Roundhouse - 8831 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Berwick - Escanaba & Lake Superior - 101781

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: The E&LS was built in 1898 to link the harbor of Escanaba to a connection with the Milwaukee Road in Channing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The mileage during this first period was about 68.

The E&LS dieselized with an all Baldwin fleet and the road would remain all-Baldwin until the expansion in 1980. That year, Milwaukee Road was in the process of spinning off lines left and right so the Escanaba & Lake Superior leased routes from Channing northwest to Ontonogon near the Minnesota border, and from Channing south to Green Bay, Wisconsin giving the system map a lopsided T shape. At this point the mileage was up to 325 miles. Four years later, E&LS bought those lines from Milwaukee Road (which was being sold to Soo at the time.) Secondhand EMD’s were brought in to help the aging fleet of Baldwins. By 1991, half the fleet was EMD and the other half Baldwin. In the last few years, E&LS obtained trackage rights on Canadian National to shorten the route for traffic between Escanaba and Green Bay.

The Baldwin fleet included the two former Delaware & Hudson RF16A shark nose units that had been railfan favorites in the Northeast in the 70s. Both sharks are still on the property but are stored out of sight. In the last couple of decades, E&LS had trouble with people stealing parts such as bells and builder plates from their increasingly rare Baldwins. This has made E&LS hostile to railfans so if you find yourself in this neck of the woods, stay well clear of E&LS property.

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.