All-Door Box Car

Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car Armstrong

Trall Door Box Car

Armstrong

No. 08993

Trall Door Box Car

Boise Cascade

No. 08982

Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car Celotex

Trall Door Box Car

Celotex

No. 08981

Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car Illinois Terminal

Trall Door Box Car

Illinois Terminal

No. 08986

Trall Door Box Car

Lignum

No. 8994

Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car

Trall Door Box Car

Thrall Door Car

No. 08984

Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car U.S. Plywood

Trall Door Box Car

U.S. Plywood

No. 08983

Life-Like Thrall Box Car Weyerhaeuser

Trall Door Box Car

Weyerhaeuser

No. 08985

From September '75 comes this Life-Like ad below for the new Thrall Door Box Car. You may click on the ad for a larger view...

NEW FOR 1975

Life-Like's 1975 catalog introduces the Thrall Door Box Car model. The catalog displays a series of three pictures all of actual prototypes and not HO-scale models. The Canadian Forest Products; Green Bay and Western; and Lignum are the actual prototypes shown for '75. The 1975 catalog additionally lists A&P Lumber; Armstrong; and Bennett as three other roadnames slated for the first group of Life-Like HO-scale Thrall Door Box Cars.

THRALL SHELL VARIATIONS

There are at least two different shells for the Life-Like Thrall Door Box Car. Initially, the car's shell was multi-piece with both ends being cast separately. The ends slid into a track inside the ends of the car's body shell. The end railings were separate items, as was the brake wheel. Later examples of the Thrall from Life-Like feature a single cast shell that includes the ends and railings all cast into one piece. Later Thralls only feature the brake wheel as an additional separate part. The picture presented shows an in-the-works custom painted ICG orange example of the early design Life-Like Thrall sitting next to a later example Illinois Terminal Thrall. Notice that the depth on the end section was much better on this earlier multi-part shell. One assumes this better appearing original design gave way to the simplier single piece shell, which became the norm by the early '80s. The upgraded PROTO 1000 Thrall Door also fetures the simplified single piece shell.

PROTO 1000 THRALL DOOR

Life-Like's PROTO 1000 Series included what was listed as a 60' Thrall Door Box Car. The basis for this PROTO 1000 offering was the same simplified single piece mold used for the standard line's Thrall Door with an improved underframe offering body mounted knuckle couplers and high quality trucks. Though called 60' in length, the PROTO 1000 Thrall Door remains prototypically undersized and the same 52' in length as the previous Life-Like offering.

Life-Like CanFor Pullman-Standard All-Door

LIFE-LIKE'S OTHER ALL DOOR

Life-Life did have an All Door Box Car is its line prior to the 1975 introduction of the Thrall Door Box Car model. The same All Door Box Car that recently returned to Bachmann's HO-Scale Silver Series line and at one time was offered by AHM was also part of the early Life-Like freight cars. The 1974 Life-Like catalog lists CN, Can For, and Bennett for this original All Door Box Car model. The car carried the 08591 stock number. The CN model was the "newsprint" scheme as seen below. The model is based on the 1961 Pullman-Standard built All-Door Box Car. This prototype is known to have been owned only by the Southern Railway.

Life-Like Pullman-Standard All Door Newsprint

Life-Like Delson Lumber Thrall Door Box Car

Though they are not Life-Like examples, there is a similar group of All-Door Box Cars once available from E&B Valley Railroad Co. The June 1982 issue of Model Railroader includes the announcement for E&B Valley's group of seventeen different paint schemes that sold at the time for $7.50 per car. E&B Valley's tooling is noted in Model Railroader as appearing to be the same as the original molds used by Life-Like. From the image presented, it does appear to be the original multipart shell with separate end ladders. E&B Valley did appear to enhance the car with body mounted couplers and better trucks than found on the Life-Like examples of the time.

Out of their box at swap meets and on eBay, these may present some confusion to those wondering if they are actual Life-Like examples. Here is the listing of what E&B Valley announced for its Thrall Door back in 1982:

Rayonier Lumber

(No.7000)

St. Regis

(No.7001)

Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Ry.

(No.7002)

Boise Cascade

(No.7003)

Hampton Lumber Co.

(No.7004)

Bennet Lumber Co.

(No.7005)

Delson Lumber Co.

(No.7006)

Simpson Timber Co.

(No.7007)

Idaho Forest Industries

(No.7008)

Brooks Scanlon Lumber Co.

(No.7009)

Masonite Corp. (grey)

(No.7010)

Armstrong

(No.7011)

Illinois Central Gulf

(No.7012)

Plum Creek

(No.7013)

Weyerhaeuser

(No.7014)

Masonite Corp. (blue)

(No.7015)

Spokane Moulding Products

(No.7016)