[?]

Announcing... A Forthcoming HO Scale and S Scale Model !!!

Seaboard Air Line's 19000-19499 Series, Class B-7
40', Single-Door, "Turtleback" Box Car

.

In 1941, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad acquired a fleet of 500 40' long, single-door box cars that had an interior height of 10' 0".  This height required that the roof edges of these cars be rounded due (apparently) to some tight clearances on some of the Seaboard's rail lines.  These cars were classified as B-7s and numbered from 19000 to 19499.  Although they resembled the Pennsylvania Railroad's class X-31 box cars, the similarities were only superficial, as these cars were basically 1932 cars with rounded roofs with Pullman 'dart-not' ends.  The rounded roof edges was the only similarity these cars shared with the PRR cars, but even they were not identical in the curvature or the way they were attached to the sides.

Records show that as many as 357 of these cars lasted into the Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) years (1967-1981) wearing road-numbers 819000-819499.  What service they performed during these years is still unclear, but they were still listed in full on the roster as late as 1972, therefore very possibly still in revenue service.  A small handful of them lasted even longer, at least as late as 1988 in MOW service auch as the one in the three photos below.

.

The photos below are of a car that was spotted by Pieter Roos in a railyard in Florida, some time around 1988, being used for MOW service.
If anyone knows the current location of this car, or any other car of this same type, PLEASE let me know!

These cars wore a myriad of different paint schemes throughout their years... as seen below.

If anyone has any other photos of SAL B-7s, PLEASE share them for use on this page.

.
About three years ago, I started asking around if there was any interest among S scalers in a model of this car.  A few folks replied, but not nearly enough to justify the project.  Whether this was due to poor publicity or lack of interest, I did not know, so I put the effort on the shelf, and never even bothered to find a manufacturer who could and would produce the model.

But I have recently managed to find a manufacturer for this project... a newcoming manufacturer into S scale and EXCELLENT model manufacturer... Mr. Jim King of Smoky Mountain Model Works.  Jim is taking over this project, so this web page has now become simply an ad to make this project known, and all interest in this project should henceforth be directed to Jim.

The latest, greatest news on this project is that the number of needed sales has dropped from 100 to 75!!!  This mean that we have FINALLY reached the goal, and actually exceeded it by 5 kits!  So, as soon as those of you who have pledged to buy some of these kits will get in touch with Jim King to confirm your interest, the project will be ready to take flight!

KIT  PRICING  INFORMATION

According to Jim King, the target price will be in the $60 - $70 range WITH trucks, couplers and decals; subtract about $7 for kits without trucks, couplers and decals!. The shipping charge will run $6 per order.

You may not model the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, but this car would make for a great stand-in for similar cars owned by other roads!  Additionally, these cars roamed all over the eastern United States, so it would be easy to justify one of these cars on just about anyone's layout... to prove that, near the bottom-left corner of the photo below of the Boston and Albany's Beacon Park Yard sits one of these cars in June of 1946.  This just goes to show that this car isn't as "obscure" as some would like to believe!

( Photo reference : Steam Era Freight Cars Web Site : Shot Of The Month - February 2002 Page )

So come on... get yourself one... or two, or five, or ten!  Let Jim know how many you want by clicking on the envelope below!