Step Boxes – MP, T&P, C&EI

[benjamintickell53]

The following material was originally published in various MP Yahoo groups or email threads, and was preserved by the late Elvin Klepzig in his “Railroad Archives” internet site, beginning in January 2010. Please add to this thread if you can provide additional information or photos of step boxes which would have been used on MP or related lines.

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Hello group:
I have acquired a T&P Passenger car step stool by Morton Manufacturing Co. I want to repaint it is the correct colors.

At the moment it is a REA green color. Can anyone point me in the right direction to make it correct? The rubber foot pads need to be replaced also. Are they available to do this?
Thanks Bill Basden

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Bill: I have seen many step boxes repainted (wrong) in the railroad’s passenger car colors at train shows. I’m pretty certain Morton step boxes were sprayed a silver enamel when they were made – I have an original Mopac Ry step box and it’s a semi-gloss silver. As information, all the Morton Mopac step boxes I’ve seen were stamped with the RY and not later RR that should have been used after 1917. After removing the rubber ‘feet’ you should be able to ascertain the original color. I’m not saying the Pullman green is wrong but it would be difficult for someone to see in the dead of night getting on or off a passenger car a dark green box.

Charlie Duckworth

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Hello Bill:
In regards to your question about the correct color of MoPac/T&P step boxes. I am not familiar with what the T&P used, but having worked as a brakeman on 1 & 2 between Palestine and S.A. and also having watched thousands of times of 1 & 2 making the station stop at Rockdale, TX., I can definitely say that they were metallic silver in color with of course black rubber feet. And like Mr Duckworth said, all were marked Mo Pac Ry, not RR.

Also as a matter of interest, on the Pullmans, the step boxes were painted yellow with silver tops, and marked PULLMAN. This made them easier to see on a dark platform at night. of course the Pullman Co supplied these cars. Also most boxes contained a small container on the inside. This was used to carry a rag or cloth that was used to wipe off the grab irons before use by passengers.. A brakeman or porter could catch much grief if they failed to pick up the box and discovered it missing when they reached the next station stop!

Bert Dockall

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Morton Manufacturing is still in business and makes some railroad items but not step boxes. I sent them an inquiry regarding the MoP step boxes on the off chance they still have the records from way back then.
http://www.mortonmfg.com/

When I hired out with Amtrak in 1986, many of the old step boxes with the inside compartment were still in use……man, were they heavy! I don’t know who makes the lighter-weight yellow ones they use now. We always used the term “step box”…….I never heard a railroader call them a “step stool”.

Jim Tatum

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Guys –
My ex-father-in-law gave me a very old Pullman step box – so old that it had a wood top. It had the original yellow paint on it. He found it in west Texas at the site of a wreck dating to the 1890’s. That part of the line was abandoned about 1906. Therefore, Pullman had been using yellow paint on their step boxes for many years.
A.T. Kott

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I have just posted a scan of 1953 Timken Bearing color advertisement (see below). This image shows a MP step box prominently featured — a silver box with yellow top. By the 1960s, the only color seen on MP and T&P step boxes was silver. Were earlier (1950s) step boxes painted with a yellow top, or is this just artistic license? I have a silver MoPac Morton stepbox, with no evidence of yellow paint, but its hard to say whether mine might have been manufactured at a later date.
Bill Pollard

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I have one of those step boxes I got on E-Bay. it is painted all silver with no trace of yellow paint (some of the silver is worn away on the tread revealing the metal). Might have been manufactured later and didn’t need repaint or perhaps you were right and that was just artistic license, I have four of the tiny SSLTD step boxes on various stations around my layout. Since the era is 1953 I might need a dab of yellow on each if it turns out that ad was correct.
Jim Faris

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Bill – mine came from an employee and is all silver as well – I’ve seen many at shows at they were silver paint as well. Interesting that every one I’ve seen is stamped MO.PAC.RY. I’m of the opinion Morton never changed their dies to RR and the MP never asked after 1917. I agree, the artist was adding some additional color to the ad.
Charlie

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[peggyrothschild]

Here’s some photos of a Mopac step box I’ve had for 35+ years. Original color but I replaced to rubber feet years ago as the original ones were in bad shape. The yellow top in the ad looks great but of all the Mopac step boxes I saw they were all this dull aluminum color.
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[benjamintickell53]

My MoPac stepbox is all silver, including the rubber feet. The T&P step boxes that I saw “in service” were similarly all silver. However, I have also seen several T&P step boxes (in private collections) that have a black base and unpainted aluminum top. On both, I have scraped on the underside to try to get some evidence of underlying paint, with no success. One is unpainted on underneath and other has been spray painted black. It would be helpful to see photos, but I wonder whether black base and unpainted aluminum tread might have been standard on the T&P in the pre-Jenks era?

The photo shows a T&P box with the embossed lettering unpainted. While this looks nice, its seems unlikely that it would have been standard.

Bill Pollard

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[benjamintickell53]

Here are photos of a MoPac step box, presumably with original paint, and a yellow top. In view of the earlier discussion about colors of MP step boxes, I wonder if we should include this as a possibility? Somewhere there must be standard instructions on painting step boxes. We know that everything was all silver by the 1960s, but what about earlier?

Bill Pollard

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[peggyrothschild]

Bill
I agree this variation should be added to our ‘step box’ discussion as one the MP used. Having never seen a yellow top I erroneously thought the ad showing one in service was just the whim of the artist. Having been to numerous RR antique shows the last 40 years all I saw were the silver ones. Rereading this thread Bert Dockall mentions the Pullman step boxes were silver tops with yellow bottoms so perhaps the MP ‘borrowed’ the idea from seeing the Pullman versions and just reversed the color scheme. Looking again at the Timken ad I don’t recall seeing Amtrak passengers dressed like that last time I took the train.

[declanbaines9743]

[attachment=0:1ameruyx]T&P step box with lantern.jpg[/attachment:1ameruyx]this step box came to the Indianapolis Railroadiana show several years ago – and left there with a new owner…
I can’t recall the vendor. he had no information about who it was that restored it. I can’t tell if the top was ever painted, though it has apparently been scrubbed of its road dirt.

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