On Sat, Jun 8, 2019 at 08:00 PM, Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

It’s pretty clear that the steps ARE bent inwards from the usual plane of the car side.

https://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Emil-Albrecht-Photos/1944-Columbus-Georgia/i-xxqfnfK/A

Indeed, and if you look around in the photo Schuyler linked, you'll see steps on the Rio Grande and WLE boxcars are also bent inward. Must be operating on a club layout. ("Huh, THAT isn't very sturdy! I build MY cars to OPERATE.")

Seriously, once to start looking, you'll see these a lot. The bend is by design, not damage (though that happens too). It's a consequence of the inward taper of the clearance envelope below the level of the side sill.  When the inside width of house cars expanded to 9'2", width over the side sills became about 9'10".  But the bottom of the step is at a height of 2' or a couple inches less ATR , where the max width has reduced to about 9'8".  

Jack Mullen