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Roundhouse - 8835 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Berwick - Illinois Central Gulf - 501948

One  of these sold for an average price of: 13.4913.49One of these sold for an average price of: 13.49
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Collectors value this item at an average of 15.0015.00Collectors value this item at an average of 15.00
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N Scale - Roundhouse - 8835 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Berwick - Illinois Central Gulf - 501948 Car has different trucks/wheels/couplers than stock
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Stock Number8835
Original Retail Price$7.50
BrandRoundhouse
ManufacturerMDC Roundhouse
Body StyleMDC Boxcar 50 Foot BFF Pickens Door
Prototype VehicleBoxcar, 50 Foot, Berwick (Details)
Road or Company NameIllinois Central Gulf (Details)
Reporting MarksICG (Repaint)
Road or Reporting Number501948
Paint Color(s)Blue
Print Color(s)White, Black
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Coupler MountTruck-Mount
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
Ready-to-RunNo
Kit ComplexityEasy-Build
Kit Material(s)Pewter Metal and Injection Molded Plastic
Release Date1979-01-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeBoxcar
Model Subtype50 Foot
Model VarietyBFF Pickens Door
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160
Track GaugeN standard



Model Information: Boxcar, 50 Foot, Berwick with Pickens Door, Rib Side, Without Roofwalk. They are modeled after a prototype produced by BFF (Berwick Forge and Fabricating). This model can be distinguished from other MDC/Athearn BFF Boxcars by the large placard on the Superior-type door, which (on the prototype) held the NRUC (National Railway Utilization Company) logo. Athearn acquired this tooling from MDC in 2004, and has since re-released it more than once. Athearn markets BFF models with both door styles (Pickens and Youngstown) as 'Berwick Boxcars'. The Athearn models feature magnetically operated couplers and are always RTR.
Prototype History:
The US government came up with a scheme to create an artificial incentive for railroads to buy new boxcars. If a railroad increased its boxcar fleet it was allowed to charge other railroads (not the customer) more for their daily use. (That's Per Diem). As an example, if the Crab Orchard and Egyptian acquired a fleet of 500 boxcars (up from zero) , and got them loaded on the ICG, it could charge the ICG for their use at an "Incentive Per Piem" rate that more than paid the CO&G's cost of ownership. So new boxcars got pumped into the system while old boxcars sat idle.

To cater to this demand, Berwick introduced its 50-foot boxcar in 1972 and sold the exterior-post car to more than 35 railroads. Though Berwick stopped production in 1982, the boxcars are still commonly seen throughout North America.
Road Name History:
On August 10, 1972, the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (reporting mark ICG).
In 1988 the railroad's then-parent company IC Industries spun off its remaining rail assets and changed its name to the Whitman Corporation (which became PepsiAmericas in 2000 and was acquired outright by PepsiCo in 2010). On February 29, 1988, the newly separated ICG dropped the "Gulf" from its name and again became the Illinois Central Railroad.
On February 11, 1998 the IC was purchased for approximately $2.4 billion in cash and shares by Canadian National Railway (CN). Integration of operations began July 1, 1999.

Read more on Wikipedia.
Brand/Importer Information:
MDC Roundhouse was founded in California in 1938 and relocated in 1993 to Carson City, Nevada due to statewide restrictions on painting. MDC Roundhouse was a producer of both RTR (Ready-to-Run) and kit versions of N Scale rolling stock as well as RTR locomotives. They entered the N scale market in 1979 with a Thrall Hi-Side Gondola and a Hi-Cube Single Door Box Car. MDC Roundhouse was purchased by Horizon Hobbies in June of 2004, when its owner since 1938 C. H. Menteer retired, and merged into their Athearn line.

Unlike many of their contemporaries which contracted with European firms to produce their products, MDC made their own toolings. They made several popular body styles and produced them for road names that many other vendors (even Micro-Trains) wouldn't touch. This made them popular with modelers. Also, their un-assembled "kits" permitted a lower price point so they were popular with "runners" as well as "modelers".

Of particular interest was the attention given to modern 50 foot steel boxcars. They made some attempt to accurately mold the differences into distinct models to represent each of the major prototype manufacturers products. They have distinct toolings not only for the different products from FMC, BFF and PS, but also multiple models for each of these manufacturers including "standard" vs "Youngstown" doors and "waffle" vs. "rib" sides. In total they produced 13 different versions of the 50 foot steel boxcar.
Item created by: Mopjunkie on 2019-06-12 17:49:40. Last edited by baggedbird on 2023-05-25 16:02:43

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