I ended up with an Athearn Canadian National 40 foot boxcar body in a big bag of "junk" I bought for 5 bucks at a train show. On one side it has "Canadian" with an A and on the other side it has "Canadien" with an E. Was this how it was, or did Athearn mess up?
Canadien or Canadian?
- Thread starter Gary S.
- Start date
Correct me if I'm wrong,(More than likely I am) but I think, one is English(Canadian) and the other is French(Canadien), and I read some where that there was(or is) a car painted like that.
I'll hijack my own thread with some miscellaneous calculations:
My layout consists of 75 feet of shelves. If I put all my rolling stock end-to-end, I have about 125 feet of cars (doesn't count cabeese or locos). That is a car-foot to layout-foot ratio of 1.67. What the heck am I supposed to do with all those cars and how the heck did I end up with so much stuff???
My layout consists of 75 feet of shelves. If I put all my rolling stock end-to-end, I have about 125 feet of cars (doesn't count cabeese or locos). That is a car-foot to layout-foot ratio of 1.67. What the heck am I supposed to do with all those cars and how the heck did I end up with so much stuff???
88, I was thinking the same possibility. But was just wondering if it was from the prototype. Would this give new meaning to "from the wrong side of the tracks"? How did they decide which side to do which way?
I should have titled this thread "miscellaneous stuff".
Okay, so we all use selective compression on our layouts, making stuff smaller than it actually is, for instance, a large industry building, or the distance between towns or what-have-ya. So, with me wanting an operational layout, I decided to selectively compress my rolling stock by running only 40 footers or less. I'm in the 70s so I should have some 50s at least. But I don't. I'm okay with that. I get more cars per train which equals MORE SWITCHING FUN per foot!
Okay, so we all use selective compression on our layouts, making stuff smaller than it actually is, for instance, a large industry building, or the distance between towns or what-have-ya. So, with me wanting an operational layout, I decided to selectively compress my rolling stock by running only 40 footers or less. I'm in the 70s so I should have some 50s at least. But I don't. I'm okay with that. I get more cars per train which equals MORE SWITCHING FUN per foot!
Gary, the Canadian/Canadien is indeed English/French, and there are a lot of cars painted this way. Canada (ou en francais "Canada") is officially bilingual, so CN, which was a crown corporation at the time (govenment-owned) saw fit to honour both cultures thusly. I don't know about the newer versions, but the first Athearn cars in this scheme had CN noodles that were way too skinny. :-D
Wayne
:-D Wayne
I have a few more cars than I have track for, too. I keep the "spares" on shelves under the staging track area, in their boxes, then rotate cars on and off the layout via staging.
Wayne
I keep the "spares" on shelves under the staging track area, in their boxes, then rotate cars on and off the layout via staging.
Wayne
Wayne, that is also my plan. I will either build some drawers or buy some, they will be placed under the layout at each end, and the cars will cysle on and off the layout, into and out of the drawers.
On the CN boxcar note, you mentioned the CN size... here are some pics. In the bag of junk, there were some 50 footer boxcar floors, and some junk hoppers, so I cut down the floors to 40 foot and used the hopper underframes, and rigged it up. The body was missing doors and door tracks, so dug through my junk and put some on (pro'lly not prototypically correct doors). I weathered the car already, still need to add steps, and paint the trucks/wheels. So is this the wrong size lettering?
On the CN boxcar note, you mentioned the CN size... here are some pics. In the bag of junk, there were some 50 footer boxcar floors, and some junk hoppers, so I cut down the floors to 40 foot and used the hopper underframes, and rigged it up. The body was missing doors and door tracks, so dug through my junk and put some on (pro'lly not prototypically correct doors). I weathered the car already, still need to add steps, and paint the trucks/wheels. So is this the wrong size lettering?
Attachments
No, that one looks pretty close to the size that it should be: the original cars had a really scrawny version of the CN. Nice weathering job, Gary. I'm not sure why Athearn put the "Plate C" designation on that car, though, as it definitely doesn't exceed Plate B.
Those type of doors (and many other types) were used by CN, too, so they were a good guess.
Wayne
I'm not sure why Athearn put the "Plate C" designation on that car, though, as it definitely doesn't exceed Plate B. Those type of doors (and many other types) were used by CN, too, so they were a good guess.
Wayne
How about that!? This thread prompted me to go downstairs and look closely at the one CN box car I own and sure enough...bilingual! I never noticed that before!
Ralph
Ralph
What wasn't noticed is that there's only the one word of French (unless you count National) on the whole car. All the rest of the fine print is the same English abbreviations used in the US (mustn't confuse those guys).
I don't know the start dates on this, but I think it might be the 60s or 70s, when the French were getting uppity. It's quite correct to run these with cars that are English only as I don't think they went back and repainted any.
I don't know the start dates on this, but I think it might be the 60s or 70s, when the French were getting uppity. It's quite correct to run these with cars that are English only as I don't think they went back and repainted any.
Found these at Fallen Flags.
Same car, same day last year, both sides.
Looks like they're still doing it.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cn404064sea.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cn404064seb.jpg
Same car, same day last year, both sides.
Looks like they're still doing it.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cn404064sea.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cn404064seb.jpg
I'm always amazed that not everyone knows this. Then again, I should realize that not everyone's first train set was CN.
Triplex, I have actually had this car body for well over six months. I just now got the nerve to actually ask about it, because I figured there was some well known reason for the "E" and the "A". I didn't want to look like the only guy at The Gauge who didn't know this. ops:
Being from Texas, I hadn't seen many CN boxcars before, either prototype or in the LHS. I do occasionally see Canadian covered hoppers on the real rails though.
ops:Being from Texas, I hadn't seen many CN boxcars before, either prototype or in the LHS. I do occasionally see Canadian covered hoppers on the real rails though.
Kind of like "error" baseball cards? One time I got a Frank Thomas Topps card and the name was missing on the front. I sold that thing for $600 at a card shop. No joke. Maybe the same thing for the Athearn CN boxcar "error"? I admit it is not in mint condition. It is faded a little and some rust in a few places. What ya say, $300?
I always wondered myself why some cars were "e" and some were "a" and i had no idea there was such a car running around. I know there were those cars that were bilingual on each side a couple years back.
Those pics of 404064 must have been fairly recent considering the reflective tape on them.
Those pics of 404064 must have been fairly recent considering the reflective tape on them.