PREORDER Bluford Shops N 86840 86′ Double Door Boxcar, Union Pacific #86076

Description

Bluford Shops is bringing back our popular 86 Double Door Auto Parts Boxcars. These will include our recently improved draft gear, magnetically operating couplers and metal wheels. The minimum radius is 11 . They also include separate wire grab irons and etched metal platforms on the ends. The draft gear is mounted to the body but has a spring centered swing action that both resists string-lining the train pulling through curves and resists the trucks climbing the rail during shoving moves.These super-size boxcars were originally built to carry high-value low-density automobile parts such as body panels and window glass to final assembly plants. Cars were acquired in wide ranging pools including several plants and the railroads that connected them. It was common for cars to run for months or years without traveling on their home road s rails.Following the 1982 acquisition of Western Pacific by Union Pacific, much of the WP freight car fleet retained their original road numbers and WP reporting marks even as the cars were repainted. It was an easy way to avoid conflicting road number series and it also elimenated the need to amend equipment trusts. In the case of these auto parts cars, it avoided any confusion as to what cars belonged to what pools.