Article by Christopher Brimley - ScaleTrains Project Manager
The modern 60’ high-cube or Plate F boxcar is a very different animal from those that were commonly built in the 1970s from builders such as Greenville, FMC, Berwick and Pullman-Standard. In that era, this size of boxcar was used almost exclusively for lightweight commodities that would “cube out” in a smaller 50’ Plate C boxcars such as autoparts and appliances.
Since the late 1990s, allowable weight limits have increased and so have the commodities seen within the walls of the now common modern 60’ high-cube Plate F boxcar. Today everything from various lumber products, shingles, paper, cans, food, cardboard, insulation, and the old standbys of autoparts and appliances are carried.
Variants of this size of boxcar are built by most major North American railcar builders such as National Steel Car, Greenbrier, Freight Car America as well as the subject of the latest announcement from ScaleTrains, Trinity.
Trinity’s family of modern 60’ high-cube boxcars have gone through many changes due to construction advancements and or customer needs and we hope to make you a more informed model railroader with a sampling of information we collected during our extensive research into developing this project.
THE EARLY BODY
The modern Trinity built 60’ high-cube boxcar began to first show up on the rails in late 1998 wearing Norfolk Southern paint. NS initially acquired 210 of these cars classified as B217 and numbered from 470050 to 470259. These cars had double 8’ plug doors and had a capacity of 7332 cubic feet. Trinity also offered a single 12’ plug door version that had a slightly reduced capacity of 7118 cubic feet.
Both the 7332 and 7118 cubic foot cars, which we refer to as the “early body”, have the following major features which are different from the “late body” cars that ScaleTrains is now offering:
• Closed, rectangular-shaped corner posts
• 5 over 4 non-terminating end pattern (5 horizontal rails from the roof to the crossover grab iron and 4 below)
• 5 posts to each side of the double 8’ door cars
• 6 posts to each side of the single 12’ door cars
• Stirrups mounted to the outside of the side sill
This design was only built for a short period with the last of which being delivered in early 2000. In this time frame, we estimate that fewer than 1000 were built for various railroads and leasing companies. Many of these early body cars have traded owners multiple times and are still going strong today.
THE LATE BODY
At the tail end of 1999, the Trinity 7500 cubic foot boxcar, or the “Late Body”, was born with both the common 12’ single plug and 8’ double plug door versions sharing the same capacity. The corner posts were changed to a flanged plate design and the ends were initially built in a 4 over 3 non-terminating style. The end design changed frequently over the 25 years they have been built which we will get into further detail below. Side post arrangements varied wildly and again, more detail will be provided below. Other notable changes was the mounting of the stirrups from the outside of the side sill to the inside. Also with the removal of the rectangular corner posts, a bolted-on stile was added so the 4 grab irons at each corner of the car had a surface to mount to.
ROOFS
We have identified a whopping 10 different styles of roofs that have been applied to the many variations of the Trinity 60’ plate F boxcars. Below are 8 that are specifically found on the 7500 cubic foot cars. The other roof styles not mentioned are on a slightly taller 7550 cubic foot car that is fairly uncommon. Some of the mentioned roofs are used frequently and others appear very rarely on select deliveries. There are further one-off oddball variations we have seen as well. These are usually the result of repairs due to a wreck or an overzealous forklift operator raising the roof. Save it for the night club buddy!
No Photography
2-rib A-end panel, 9 4-rib middle panels and 1 single rib B-end panel with bolted upstanding flanges - Used only on an unusual Canadian National offset sliding door car.
ENDS
Like the roofs, there's a wide range of non-terminating end variants as well. We have identified 6 different versions. Some of these are virtually identical to each other, however on cars built most recently, Trinity has started adding wider end ladders which creates a new variation.
PLUG DOORS
As has been mentioned, the common door opening and arrangements are 12’ single and 8’ double plug doors supplied by either Stanrail or YSD/Jaxon depending on the delivery. However, many varieties have been built to satisfy various owner requirements.
12’ Single Plug Door - This door has been applied to cars built for many railroads and owners. This door size was more commonly used in the early 2000s and then fell out of favor. However, recently, this door size has been used on a lighter design that Trinity calls the EcoBox® as well as on the new insulated EcoBox®.
8’ Double Plug Door - This is the most commonly used door version used on most 60’ high-cube boxcars today. The wide opening offers flexibility in loading longer items such as lumber and sheetrock.
SLIDING DOORS
Sliding doors is an option that was not commonly applied to these cars but there are a few examples out there. These are what we have identified.
12’ Single Sliding Door - Only 300 of these versions were built for NKCR. With this large sliding door, it feels much more like a 1970s-era appliance car than a modern boxcar which we suspect is the primary purpose for these cars.
8’ Double Sliding Doors - Like the above 12’ single door car, these were built for NKCR and are much more rare with only 70 ever being built. While the exact commodity these were made to be used for is unknown to us, we suspect they were built to replace some of the aging autoparts boxcar fleet.
8’ 2” Double Sliding Doors - Norfolk Southern had Trinity build 100 B234 classed boxcars with an unusual sliding door design. This car is also believed to have been built as a replacement for the aging auto parts boxcar fleet.
8’ 2” Offset Double Sliding Doors - Trinity built 200 of this unique offset door version for Canadian National with Illinois Central reporting marks.
POST SPACING & HORIZONTAL STIFFINERS
For this subject we will focus on the vertical posts and horizontal stiffener arrangements on the more common 12’ single plug and 8’ double plug door varieties to somewhat simplify this subject. Below we refer to the post pattern by the amount of posts on either side of the doors. This does not include the door stiles (the vertical portions of the door frame) or the corner posts.
12’ Plug Door Post Arrangements
6 Left - 6 Right - This is the most commonly used post pattern used on both the early and late body cars with this door size. This design was used on all cars built up through 2002. The last of which were a group of 200 cars built for BNSF which had a single row horizontal stiffener running down the car side. These 200 cars are the only Trinity-built 60’ high-cube boxcars with this feature.
7 Left - 7 Right - On cars built between 2004 and 2005, this became the standard post quantity on deliveries for ATW and TFM. Some of which have now gone to COER and MRL.
8 Left - 8 Right - Trinity now uses a higher number of posts for their newest built EcoBox® and insulated EcoBox offerings. The lighter weight design likely requires more posts to add strength due to other portions of the car body being slimed down.
8’ Double Plug Door Post Arrangements
5 Left - 5 Right - This post arrangement was used almost exclusively on the early body car designs. The one exception is an oddball group of 20 cars built for LW right in the middle of the transition between body designs.
6 Left - 6 Right - All BNSF and Canadian National/DWC 8’ double door cars have this post arrangement which were built between 2003 and 2006. There were also a group of 80 NKCR and 100 SMW cars with this post count. The SMW cars were the former Norfolk Southern B234 with the funny sliding doors that were previously mentioned which later were converted to have plug doors.
7 Left - 7 Right - For 15 years, this post arrangement was exclusively used only by TTX on their massive fleet of almost 4000 Trinity built TBOXs. The early 2004 thru 2005 deliveries of their class XRH60 boxcars arrived looking like most 60’ boxcars. However from 2016 thru 2019, the TBOXs arrived with 3 rows of horizontal stiffeners which were similar to their 50’ High-Cube FBOX boxcars. Later GATX would have Trinity build a similar car to the TBOX with horizontal stiffeners, however the post spacing would be different. On the TBOX, the post spacing across the side sheet is un even with the spacing between the door stiles and the adjacent post being narrower than the space between all other posts. On the LRS cars, the spacing between all posts and stiles was even. This same post spacing arrangement would also be applied to the most recently built cars for Union Pacific, NKCR and TILX.
UNDERFRAME
The underframes for most cars use the standard split rail center sill design with the cross bearers spaced according to the door width. For cars built after 2021 such as the GATX and Union Pacific cars, Trinity has adopted a closed box center sill. There are also various arrangements of brake appliances and plumbing under the cars depending on the road. A unique feature of the insulated EcoBox cars is the entire underbody of the car has a coating of spray foam covering most portions.
OTHER DETAILS
There are multiple other subtle details as well that change depending on the generation of car or the owner's specific needs. For example, BNSF & some LRS cars have additional stirrups and grab irons mounted in the vicinity of the doors. The train line air hoses are mounted using different brackets below or on the side of the draft box. On the most recently built cars Trinity has started mounting the door stops on smaller brackets that are attached to the side sheets instead of the more traditional bracket that spans across 2 posts.
So in a nutshell, this isn’t a simple boxcar. With all of the variations of doors, roofs, ends, underframes, and other details, we have currently identified 35 different body combinations! With Trinity still building these cars, we are certain that the number will grow as it continues to evolve to fit the changing needs of the railroad.
