GN Baggage Car Kit - Arch Roof

GN Baggage Car Kit - Arch Roof - HO Scale

The cars represented by this kit were received by GN from Barney & Smith in June and July 1911 as numbers 1075-1089.

While one car was destroyed, presumably in a wreck, in 1921, the remaining cars were renumbered as 316-329 in the major renumbering of 1926-1927. Four cars entered maintenance service in 1939, but most remained in revenue service and were renumbered as 218-226 in 1943. Two cars remained in revenue service until 1950. Many of these cars were placed in maintenance service in the late 1940’s, and by 1950 all of the remaining cars were in maintenance service. In maintenance service most of these cars lasted until the 1960’s, but seven were still on the roster at the time of the BN merger in 1970.

Up until the early to mid-1950’s maintenance cars were painted gray with black roofs and lettering and mineral red trucks and underframes. After the mid-1950’s the cars were painted mineral red with black or aluminum roofs and white lettering.

The kit

HO scale laser cut wood kit produced for the GNRHS by Bethlehem Car Works. Includes detail parts and appropriate Maintenance of Way decals. Trucks and couplers to be added by the modeler.

More info

More Info: These cars were covered by GNRHS Reference Sheet 261 (“Great Northern Head End Cars, Part VII,” June 1998). Several photos of the cars in both revenue and maintenance service as well as a diagram are shown there. Diagrams of the cars indicate that those which were still in revenue service in 1943 had steel center sills, while there is no indication that the four cars placed in maintenance service in 1939 had received steel center sills.

Model and photos courtesy of Ken Middleton.