lol - and a third candidate term! I started with Ed Hawkins' nomenclature
where he assigned a specific code to each type of end. In my opinion that's
really the only solution - a kind of scientific notation for freight car ends.
I expanded on Ed's and I keep them on file as my own reference

 5/5/5 MUR     Murphy end
   7/7 MUR     Murphy end
 3/3/3 DN      dreadnaught (some early auto cars)
   4   DN      dreadnaught (gondolas)
   4/4 DN      dreadnaught
   4/5 DN      dreadnaught
   5/5 DN      dreadnaught
   4/4 DART    "dartnot" or ACF Car Builder end (1950-1954)
   4/4 IDE     "rolling pin"
   4/4 IDE-2   "rolling pin" w/ short top rib
   3/4 IDE     "rolling pin" w/ extra narrow top rib
   3/4 IDE-2   "rolling pin" w/ no extra narrow top rib
 R-3/4 IDE     "rolling pin" w/ rectangular top rib (postwar to 1954)
 R+3/4 IDE      - alternate
 R-3/4 TDE     "tapered rib" w/ rectangular top rib (1955 and onwards)
 R+3/4 TDE      - alternate
   4/4 TDE     "tapered rib" w/ no rectangular rib
 3/3/3 TDE     "tapered rib" w/ no rectangular rib
   x/x PSE     Pullman Standard end
     x NTE     Non Terminating End

          -r   modifier indicates rivet seams
          -w   modifier indicates welded seams

   ... IV..    "inverse" pattern (mirror image)
   ... RV..    "reverse" pattern (inside out)





On 8/25/2019 3:02 PM, Tony Thompson wrote:

Tim O'Connor wrote:

You're looking at the backside view of most dreadnaught ends (with variations
in the number of ribs and panels). Some call them "reverse dreadnaughts" and I've
heard "inverse dreadnaught" as well.

     I don't see this as a reverse end at all. I think people are being confused by the two wider ribs, probably located at seams where pieces of the end are joined together. It might be a RECESSED end, in which the corrugations look pressed INTO the end, rather than proud of its surface, but I'm not sure if that's the case.

Tony Thompson
tony@...

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts