11
11: Scratchbuilt model of boxcar 443 on display at the
National Narrow Gauge Convention in Hickory, North
Carolina.
12: Boxcar 430 still under construction. The model has
truss rods to be added, along with other finishing details.
12
The Lite and Narrow Column - 7
with him before ordering. His address is David Hoffman, 8682
U.S. Hwy 61 North, Woodville, MS 39669.
I obtained kits from both producers and built both. What follows
is a description of each car and illustrates how much the hobby
of model railroading has changed in the last 20 years. Each kit
does have errors, but given the current amount of information
that has come to light in recent years, those are easily corrected.
The 32’ and 36’ dimension was not taken from the actual size of
the car, but represents the inside usable space. The 1936 roster
shows a total of 38 boxcars. This did not take into account the 10
cars that were on the Linville River roster. These cars made up
approximately 21% of the ET fleet, while boxcars made up half
of the Linville River fleet. It would not be until 1947 that the two
fleets would be combined.
The boxcars were numbered in the 400 series, however you have
to be very careful when choosing numbers for the modeled cars,
as they weren’t numbered in any specific order, and you might
put a wrong number on the wrong type of car. As an example of
this, 418 is a 36’ boxcar and 419 is a 32’ boxcar, as is 420. Yet 421
reverts back to 36’. All Linville River boxcars were 36’ cars.
Linville River 4
In December, 1916, the ET built 10 boxcars for the Linville River,
which they had acquired from the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company
in 1913. The 10 cars were 37’ long; the ET called them 36’ cars
because of the internal usable space. These cars, as well as other
ET boxcars, are readily recognizable by the offset door. If you
take a measurement, you will find that the doors are centered
MRH-Feb 2014
