September 2009 announcements

86331 Missouri - Kansas - Texas double door single car, 86332 2-pack.
After a number of troubled years, the Board of Directors at MKT brought in John W. Barriger III, a railroad turnaround specialist credited with saving the Monon and doing wonders for P&LE, to whip the Katy into shape. One of Barriger's priorities was to update the freight car fleet. This batch of Greenville 86' boxcars delivered in 1969 was a direct result of that program. Like neighbors MoPac and Frisco, Katy was in a position to serve auto assembly plants in the Sun Belt and contributed cars to (likely Ford) pools.

Bluford Shops is proud to announce our next group of N scale boxcar runs. These cars have injection molded plastic bodies, etched metal details, operating knuckle couplers, accurately appearing trucks and cushion draft gear enclosures. Projected MSRP: $24.95 for single cars, $49.90 for 2-packs. These runs are scheduled for release in February of 2010. Yes, the road numbers are different between the single and the 2-packs.

86291Illinois Central Gulf double door single car, 86292 2-pack.
The 7,100 mile Illinois Central Gulf was well positioned to handle auto parts traffic between the upper midwest and central southern states and contributed these Greenville built cars to the various 86' boxcar pools accordingly. For the 1972 merger of Illinois Central and Gulf Mobile & Ohio, the IC's "split rail" logo was modified, joining the two halves and centering the dot above. In 1988, ICG changed their name back to Illinois Central but retained a version of the big I logo. In 1999, Canadian National purchased the IC and these cars joined the greater CN fleet.

86301 L&N Family Lines double door single car; 86311 2-pack.
Louisville & Nashville received their last batch of 86' boxcars from Greenville in 1977. They were delivered in this Family Lines paint scheme. The Family Lines consisted of Seaboard Coast Line, L&N, Clinchfield, Georgia, Atlanta & West Point, and Western Railway of Alabama (the latter two were known together as The West Point Route.) SCL owned a significant block of L&N stock. The two together jointly owned the Clinchfield. L&N and SCL also jointly controlled the Georgia who in turn controlled the two West Point Route roads. So the Family Lines was not an encorporated entity but could be thought of as a shared marketing image. Beginning in 1983, L&N and SCL were merged as Seaboard System with the other Family Lines roads included as well. Seaboard System was already under the CSX Corp umbrella and about three years later Seaboard System changed its name to CSX Transportation.