Horse Express Car Sides, as-built (in use 1937-1952) C&O, HO Scale by Shapeways
3-D-printed car sides for C&O’s six-door (three-door) express cars both as used for horse express, as originally built, and as used in regular express package service in later years.
C&O purchased 10 steel cars from St. Louis Car Co. in 1930 for handling horses as express numbered 200-209. In those days’ owners of racehorses and show horses shipped their animals (along with grooms) by Railway Express. C&O served the horse country of Kentucky and Virginia, so had a good traffic in these animals.
However, in the war-time year of 1942 the cars were considered a luxury and were converted for use as regular express package cars. The express messengers liked them because of the extra doors allowing more flexibility in staging packages.
When these cars were converted in 1942, C&O shops concurrently converted three ex-Pullman parlor cars (recently bought by C&O) to horse express use under numbers 210-212.
All the cars were given rebuilds with new doors/windows in the early 1950s, including the tri-color paint. They were in frequent use on passenger trains up until the end.
The HO scale 3-D sides are exact in every detail, taken from C&OHS archival photos and original C&O drawings. This is the first time that accurate details for these cars have been made available. They can be used along with “donor” car kit materials from Walthers, Bethlehem Car Works, Athearn, and others.
A detailed article on how to use these car sides appears in the Nov/Dec. 2021 issue of the C&O Historical Magazine. This issue also has an article on their use in the 1937-1970 period). The C&O Historical Magazine issue of Feb. 2004 treats the cars in their use in horse express service.
