Extra Data for Kit 19.02
Chesapeake & Ohio and Pere Marquette 1930 40-foot steel automobile box car

Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company builder image

In 1930, the Pere Marquette ordered 1,500 Automobile/Furniture cars from Pullman Car Manufacturing Company and 500 from the Pressed Steel Car Company. The Pullman cars were numbered 90350-91849, while the Pressed Streel cars were numbered 91850-92349. These Pressed Steel cars differed from the Pullman cars in that they had an end door and a Chicago-Cleveland Climax radial roof. Outwardly, the cars were otherwise the same. The order was part of the railroad’s expansion of its rolling stock to take advantage of the exploding automobile industry and the need to move the newly manufactured autos to the dealers around the United States.

Photo and model by Frank Hodina

The Pullman built cars (the focus of this kit) were of all steel construction with unique three-piece “recessed” ends, Hutchins Dry Lading roofs, double Youngstown corrugated doors with Camel no. 50 fixtures covering a 12-foot door opening, K brakes, unpowered shaft hand brakes, bottom operated couplers, towing loops, and cast steel ARA style trucks. The cars came with a single bracket-type grab at the left edge of the car sides. The ladders were 8-rung side and 7-rung end, with the bottom rung on the end ladders being drop grab irons. As delivered, the cars were not equipped with auto loaders.

Photo and model by Ed Rethwisch

The cars underwent a series of renumberings over their lives. Most notably, the C&O acquired PM in 1947 and cars were converted over time to the C&O livery. This conversion process was not hurried, as some PM cars were still in their original PM lettering into the 1960s.

Usually, the cars were renumbered by simply adding a “2” in front of the old PM number. Thus, PM 91299 became C&O 291299. However, both railroads tended to renumber cars when they were assigned to a new service. As an example, 60 cars that were given Evans auto parts loading racks in 1948, were reclassed XAP, and were renumbered to C&O 257000-257059. Also, 100 cars were “leased” by the C&O from the PM in May of 1935 and renumbered to C&O 6600-6699. These cars were never returned and kept these numbers throughout their service lives.

Resin Car Works would like to thank the following rail historians and modelers for their high quality work. Without their efforts, these kits would not have been produced.

Tom Madden - casting work
Ted Culotta - decal artwork
Jerry Hamsmith – kit instruction coordination
Frank Hodina - masters, kit instructions and model photos

These extra files are intended to help you build our models.
Kit 19.02 instructions (3.5 MB PDF file)
Car diagram - This diagram for PM 90350-92349 includes information for both the Pullman built and Pressed Steel built cars. Pertinent information for the kit cars includes the notations for a Hutchins Dry Lading roof, Youngstown doors, Dreadnaught ends, and ARA cast steel trucks. The sheet has been updated through February 7, 1945. Jerry Hamsmith collection.

Prototype photos for Kit 19.02

C&O 257016 - August 1948, Al Kresse collection courtesy of Ed Rethwisch
One of 60 PM cars that had been given new C&O livery and assigned to auto parts service in August 1948. The cars were renumbered into a new series (257000-257059) to denote the assignment. This car has been given an Apex running board, AB brakes, and stenciling for Damage Free Loaders and an auto parts service symbol on the doors. This photo appears in the book Pere Marquette Revenue Freight Cars which is a great resource for all types of freight cars used by the Pere Marquette.
C&O 290517 - Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo
This C&O car received the more common renumbering by having a “2” added to the front of the former PM number. The car has a reweigh date of June of 1955 and is in general XM service.
C&O 291366 - Single door conversion, C&O photo
One of the renumbered PM cars that had the auxiliary door removed was captured on a repair track in March of 1954. The C&O converted a number of cars to single door cars beginning in the early 1950s. The left auxiliary door was removed and another pair of panels were added in its place. The plan was to use the cars for loading bulk commodities such as flour, grain, and sugar.
C&O 291644 - Single door converted November 1954, George Sisk photo, Charles Winters collection
The C&O converted a number of the cars to single door cars beginning in the early 1950s. The left auxiliary door was removed and another pair of panels were added in its place. The plan was to use the cars for loading bulk commodities such as flour, grain, and sugar.
PM 90922 - B end builder photo
This B end photo clearly shows one of uncommon Dreadnaught End types in use from 1927 until around 1930. It has inward facing or "recessed" corrugations in three sections and the seams are riveted. The end itself is square cornered and does not follow the roof line. The photo also shows the wood running board, pole pockets, vertical brake shaft, and the original high tack board position. The single grab on the car sides was a quite long lasting feature. Note the tow loop above the trucks.
PM 91600 - Circa early 1950s
This early 1950s print was slightly damaged and thus has a mar over it’s width. However, it shows a car still in PM livery with the original AUTOMOBILE and FURNITURE notations under the road name. The car also continues to have only one side grab iron and a wood running board. The markings on the door indicate it is in auto parts service.
PM 91724 - Circa 1940 with auto loaders, Mark Kapka collection
A car reweighed in 1939 carries auto loader stencils on the door and includes only the AUTOMOBILE stencil on the car side. This is one of the nearly 1200 cars that were equipped with single or dual auto loaders during 1935 and 1936. This particular car had dual Evans Type “E” loaders and 16 chain tubes. Many of those tubes can be seen on the car’s underside. The loaders were either removed or permanently welded to the car ceilings beginning in 1948 on most of the cars.