The Pullman Standard design 86 foot Auto Parts Boxcar is an
important one for railroading and shipping innovation. With its great capacity
and quality design, it became a staple for the auto industry until the more
recent utilization of the 53 foot container. This car design being so large,
often, offered railroads with a large canvas to advertise their company logo or
slogan for happy rail fans to see. The
Detroit and Toledo Shore Line is no different to this trend. From the
information that I was able to gather from Kalmbach Publishing’s book The Historical Guide to North American
Railroads Third Edition the Detroit and Toledo Shore line offered a bridge
line between the two cities for its different owners through the years; Grand
Trunk and Western, Nickel Plate, and Norfolk and Western, to name a few.
This car started as a factory painted Bluford Shops car. It received
a base coat wash of Floquil weathered black paint then sealed with Testors Dull
cote. Then, I created rust streaks with Winsor and Newton artist oil paints and
a final spray of dull cote was applied to finish the model off. TRWBM.
