Collection of New York Central System Historical Society, Inc., No 7347-4

In 1922 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul started a program to re-equip its box car fleet. Within three years, they had added 9,000 cars from a variety of builders! The first group was the 705000-708499. They featured a non-standard 40’0” IL and a 5’0” kingpin to striker distance. The rest of the series (708500-713999) followed the more standard 40’6” IL and 5’6” kingpin to striker distance. All cars were rated at forty tons. They were constructed by a variety of builders including Bettendorf, Western Steel Car & Foundry, Haskell & Barker and Pullman-Standard. All cars received Hutchins Dry Lading roofs, Zee-bar Howe truss framing and composite ends with a flat steel plate near the bottom to avoid damage from shifting loads. In addition to the Milwaukee cars, the Green bay & Western received 150 cars as well (6000-6298, even numbers). This class represented the largest group of box cars on the Milwaukee roster well into the Diesel era. The design was popular enough that the road added in excess of 3,000 cars from virtually the same design (9’3” IH with Dreadnaught ends) just before the onset of the Depression.

Sunshine Models offers HO scale kits of both the 705000 8’7” IH cars and the 714000 9’3” cars in resin in HO scale.

Photos of Models:
MILW 713071
CTSE 716287 (the Chicago, Terre Haute and Southeastern was a MILW subsidiary)