Rivet Counter HO Scale Thrall 86' High-Cube Double-Plug-Door Boxcar, Norfolk & Western/NW Block Logo/N&W

The first automobile assembly line plants were integrated facilities with dedicated sections for building engines and related hardware, transmissions, drive trains, interiors, frames, and forming the body panels to feed the assembly lines. However, it wasn’t long before the integrated plant gave way to individual plants where only one type of component was manufactured to feed multiple assembly plants. This change resulted from a huge surge in market demand for new cars, light trucks, and the increase in the number of models offered.

The gradual transition from mostly manual labor to reliance on automated machinery allowed component plants to produce more parts than a single production plant could use. Finally, the pre-1960s methods of shipping automobiles in boxcars made centralized plants impractical since each boxcar could only hold six to eight vehicles, thus requiring many thousands of specialty cars to get the post-war production to the consumers. Locating plants in California, Texas, New York, and Minnesota, along with various other cities in the south, the prairie states, and the northeast was a better solution.

With the introduction of Plate F (17’ high-cube) clearance standards in the early 1960s, the automotive industry was among the first to take advantage of the new standards. Many auto parts like engines, transmissions, wheels, and drive trains have a bulk-to-weight ratio that worked well in standard 50’ and 60’ boxcars. But things like body panels, floors, interiors, trunk assemblies, hoods, and roofs are made of fiberglass or thin-gauge steel making them relatively light for their size. This led to the development of the 86’ Hi-Cube Automobile Parts Boxcar. Using double 10-foot doors, or even two sets of double 10-foot doors, allowed a forklift the space to easily load or unload a stack of light truck or van body panels that could be anywhere from eight to twelve feet long. 

The 86’ Hi-Cube Automobile Parts Boxcars were pool cars, meaning that home road rules did not apply. Any car could go to any destination, even if it was in the opposite direction from home rails. Also, auto assembly plants were not the only destinations for the cars. Each manufacturer also had parts distribution centers around the country. The part distribution center in La Mirada on the 3rd District was why Santa Fe handled GM auto parts traffic to Southern California even though the two GM plants were located on the Southern Pacific.

Starting in 1964, Thrall Car Manufacturing built 3,544 total 86’ Hi-Cube Automobile Parts Boxcars. The cars were 92 or 93 feet over the couplers with an 86-foot 7-inch long body and were 17 feet tall. They had a 10,000 cubic foot capacity. The first production version had roofwalks, high-mounted brake wheels, and full-height ladders. The roofwalks were removed rather quickly after the cars were put into service, the brake wheel was lowered, and the ladders were shortened as a result. The cars were equipped with Keystone 20-inch sliding center sill cushioning and truck-mounted brakes. 514 of these Double-Door cars were built for 17 railroads along with 30 total Quad-Door cars for Illinois Central between February 1964 and March 1965.

The 1965-built cars were built with short ladders, a low-mounted brake wheel, and no roofwalks. In addition, changes to the weld patterns along with the size and number of side panels would change each year from 1965 through 1967. The 1965 production started in July and ran through December with 313 total Double-Door cars built for eight railroads. 435 total Double-Door cars were built for 9 railroads between April and November 1966, as well as another 102 for 9 more railroads between April and August 1967. The car side panels and welds remained the same on the Quad-Door cars during this time with 449 total being built for 14 railroads between December 1964 and April 1967.

In 1968, the cushioning changed to 15-inch FreightMaster end-of-car cushioning. Production of these Double-Door cars began in January 1968 and lasted until January 1970. 1039 total cars were built for 10 railroads. In December 1968 and January 1969, 73 total Quad-Door cars were built for Norfolk & Western Railway along with a single car for Rock Island. From January 1970 until September 1973, Thrall did not build any 86’ Automobile Parts Boxcars. When production resumed, the car sides changed from welds to ADR rivets. The cars were also equipped with body-mounted brakes. 314 total Double-Door cars were built for 9 railroads before production ceased in December 1973.