Elvas Tower: Milwaukee Road Hide Service Car - Elvas Tower

MSTS USRA 50-TON,40-FOOT SINGLE-SHEATHED BOXCAR
Repaint as a hide service car.
Milwaukee Road #702584.
3D model and textures ©2006/2013 by Tim Muir


The United States Railway Administration took over the railroads in December 1917 in an
attempt to ease the freight car shortage. As part of the program it designed standard cars,
had them built and assigned them to the various railroads. 25,000 single
sheathed cars were built between 1918 and 1920 and assigned to 26 roads. Too late to aid in the war effort,
the design set a standard for the following decade.

CM&StP received 2,000 cars from Bettendorf and Haskell & Barker in 1919 and purchased another 2,000 Government Equipment Trust cars in 1920. The road changed its name to Milwaukee in 1928 and repainted the cars with the early herald. The boxed herald was applied in the late 1940's. 2024 cars remained on the roster by 1950, but the number was down to 737 by 1953. The cars ran into the mid-1950's.
-Data from a Westerfield HO Car Kits catalog and Dave Nelson.

The last duty these cars saw in many cases were in hide service, transporting raw hides to tanneries in Chicago. They were said to have been so "ripe" smelling you could tell from 2 or 3 car lengths away there was one or more of these cars in the cut. Fortunately that feature has not been modeled-in but left to the imagination of the end user.

Credits to Dave Nelson for data and plans. Again. Thanks!

Tim Muir
Railroad Earth Models
December 28, 2006
July 31, 2013