Aristo-Craft double-door and plug-door 40′ boxcars

Vital statistics

1:29 scale, gauge 1, double-door and plug-door 40′ boxcars
Aristo-Craft Trains
6988 S. 21st St.
Irvington NJ 07111
Price: $71 each
Web site: www.aristocraft.com

All-plastic models of 40′ plug-door and double-door boxcars; truck-mounted knuckle couplers (hook-and-loop couplers also supplied); opening doors (double-door model only); sprung trucks; wide variety of available road names. Dimensions: length, 17″; width, 43/16″; height, 65/16″. In 1:29 scale, this works out to 41’1″ x 10’1″ x 15’3″, respectively

Pros: Good fidelity to prototype; excellent finish and graphics; relatively high level of detail; free rolling, sprung trucks

Cons: Over-deep wheel flanges; unprototypical high-gloss on underbody, trucks, and wheels; some details a little coarse (ladder mounts, roof-walk end supports, end rungs, underbody detail, etc.)

Aristo-Craft has expanded its line of 40′ boxcars with models of the plug-door and double-door versions of this common car. From the 1930s through the 1960s, the 40′ boxcar, in a wide variety of variations, was the standard mode of transport for much of the freight carried across North America.

These cars are similar to the company’s earlier single-door boxcars. They are all-plastic in construction, with molded-on and applied details. The underbody is complete, with much of the piping molded in and the larger components added as separate parts. The car-body molding is excellent, with fine rivet and other detail. The doors on the plug-door car do not open. However, they do on the double-door car, being held closed with a small spring latch. Inside the wooden floor is visible. The roof walks are also nicely molded. Paint and graphics on both of our review samples are executed to a high standard.

The cars are fitted with sprung, all-plastic trucks, with Aristo-Craft’s truck-mounted knuckle couplers. These space the cars unprototypically far apart. Hook-and-loop couplers are also supplied. For those wishing to body-mount Kadee couplers, a mounting pad is molded into the underfloor. Mounting these couplers will necessitate removing the trucks and probably cutting of the supplied coupler arm. This would help both the appearance of the cars in a train and their operation, but your curves must be broad enough to accommodate body-mounted couplers.

The cars roll freely on their deep-flanged plastic wheels, but you may wish to swap these for metal wheels with smaller, more prototypical flanges. (Aristo-Craft and other companies offer replacements). The trucks, wheelsets, and underbodies of these cars are molded in a shiny, black plastic. A little airbrush work will tone these down, making them more realistic and plausible.

Overall, these cars are fine. They look good, perform well, and should be welcome additions to any mid-century standard-gauge railroad.