Eastern Seaboard Models - 224402 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, X65 - Lehigh Valley - 8337

Specific Item Information: Painted Deepwater Green with black and white printing.

Model Information: ESM Announced this tooling in early 2017 for a target release date of December 2017.

Prototype History: The X65 boxcar is one of the most recognizable exterior post boxcars of the late 1960's, built at the Penn Central Despatch Shops in East Rochester, NY. By this time, the vast majority of the Lehigh Valley was owned by PC and PRR before it, and using the company's own shops ensured some level of cost savings and higher quality. There were two series of cars built within a year or so of each other: The insulated series was numbered in the 7000's, and the 8000 series became class BL55E and X65 respectively under Conrail. This latter car design was also used by the Penn Central.

These 50' exterior-post boxcars were built from 1966 through 1969 by Despatch Shops Incorporated, a subsidiary of first the New York Central and then Penn Central. A number of cars also were built for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie as well as the Lehigh Valley. Conrail inherited the New York Central, Penn Central and Lehigh Valley rosters in 1976. The cars remained active into the 1990s.

Road Name History: The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal. It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated/established on September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River; the railroad was meant to be faster transportation. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail that same year.

During its existence, the Lehigh Valley Railroad used a rail line that later became known as the Lehigh Line in order for it to operate. The Lehigh Line was the railroad's first rail line constructed which was built in 1855 between Easton, Pennsylvania and Allentown, Pennsylvania and it served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Serving as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the rail line expanded past Allentown to Buffalo, New York and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metro areas. During the early years, the line served as the body of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until the railroad either built more rail lines or railroads, acquired more rail lines or railroads, and merged other railroads into their system. The line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline during the majority of its time under the ownership of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, starting in the 1930s. The "Lehigh Valley" was absorbed along with several northeastern rail lines into Conrail; the main line became known as the Lehigh Line during the Conrail ownership. Conrail shortened the track miles by abandoning most of its route to Buffalo and some of the line entering New York City area. The Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

As of 31 Dec 1925, 1363.7 miles of road, 3533.3 miles of track; as of 31 Dec 1970, 927 miles of road and 1963 miles of track.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Eastern Seaboard Models was founded in 1987. They are a manufacturer of N scale reproductions of North American eastern railroad prototypes. The have both decorated other manufacturers' models as well as designed body styles of their own. They are located at PO Box 301, Waldwick, New Jersey 07463-0301 U.S.A.

Their 2016 lineup includes ready-to-run gondolas, well cars, hoppers, tank cars and boxcars. They also produce craftsman quality kits in their "Made in America" series. ESM products may be purchased directly from their website.