Tangent - 18012-03 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, PS-1 - Illinois Central - 15461

Body Style Information: Designed and tooled in the USA from actual Pullman Standard blueprints; with multiple road numbers for each scheme offered, the Tangent Scale Models Pullman Standard PS-1 40' Mini-Hy Cube Boxcars are all new, ready-to-run models that feature highly accurate "true to life" colors, "hyper accurate" lettering, with exact fonts and lettering placement, genuine Kadee scale couplers, near scale draft boxes with beautifully rendered side "key" detail, two different draft gear and trombone-style coupler lift bar variations, lacy details, with wire grabs and stand-off ladders and stirrup steps, "see through" crossover end platforms. separate air hoses, and CNC machined 33 inch RP-25 brass wheels in Tangent Scale Models 70-ton Barber S-2A Roller Bearing trucks, with separate brake hangers.

Prototype Information: The 40' Boxcar is widely known as one of the most popular freight cars used by railroads as they transitioned from steam to diesel. In particular the Pullman Standard or PS-1 design was one of the most popular and was widely used by North American railroads. These boxcars were built beginning in 1947 and share the same basic design, with certain elements such as door size, door style or roof type varying among the different railroads and production years. When production of these cars ceased in 1963, over 100,000 had been produced.

So just what is a PS-1? Well the simple answer is it is any boxcar built by Pullman Standard from 1947 on. The design changed over the years – sometimes subtly, sometimes for customer request, and sometimes in a larger way. In general, most PS-1’s built from 1947 to 1961 share the same dimensions and basic construction techniques. These cars all had a length of 40′, a height of 10’5″ or 10’6″, welded sides and ends and roof of Pullman’s own design. The greatest variation was in the size and style of doors used. Pullman Standard also offered 50′ and later 60′ boxcars – also with the PS-1 designation.

Road/Company Information: The Illinois Central Railroad (reporting mark IC), sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety.

The IC is one of the early Class I railroads in the US. Its roots go back to abortive attempts by the Illinois General Assembly to charter a railroad linking the northern and southern parts of the state of Illinois. In 1850 U.S. President Millard Fillmore signed a land grant for the construction of the railroad, making the Illinois Central the first land-grant railroad in the United States.

The Illinois Central was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly on February 10, 1851. Senator Stephen Douglas and later President Abraham Lincoln were both Illinois Central men who lobbied for it. Douglas owned land near the terminal in Chicago. Lincoln was a lawyer for the railroad. Upon its completion in 1856 the IC was the longest railroad in the world. Its main line went from Cairo, Illinois, at the southern tip of the state, to Galena, in the northwest corner. A branch line went from Centralia, (named for the railroad) to the rapidly growing city of Chicago. In Chicago its tracks were laid along the shore of Lake Michigan and on an offshore causeway downtown, but land-filling and natural deposition have moved the present-day shore to the east.

In 1867 the Illinois Central extended its track into Iowa, and during the 1870s and 1880s the IC acquired and expanded railroads in the southern United States. IC lines crisscrossed the state of Mississippi and went as far as New Orleans, Louisiana, to the south and Louisville, Kentucky, in the east. In the 1880s, northern lines were built to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Omaha, Nebraska. Further expansion continued into the early twentieth century.

The Illinois Central, and the other "Harriman lines" owned by E.H. Harriman, was the target of the Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911. Although marked by violence and sabotage in the south, midwest, and western states, the strike was effectively over in a few months. The railroads simply hired replacements and withstood diminishing union pressure. The strike was eventually called off in 1915.

Brand/Importer Information: Launched in 2007 by an HO Scale modeler and operator with a passion for high-quality models and a strong devotion to historical prototype railroad freight car design. Asheville, North Carolina based Tangent Scale Models developed it's first model in early 2006. Fitted with factory installed metal wheels and Kadee magnetic knuckle couplers to ensure the firm's replicas operate as well as they look, painstakingly researched, the models are exquisitely detailed, have true-to-life colors, and accurate fonts, logos, and lettering.

Professionally designed, like the firm's models are, along with providing high-quality product information and photos, for comparisons and educational purposes, the Tangent Scale Models website contains prototype reference material. Revolutionizing the high-detail end of HO Scale model production, this family owned and operated business proudly designs its products in the United States.