Hubert's - HN6204 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, NSC Steel - Southern Railway of British Columbia - 5598

Model Information: This model was first created by E&C shops. The tooling was sold to the LBF Company and in turn when they went out of business in 2009, the model was passed on to Hubert's Model RR Mfg Group. They are available in both single and double door varieties.

Prototype History: Steel boxcars became the de facto standard for railcar service sometime in the late 1950s. Every major railcar manufacturer had their own version. Plug-door cars held a better seal for air coming in and out of the car interior and operated much the same way a modern minivan side door works. A common feature for plug door cars such as the offering from NSC was an insulated interior to further protect the contents from the elements. From 1975 to 1980 National Steel Car built over one-thousand 50’6” single-plug door box cars. This being the post-roofwalk era, these cars have a simple aluminum roof. The model 5277 had an interior capacity of 5,277 c.f. and the model 5177 had a capacity of 5,177 c.f. Most of the 100-ton cars went to Canadian railroads primarily for paper service. Two hundred 70-ton cars went into food service for the Grand Trunk Western.

Road Name History: The Southern Railway of British Columbia, branded as SRY Rail Link (reporting mark SRY) is a Canadian short line railway operating in the southwestern British Columbia.

SRY was launched in 1988 when the Province of British Columbia sold BC Hydro Rail to Itel. Itel sold it to Washington Group (the parent company of Montana Rail Link) in 1994. At that time they adopted the nickname SRY Rail Link. The line runs from Chilliwack southwest to Huntingdon/Sumas (on the Washington border) then northwest to New Westminster, Queensboro and Annacis Island. The island hosts large forest products and automobile terminals which originate or terminate about half of SRY’s traffic. The mainline is 62 miles long. SRY is busy with about 150 customers requiring a fleet of 29 diesels, nearly half of which are end cab switchers.

Brand/Importer Information: Hubert's Model Railroad Mfg Corp group was located in Roseburg, Oregon and then Cincinnati, Ohio. Frank Hubert purchased the toolings of the LBF company (a.k.a. USA Plastics), that itself succeeded to E&C Shops, both founded by Fred Becker. Hubert had been one of Becker's partners in LBF/USA Plastics. Later, when Hubert's operation folded by the end of 2007, the toolings were acquired by InterMountain.
Like its predecessors, Hubert's released every road name with 12 to 48 different road numbers, offering the cars in 6- or 12-packs.