Clark and Friends,

Yes, Georgia Railroad 29399 shown on page 39 of Henderson's CFC v. 1. According to the cutline, these were built in 1924 and were in series 29300-29449. According to an article by Pat Wilder in RPC 18, these were AAR XM-1 cars built in 1924 by Tennessee Coal & Iron Co. 128 were rebuilt with new steel bodies (obviously retaining their 7/8 ends) between 1949 and 1957. According to my 1958 ORER, there were 63 in series 29300-29449, and also 63  in series 39300-39449. 16 cars were not rebuilt, but were renumbered to 49300-49449 circa 1951 with capacity reduced to 40 tons. These were off the roster or rebuilt/renumbered by 1958. They might be 17000-17096, with just 7 cars left in 1958 (the dimensions are about right, as is capacity). There is one photo of an unrebuilt 19428 on RPC page 42. I have no other information to offer.

According to a note under a photo of rebuilt Georgia USRA boxcar 19712 in an undated page from MODEL RAILROADING magazine in my files, the car was rebuilt in 1941. Richard Hendrickson wrote an article in MODEL RAILROADING (also undated, since I only have those pages, not the whole magazine; sorry) where he rosters all the USRA SS boxcars. In his notes he says Georgia 19000-19299 were rebuilt in 1941 with steel sides, Hutchins roofs, and corrugated doors. He doesn't mention the rebuilt number series, but my 1958 ORER lists series 19500-19799 with 271 cars which matches many of the rebuilt cars in photos.

Whew!

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff