# Boxcar roofs?



## Eilif (Nov 6, 2017)

A greenhorn question here, but should all box cars post 1960 have a silver roof? 

I'm looking at doing a bit of painting weathering work on some cheapies and if it's going to make them closer to prototype then silvering the roofs seems like an easy upgrade.


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Eilif, I retired from a paper mill with three railroad tracks, and I never saw a boxcar with a silver roof.


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## J.C. (Dec 24, 2016)

check out fallen flags. there a few pics of silver roofed boxes.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Some did....most didn't.....it varied by railroad.....the "silver" may have been an aluminum roof so it wouldn't rust.....


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Old_Hobo said:


> Some did....most didn't.....it varied by railroad.....the "silver" may have been an aluminum roof so it wouldn't rust.....


Galvanized steel.

A lot of modern cars do have unpainted roofs. Some cars when repainted the roof does get painted.

Here's a decent example:










Car in foreground built in 1978, still in original paint when photographed in the mid-2000s. The roof is unpainted (and rusted/weathered) galvanized steel.

Note also the cars in the background - unpainted roof at top right (with paint overspray from recent repaint) and fully painted roof at top left.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

1940s-50s car with painted roof, but paint is failing and starting to peel from the galvanized roof.










Total paint failure on this one.


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## Eilif (Nov 6, 2017)

The pics aren't showing, but thanks for the info. Galvanized steel makes alot of sense.

Lots to consider. Maybe I'll mix it up a bit with some having metalic roofs and some being painted and some with matalic showing through the paint.


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