B5 50 foot box car with plug door, Big Sky Blue

HO scale kit with trucks and magnetic couplers.

This is a 50’ steel boxcar with one plug door, GST B5, in BSB paint with the associated big goat herald, car number 36925. Body is not an accurate match for any GN series. The model has an 8’ door but the prototype had a 9’ door.  The model has riveted sides but the prototype had welded sides. Stencils B64 P69 indicate car was built in 1964 and painted in 1969. The actual car of this number was built by ACF in 1964 and had a carrying capacity of 154,000 pounds.

In addition to automobiles, moving westward 50-foot long cars were used to haul lumber, plywood, wood pulp and paper originating mostly in the Puget Sound region westward. Most of these forest products moved the entire length of the railroad

Great Northern acquired its first 70-ton capacity 50-foot long cars in 1960. The increased tonnage capacity enabled railroads to offer lower rates per ton to meet truck competition while maintaining, or increasing, revenue per car. Since most railroad costs vary on a per car basis, this preserved, or enhanced, the contribution margin per carload on the traffic shifted from 50-ton to 70-ton cars.

Plug doors were introduced in the early 1950s. They provided a smooth inside wall from end to end.