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Micro-Trains - 040 00 040 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, Wood Sheathed, Outside Braced - Milwaukee Road - 592425

8  of these sold for an average price of: 18.7118.718 of these sold for an average price of: 18.71
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Collectors value this item at an average of 19.9019.90Collectors value this item at an average of 19.90
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N Scale - Micro-Trains - 040 00 040 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, Wood Sheathed, Outside Braced - Milwaukee Road - 592425 Image Courtesy of Micro-Trains Line
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Stock Number040 00 040
Secondary Stock Number040 00 040
Original Retail Price$19.90
BrandMicro-Trains
ManufacturerMicro-Trains Line
Body StyleMicro-Trains 040 Boxcar 40 Foot Wood Sheathed 1.5 Door
Prototype VehicleBoxcar, 40 Foot, Wood Sheathed, Outside Braced (Details)
Road or Company NameMilwaukee Road (Details)
Reporting MarksMILW
Road or Reporting Number592425
Paint Color(s)Boxcar Red
Print Color(s)White
Coupler TypeMT Magne-Matic Knuckle
Coupler MountTruck-Mount
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileStandard
Announcement Date2018-06-01
Release Date2018-06-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeBoxcar
Model Subtype40 Foot
Model VarietyWood, 1.5 Door Outside Braced Vertical Brake Wheel
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era II: Late Steam (1901 - 1938)
Scale1/160



Specific Item Information: This 40’ outside braced box car with 1-1/2 Doors and vertical brakewheel is brown with white lettering and runs on Andrews trucks. Built in 1925 for Milwaukee Road’s automobile parts service, it continued to serve in various capacities in its as-built form through the 1950s.
Model Information: Boxcar, Wood Sheathed, 40 Foot, One & One Half Door. Micro-Trains launched this body style in July of 2001 with a CN car in Boxcar Red. Since then they have only produced ONE other car with this body style. It was a MTL 40th anniversary car released a full eleven years later in October of 2012. That makes a grand total of two different cars for this body style. It must have been both expensive to make and not very popular.

It is similar to the 29 series outside-braced 1.5 door model from Micro-Trains. The chief difference is that the 40-series has a vertical brake wheel (The wheel itself is horizontal).
Prototype History:
The outside braced single sheathed box car proved to be a significant development in railway freight car technology in North America. Thousands of them saw use on North American railways beginning in the late 19th century through the 1960s. They carried bulk products such as grain and coal. They also carried packaged or bagged lading referred to as clean lading. While most of the outside braced cars were built for general service, some were built specifically to carry machinery and automobiles. For forty years freight trains on the prairies and indeed all across the country consisted of long lines of outside braced boxcars. They could commonly be found at elevators and loading platforms in communities small and large. They dominated railway yard scenes well into the 1940s.

The use of steel for the under frame (center and side sills), side and end frames initiated a new form of railway freight car building technology. Steel center sills and other under sill framing gave the cars the strength necessary to withstand the stress of longer and faster trains as well as the considerable stress involved in the contact necessary to activate closure of the knuckle coupler while being made up into trains in rail yards or from being picked up from local sidings along the line. The steel frame and the single wood side sheath minimized the weight of the car. This type of car design led to easy construction and repair. Its initial construction cost was low. The design provided secure joints between sides, ends and floors which prevented grain leakage.
Road Name History:
First of all, Milwaukee Road has only ever been a popular nickname. The real name from 1874 was Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul. For the next 36 years, the CM&StP linked Chicago with Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison, Wausau, the Twin Cities, Duluth, Kansas City and Omaha with a dense network of branches in Wisconsin, Iowa, southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. Essentially, the lines ended at the Missouri River.

With a dearth of friendly western connections, CM&StP decided to build their own line to the Pacific. The original target was the bustling megalopolis of Eureka, California. However, they built toward Seattle instead. In 1909 the line opened. Along the way, they served Miles City, Lewiston, Great Falls, Harlowton and Butte, Montana; Avery, Idaho; and Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. In 1912, they began to electrify two long segments, Harlowton, Montana to Avery, Idaho and Othello, Washington to Tacoma.

In 1921, they leased the Chicago Terre Haute & Southeastern and a bit later the Chicago Milwaukee & Gary to reach the coal fields of southern Indiana. Both roads were in trouble and dragged the CM&StP into receivership. In 1928, they emerged with a small name change. It was now the Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific. Right after that, the nickname “Milwaukee Road” began to catch on.

The three Class One’s that already served the Pacific Northwest, Northern Pacific, Great Northern (along with their jointly owned minion Spokane Portland & Seattle) and Union Pacific were not pleased with their new neighbor and avoided building interchanges with them unless absolutely necessary. This left Milwaukee to haul whatever traffic they could originate or terminate on their own line or via a hand full of shortlines with which they interchanged. This is why when you see photos of Milwaukee Road trains west of the Dakotas, an exceptionally large majority of cars are lettered for Milwaukee Road.

Milwaukee’s steam fleet is generally quite handsome beginning with the period after WWI. Many locomotives were built in their own shops. The steam era came to an end on the Milwaukee in 1957.

The electrified lines were ruled by boxcabs and Bi-Polars for decades. In the 1950’s, Little Joe’s diverted from the Soviet Union arrived on the Milwaukee (and the South Shore.) By the late 60’s diesels began to regularly invade the electrified lines. Little Joes and diesels were MU’ed. The aging catenary could only handle so many electrics at a time so diesels filled the horsepower gap. By 1972, falling traffic, a declining fleet of serviceable electrics and the deteriorating catenary caused Milwaukee Road to de-energize the western lines lines with Avery to Harlowton lines following two years later.

Meanwhile on the east end, as a condition of the 1971 merger of Monon into L&N, Milwaukee Road received trackage rights from Chicago to Louisville. This gave Southern a friendly connection to Chicago it was losing with Monon.

In 1977, Milwaukee Road entered receivership again. This time, radical restructuring was needed. In 1980, everything west of Miles City, Montana was abandoned. Some lines were picked up by connections or spawned new shortlines but nearly 1,000 miles of track was pulled up. In 1982, Miles City to Ortonville, Minnesota was abandoned. Milwaukee was concentrating on their pre-1909 routes plus the new line to Louisville.

In an attempt to win back middle distance TOFC traffic, Milwaukee began running fast and short piggyback trains, usually behind a single SD40-2 and with a dozen or so 89’ flats. Unit coal trains added to the bottom line. By the mid-80s, the streamlined Milwaukee Road was up for sale and Grand Trunk Western, Chicago & North Western and Soo Line got into a bidding war. GTW had diverted 40,000 cars onto Milwaukee Road between Chicago and Duluth to help them turn a profit in 1983. Ironically, the ICC (which controlled mergers at the time) pushed GTW out of the contest leaving just C&NW and Soo. Furious, GTW diverted their 40,000 carloads off the Milwaukee. C&NW outbid Soo, but the ICC chose Soo Line anyway. Milwaukee Road merged into Soo Line in 1985. Almost immediately, Soo shops began painting big black rectangles over MILWAUKEE ROAD on the diesels, giving birth to the “bandit” paint scheme.
Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.
Manufacturer Information:
Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide
Item created by: gdm on 2018-06-04 12:12:34. Last edited by George on 2024-01-26 20:29:08

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