Red Caboose
Thrall-Door Box Cars

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Thrall All-Door Box Cars
HISTORY

The Thrall-Door Box Car was seen by many lumber companies and railroads as the better way to load, protect and transport product by rail. Four doors on each side were much easier to load and unload than standard 50' single and double door box cars and gave the product much more protection than an open flat car.

Introduced in the mid sixties, these cars were in operation through the mid-nineties. This model depicts cars built in the late sixties through the mid-seventies. Red Caboose was lucky enough to have over half a dozen prototype cars to use as research within 12 miles of their facility. It was found that while all cars came from Thrall and were all built within eight years of each other, only two of the cars were constructed the same. Overall construction was the same as were the door sizes and basic dimensions. What was different was the type of materials used on the ends and the overall length of the roof.

The Red Caboose model closely follows the late sixties and early seventies prototype car with standard end construction and full end roof overhang. This design best captures the "Thrall-Door" car design and is the design many of the "Thrall-Door" cars were built to.

All "all door" (as modelers call them) cars were assigned the AAR designation of LU. Quoting from the November 1973 "The Official Railway Equipment Register" the LU designation is defined as "An enclosed car with roof, having a special metal beam of heavy design at top of each side to support a series of retractable overhead side doors and their appurtenances, or other types of doors, running substantially the length of car, which beams also support the roof details. Car may be equipped with special loading devices or racks for handling various commodities".

N Scale Thrall Cars are available as decorated and undecorated Ready To Run Cars. Cars are weighted and come with Micro Trains® Trucks and Couplers.

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