Sorry Norton no orange door cars were repainted with brown doors.
To set the record straight on the 2454 Pennsylvania boxcars, the correct number for the Orange door car is 6-52445 and the Brown door car is 6-52451. The brown door car was produced in far greater numbers than the orange door car. If you look below the X2454 number on the side you should see either 52451 on the brown door car or 52445 on the orange door car.
Now for the rest of the story: The cars were ordered so that the banquet cars would be available at the 2007 convention for pick-up by the members. When the 52445 boxes were opened all of the cars had brown doors, as did the 52451 cars. It turns out that the factory painted the entire order with brown doors. After a very interesting call to Lionel, the factory in Michigan painted several sets of orange doors and overnighted them to the convention. We put the right doors on the proper cars in the proper boxes and went on with the convention. The cars that went out at the convention had the right numbers on them in the right boxes. After the convention all of the cars went back to Michigan to have the doors replaced. Now the cluster really begins! When the cars arrived at TTOS we had the following:
Box 6-52445 with brown door car with 52445 on the side
Box 6-52451 with brown door car with 52451 on the side
Box 6-52451 with orange door car with 52451 on the side
Box 6-52445 with orange door car with 52451 on the side
Box 6-52445 with brown door car with 52451 on the side
So as far as I can tell the only orange door cars in the proper boxes with the proper number on the side are the ones that went out at the convention. As for sorting out the rest, after seven years I GIVE UP! We do make sure the members gets the correct color door when ordering cars, but other than that there is not much else that can be done.
I hope I did not add too much confusion to a already confusing subject.
Regards,
Randall Giroux
President - TTOS
