OwlMtModels SP B-50-Series Single-Sheath Boxcar Accurail Conversions

I'm working on upgrading my Accurail B-50-8/10/11/13/14 stand-in fleet with the new OwlMtModels End Kits for these classes of car.

SP 24864 - B-50-10 pre-kitbashing of the ends.

This overview blog page will be updated as I do the physical kitbashing of the models and I'll be posting individual blog posts for each car as well.

Roster & Details for B-50-8. 10, 11, 13, & 14 

Most of the following cars had A-end lumber doors, see notes below for individual cars that didn't have end doors.  Most of the earlier classes were severely attrited by new post-war all-steel boxcars or retired to MW service by 1950.

The B-50-8,10,11s were built with wood ends originally which used diagonal braces from the outer frame corners to the upper corners of the two vertical Z-beams over the draftgears.  The B-50-13/14s were built with wood ends, but with the diagonal braces from draftgear to upper roof corners.  The B-50-14s (except as shown below in notes) and 112 (by 1950, shown below in notes) of the B-50-13s were rebuilt with steel Dreadnaught ends, generally without lumber doors.

B-50-8 - 1000 cars

SP 24250-24749 (500) 8 by 1950 !! (5 cars with steel ends, 3 with wood sheathed ends)

GH&SA 37860-38359 (500) -> T&NO

B-50-10 - 1000 cars

SP 24850-25839 (990) + 10 individual replacements $$

67+54 special in 1950 combined with B-50-11

B-50-11 - 800 cars

SP 25840-26339 (500) 67+54 special in 1950 combined with B-50-10s !

NWP 2160-2259 (100) * only 12 left as of 1950

T&NO 38760-39057 (298) 1 left in 1950

GH&SA 38210, 38371 (2)

B-50-13 - 3500 cars

SP 87935-88184 (150) in 1924 from AE 1160-1409 (250) * 112+14 in 1950 !, $$

SP 88185-88309 (124) in June 1951 from PE 2700-2899 (200) * Not transferred in 1950 yet

SP 27360-29609 (2250) down to 1148 by 1950 !, $$

T&NO 51250-51749 (500) 

H&TC 51750-52249 (500) - (Accurail stock 52146-series) only 177+91 left in 1950 between T&NO B-50-13s

B-50-14 - 3325 cars (2500 Pac + 875 other RRs) 

SP 29640-31139 (1500)

SP 31140-31539 (400) - combined with end doors left in 1950 !!! - 26 with wood ends & end doors

PE 10400-10599 (200) -> in 1925 SP 18880-19079 (200)  167 by 1950 !!! - 2 cars with wood ends & end doors

PE 10000-10399 (400) -> to SP 19080-19455 in 1951 

T&NO 52260-53059 (800) 300+182 left in 1950

SPdeM 9426-9500 (75)

Two B-50-14s (SP 29781 & 30279) were experimentally rebuilt with steel-sheathed using triangular sheets welded to the Z-braces, resulting in extremely unique looking cars.

SP Roster Notes from 1950 ORER

!!! = Note R cars in 18880-19079 (B-50-14) and 29640-31589 (B-50-14) that are NOT equipped with solid steel ends and are equipped with end doors differing in dim and cu capy from other cars in same series IL 40'5", Width of end door opening 1'11", height of end door opening 2'4" (a.k.a - these cars still had their original wood ends in 1950)

R1 19033 19050, 

R2 29744 29819 29849 30012 30118 30176 30271 30366 30391 30506 30576 30585 30717 30864 30940 30964 30979 30994 31012 31051 31122 31327 31351 31372 3192 31395

!! = Note AA - 24265-24726 (5 of 8 remaining cars, B-50-8) solid steel ends (?), no end doors: 24327 24397 24541 24567 24711

! = Note BB - 24864-26334 (52 cars, B-50-10), 27360-29609 (112 cars, steel Dreadnaught Ends - B-50-14), 87936-88184 (8 cars, B-50-13 with Dreadnaught Ends) are equipped with solid steel ends, not equipped with end doors.
   BB1 24926 24980 24991 25002 25086 25143 25144 25183 25192 25208 25259 25320 25334 25352 25356 25362 25397 25443 25494 25517 25528 25534 25552 25739 25759 25767 25777 25778 25798 25804 25849 25850 25853 25956 25966 25997 26046 26061 26106 26110 26119 26127 26178 26186 26204 26221 26222 26231 26268 26280 26310 26820 

   BB2 27428 27452 27466 27472 27482 27485 27502 27514 27519 27524 27561 27580 27581 27583 27624 27627 27696 27704 27716 27756 27777 27779 27843 27870 27880 27915 27921 27963 28026 28039 28041 28048 2878 28087 28115 28117 28139 28156 28173 28222 28246 28266 28291 28325 28348 28351 28359 28376 28389 28395 28424 28435 28438 28439 28518 28540 28549 28551 28553 28576 28627 28648 28661 28688 28699 28735 28762 28772 28803 28856 28873 28877 28927 28958 28991 29006 29008 29017 29036 29061 29084 29087 29093 29101 29118 29127 29197 29200 29210 29211 29216 29222 29227 29229 29242 29253 29295 29300 29304 29311 29317 29346 29367 29375 29407 29510 29533 29538 29557 29584 29587 29596 

   BB3 87949 88023 88027 88049 88064 88109 88129 88141

$$ = Note AAA - 24864-26334 (B-50-10), 27360-29609 (B-50-13, 76 cars), 87936-88184 (B-50-13) equipped with Solid (wood) Ends, no end doors. 

AAA1 25341 25555 

AAA2 27404 27450 27506 27510 27511 27536 27582 27593 27599 27611 27631 27633 27656 27668 27719 27762 27796 27858 27861 27863 27904 27973 28009 28083 28155 28157 28203 28250 28273 28278 28303 28322 28338 28357 28385 28395 28513 28572 28578 28579 28582 28602 28618 28629 28636 28685 28095 28749 28760 28781 28809 28842 28854 28874 28952 29059 29073 29077 29174 29230 29233 29246 29257 29297 29349 29358 29379 29442 29452 29471 29480 29492 29504 29529 29609 29611 

AAA3 87957 88006 88052 88076 88086 88163

Modeling Notes for My Fleet

I've been wanting to re-evaluate my roster against what the prototype fleet was between 1940 and 1955, with most of my focus around the roster in 1950, which was before the sale of some of the older cars to the Mexican government in 1951 and the shift of SP company equipment to the F del P.  Originally I built my fleet of cars before Anthony Thompson's SP Boxcar book came out and Ken Harrison's new SPMW book, which allow me to create a more complete roster and how the fleet changed over the years.

Side-Step, Later 1920s Boxcars 

Sunshine Resin B-50-15 model nearing completion in 2023.

My analysis of the SP Single-Sheath Boxcar fleet here wouldn't be complete without looking at the B-50-15/16 Roster for the Rapido Trains model. - Use the link to my other article on those cars, but the basic roster is as follows for fleet proportion analysis.

B-50-15 (1925-26 built)

SP 14480-15979 (1500 cars) - Standard Steel Car - T-Section Trucks, 1st 750 cars Murphy radial roof, 2nd 750 cars Viking roof

ML&T 36210-36509 (300 cars, after 1928 to T&NO) - T&NO Shops - Arch-bar Trucks, Murphy radial roof
ML&T 53060-53559 (500 cars, after 1928 to T&NO) - Standard Steel Car - T-Section Trucks, Hutchins roof
SP 20000-20499 (500 cars) - SPE Sacramento (shops 'contractor') - T-Section Trucks, Hutchins roof
SP 31560-32659 (1100 cars) - Pullman - T-Section Trucks, 1st 600 cars Viking Roof, 2nd 500 cars Hutchins roof
3900 cars

B-50-16 (1927-28 built)

SP 37340-37839 (500 cars) - SPE Sacramento (shops 'contractor') - T-Section Trucks, Viking roof
SD&AE 7000-7002 (3 cars) - SPE Sacramento (shops 'contractor') - T-Section Trucks, Viking roof
T&NO 53560-54059 (500 cars) - T&NO, Houston (shops) - T-Section Trucks ,Murphy radial Roof
1003 cars

Fleet Numbers by Class & 1950 ORER Remaining Cars

1000 B-50-8 8 = no cars modeled - too small of a class to represent

1000 B-50-10 67+54 - combined with B-50-11 (1800 down to 67+54) = 1 car -10/11

800  B-50-11

3500 B-50-13 1148+112 (steel end) +(200 cars from PE in '1951) = 5 cars

3325 B-50-14 1618+26 + 167+ 400'1951 = 6 cars

------

9625 cars total 2953 + 600 in 1951

Adding in the B-50-15/16 fleet.

3900 B-50-15 (Both SP and T&NO - 800-T&NO)
1000 B-50-16 (Both SP and T&NO - 500-each)

4900 cars total,

This increases the single-sheath roster totals to about 14,500 cars, or about 2/3s of the fleet should be the 8-panel (Accurail type, 12-16 cars) and balance of 1/3 being the B-50-15/16, (either Resin or Rapido models resulting in 4-6 cars - two resin and four Rapido, plus future offerings possibly about 1/3 of these should end up being T&NO cars, aka 2 cars).  This works well as I want to skew my fleet towards the B-50-15/16s as they are newer and many more of them were still in service by my modeling period, while almost all of the B-50-8s are gone by 1950 and the majority of the B-50-10s are gone or in MW service by then.

I have about 16 Accurail cars that I plan to use as revenue cars after the rebuilds.  This includes three T&NO and one PE car, but they won't really be included in my Pacific Lines roster count here.  Three more are models that I kitbashed into stand-ins for 40ft 1-1/2 door lumber cars, which should actually be noticeably taller... so I'll probably convert them back to standard single door cars.  I also have a number of Accurail cars modeling SPMW cars, so some of them will get replacement ends as well during this upgrade.

If I look just at the Pacific Lines roster for my 12 models, then the prototype roster of 3000 (or 3550 for 1950/1951) = 1 model/245 prototype roster cars or /295 proto cars, if I go with the 1951 fleet, with the PE cars absorbed into the count.

I'm looking forward to rebuilding my fleet as at least three more of my models have historically incorrect numbers, which I chose solely based on the 1950/1953 ORER roster from 25 years ago.  Obviously, these 6 fobbies will provide an excellent chance to fill in cars that should be from other classes which I'm not representing.  It was odd that Accurail cars from the 1990s were stock lettered for the ex-PE cars of the 18880-19079-series, which didn't exist until 1925, when there was the much larger B-50-14 series from 29640-31139 (1500) and the additional SP 31140-31539 (400) cars built to the same specs.  Newer runs of Accurail pre-lettered SP cars are in the ~30,000-series, which are probably more useful to fill in the majority series of SP prototypes.

In Closing

B-50-13/14 Original Wood A-End (prototype OMM 4074)

B-50-13/14 Original Wood B-End (prototype OMM 4074)

I'll be continuing to update this blog page as I do the conversions of my cars and upgrade them.  I'll probably make individual car blog posts covering examples of each car as I get it done.

Jason Hill

Related Articles: