The new Tangent SP box cars

Tangent Scale Models has just released a run of distinctive Southern Pacific box cars, the cars with 7-foot side doors built from 1950 through 1953, about 9,500 cars (Tangent somehow came up with 19,000 cars). These were SP box car classes B-50-28 through B-50-33, except for the 50-ft. cars of Class B-50-30. In the postwar era, they were distinctive with a 10-foot interior height, when most railroads were shifting to a 10-ft., 6-inch interior height; and all had 7-foot side doors and diagonal panel roofs.

(A detailed history, and detailed listings of all car specialties, can be found in my book, Box Cars, Volume 4 in the series, Southern Pacific Freight Cars; revised edition, Signature Press, 2014).

Below are some builder photos of Class B-50-28 (Pullman-Standard photos for SP, Stanford University Libraries, used with permission). I’ll begin with a side view of SP 102199. That wider side door stands out, compared to older cars with the then-standard six-foot door.

The cars had Improved Dreadnaught ends,with two distinctive features. Because of the lesser interior height, the end ribs were of 3/4 pattern (3 ribs in the upper section, 4 in the lower), and the top-most rib was not symmetrical in shape, but had a flattened bottom side. And a narrow, shorter rectangular rib was located across the top of the end. You can see those features below in the prototype photo for SP 102199, including the Miner hand brake.

These cars, like most house cars built after 1948, had diagonal panel roofs. I show below the roof of SP 102199, and will compare below this roof to the model roof. Note also the Apex running board.

The new Tangent model is beautifully done, and reproduces all of the prototype features mentioned above. I was really pleased after examining it. Below is an overall view of my model. The roof is perhaps a little heavily rendered (the photo above shows that the prototype rib heights are smaller).

The ends capture exactly the appearance of the prototype end shown above, including that flattened rib at the top of the end, something rarely modeled by manufacturers. And this model has a Miner hand brake.

And I should also mention a very nicely rendered underframe, with the features of the prototype as SP purchased them.

All in all, a beautiful job of capturing a distinctive prototype. The models, including cars lettered for T&NO and for the Cotton Belt, are available now (see them at: https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/pullman-standard-southern-pacific-lines-postwar-406-box-car/ ), including a kit with all the variations in doors, hand brakes and running boards of the various SP prototypes. I’m impressed, and I think many other modelers will be too. Check them out!

Tony Thompson