight that they would be able to pull anything. Even with some type of traction tire, they still simply would not be able to create enough traction to operate as a switcher.

Virtually the only way such a small switcher could be produced and even vaguely operate as a switcher (pulling perhaps one or two cars) would be to produce the shell from a very heavy metal such as a tungsten alloy. However, tungsten alloys are not the easiest metals to work with (especially for creating a "molded" item), so I would not expect to see one any time soon...

 

That has always been a problem with the small N scale switchers. Not enough wheels making electrical contact with the track.

Russ

 

Got a reply from Troy (JnJ Trains),he told me that he has the mech. all sorted & it will pull 6 cars on flat track with the metal body.
The problem was finding some one to cast the body for him.I suggested Alan Curtis to him (hope you dont mind Alan).
Could anyone else help Troy cast these little beauties up?Go have alook at it anyway,
www.jnjtrains.com

 

Received another reply from Troy of JnJ trains,saying he was thinking of trying Alan Curtis but was worried about cost of postage etc risisng the overall cost of the loco.Can anyone help Troy casting these bodies up?

Im not affiliated with JnJ trains,I just think this a worthwhile cause for a great little loco,can anyone help???

BTW Russ thats a great lookin Boxcab!!!

 

I wanna thank everyone for their replies. It's been VERY informative.

However, looks like a GE 20 tonner is kinda outta the question for N-Scale for some very good reasons.

I am looking forward to those 40 tonners. I hope JnJ can find someone to help pull it off.


Ooooo! Here's an idea! How about a dummy 20 tonner with a power unit in a maintenance-of-way boxcar/toolcar/bunkcar behind it???

Do you guys think that would work?

 

If you can find a Kato Pocket Line four wheel electric you"may" be able to kitbash a boxcab.
As far as the 44 ton I think Father Nature makes a resen shell, and Kato makes a power chasis that scales to about 35 feet. Might be the way to go. I think the JNJ 44 ton is expected to be $100+
Tim

 

Boxcab,

Troy seemed keen on the project,has everything there except the cast bodies.Surely there must be someone out there that can do it?,or help?As for the price,$100+ would be worth it.

 

Big Daddy,

I have tried the solution that you mentioned as well as variants of it. I am delighted to report that they all work.

Back when ModelleXXpo had that sale on LL FAs for thirty-two dollars an A-B pair, I bought several pairs. I fit an old Atlas fifty foot boxcar onto it. This requires a minimum of work: you must chisel off the ribs inside and mark where the nubs on the side of the LL power chassis contact the boxcar. If you will then hollow out a small pit to fit the nub, you can sit the car on the chassis. A bit of styrene in which you screw a MT 1015/1016/1023 and then glue the whole business to the inside of the car end (if you use Walthers GOO for this, you can adjust the height of the MT) and you are ready to go. If you want a little more sturdiness, you can add MT coupler mounting screws to hold the piece of styrene to the inside of the car end. I now have a power car for all of those little N scale switchers that I have that have fried motors, as well as for some of the JUNQUE class B-manns that I can use as switchers.

This cheater also works with locomotives that are still powered, if you can get the cheater to match the locomotive in throttle response. Many people here and in other places insist that the LL 0-6-0T is a pathetic piece of JUNQUE. I beg to differ. If you will spend a long time breaking it in, it will creep nicely. Its only drawback is that its short wheelbase makes it prone to stalling. The LL split-frame FA-2 power chassis will match the 0-6-0T in throttle response. The cheater gives the 0-6-0T enough kick when it does stall to get it going again. The same also applies to the B-mann USRA 0-6-0. You would have to modify the tender's lead truck and the drawbar on that one, though, as it has appearance problems. I find that the cheater will not always provide sufficient kick to the B-mann. A solution might be to hardwire the B-mann to the cheater.

I also made a cheater from an old LL plastic frame FA-2 chassis and an Atlas fifty foot boxcar. I hardwired that to the Kato steeplecab electric. The two are about even in throttle response. The result was something that did not stall and has amazing pulling power.

There is another solution to the short-wheelbase stalling problem. The Kato sells a North American caboose that is electrically 'live'. I have hardwired that one to a few switchers and have eliminated stalling problems. You might want to add some weight to the Kato caboose to ensure that it makes better electrical contact. I have had to add weight to the tender of the Kato mikado, particullarly after installing the traction tyre. The tender on that one is light. The added weight eliminates its stalling.

Most of the above solutions require that the cheater, be it electrical or mechanical, or both, be more-or-less permanently coupled to the locomotive. For a yard or industrial type switcher, that may not be a big deal, as the order of the cars is not that big a deal when a locomotive is shunting cars.