C&O B4-5 wood boxcar
from
Ertl's USRA double sheathed boxcar

A simple one or two evening project!

Prepared for the St. Albans C & O Modelers Club Inc. and the C & O Historical Society by James Butler

This project started when my local hobby shop, Nitro Hobbies and Crafts, drastically reduced the price of the Ertl HO USRA wood boxcars that had been selling for around $20.00 each. I had looked at the cars and thought they looked great but the price tag kept me from getting one. The detail of the cars is very good with grabs, ladders and brake detail added by the manufacturer. The cars have nice steam era paint jobs and even come factory weathered! Now with the price around $5.00 I had to pick up a couple.

Once home I wondered if the C & O had operated many, or any of these cars. I checked my “Freight Car Equipment of the C & O, August 1, 1937” a book published by the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society and found a group of cars very close to the Ertl car.

In 1923 American Car and Foundry built 2270 40 ft. wood boxcars for the C & O in two groups. The cars were classed B4-5 and lasted into the early 1950s with at least two cars lasting until 1957 in mail service between Richmond and Newport News. In 1936 the C & O started replacing the wood doors on these cars with Youngstown steel doors. The cars look very similar to the Ertl cars with only a few differences.

The main differences are (1), the fishbelly frame of the Ertl USRA car is noticeably different from the straight frame of the C & O B4-5 cars, (2), the ends of the Ertl cars are three panels while the C & O cars had two panel ends and (3), the wood door that comes on the Ertl car will need replaced to represent a car after 1936. Except for the ends, which I decided I could live with, this is a very simple kitbash. It will yield a model that looks like a C & O B4-5 boxcar at a reasonable cost.

The Athearn frame and new lower door tracks can be seen on the project car on the left, as well as the new brake detail locations.

Here’s what you need:
(1) One Ertl 40 ft. USRA wood boxcar
(2) One pair of Athearn 6 ft steel doors
(3) One Athearn boxcar underframe
(4) Decals of your choice
(5) Plastruct or Evergreen "L" strip to use as the bottom track for the new doors

This view shows the new door and door track and the noticeable difference between the fishbelly and flat frames.

First disassemble the Ertl car. The roof just lifts off and there is a gray plastic floor that will drop out when the car is turned up side down. Remove the screws holding the trucks in place and remove the trucks. Remove the screws that hold the frame in place, from inside the car, and gently pry the frame from the car. The detail parts on the bottom of the car are easily pried from the car. Remove the brake parts and set them aside to use later. The doors should pop out of their track with very little effort. Next you will need to remove the bottom door guides with a sharp knife and sand the area on the frame beneath the door smooth.

Now cut the coupler pockets from the Athearn frame and, since the Athearn frame is wider than the Ertl car, trim the bolsters and support ribs to fit the width of the Ertl car. With a file or sharp knife notch the Athearn frame to clear the cast on air lines run on the bottom of the Ertl car so the Athearn frame can be glued flat on the floor of the Ertl car. Once you have glued the Athearn frame to the Ertl car you can re-attach the brake details. You will have to relocate the details a little to work around the Athearn support ribs. The wheel base of the Athearn frame is slightly longer than the Ertl car so you will have to drill a new hole in the floor of the Ertl car so you can attach the trucks with a 2-56 X ˝ inch screw and nut. You can use the Ertl trucks or Athearn trucks. The Ertl trucks are slightly narrower than most trucks and may not accept after market wheels such as Kadee or Proto 2000. For this reason I prefer using Athearn trucks.

Cut a section of the "L" strip to the length of the top door track and slide it into the brackets on the bottom of the Athearn door and glue. Now glue the door assembly to the car. This makes the door of this model non-operating.

The Ertl car is very light and you will need to add about two ounces of weight to get it up to NMRA specs. I use self-adhesive lead wheel weights attached to the floor near the truck mounting screws. Proper weight makes a big difference in how well a car tracks so I highly recommend adding the weight.

The lettering on the car I started with was very fine so I just sanded it lightly and did not bother to strip the entire car. I painted the car red oxide and decaled it with decals I made with my home computer. Champ HB-417 should work for this car.

You should now be the proud owner of a C & O class B4-5 wood boxcar. With so many cars built and the class lasting so long, this is a desirable car for modelers of many eras. I'm sure even after the early 1950s some of these cars were still around in MW service painted either gray or, in the early 1960s, green.

Here is the finished car. It needs weathering, but it’s ready to go to work.