2023 Premier O Scale 40’ AAR Box Car Announced
May 16, 2023 - M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2023 Premier O Scale 40’ AAR Box Car in five different livery configurations this winter. Each of these offerings are limited in production and expected to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in December 2023.
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
The 40’ steel box car so familiar to model railroaders was a product of the 1930s. Wood box cars, which were built into the World War I era, and early steel cars were largely non-standardized, with details varying from railroad to railroad. The move toward standardization began with American Railway Association (ARA) designs of 1923 and 1932. It culminated in the 1937 AAR box car, the prototype for this Premier model, which was adopted by railroads from coast to coast and built in the tens of thousands. (The AAR (American Association of Railroads) was and still is the successor to the ARA.)
While the original paint schemes were usually drab variations on standard box car red, new schemes in the 1950s and later brought color back to the American freight train. Our models replicate many of the most fondly remembered paint schemes seen on these cars.
Check out each of the offerings below.
