On Apr 16, 2020, at 4:49 PM, Dave Parker via groups.io <spottab@...> wrote:

That's a nice shot of a CN Fowler with 5-ft doors (IOW the very nice Speedwitch K104 kit). Although numerous, photos of these cars pre-AB brakes seem to be rather scarce.

That first CN car was built as Canadian Northern 83726 by Canadian Car & Foundry in January 1919 — technically, as CN had been formed the month before, it was actually delivered as a CN car (albeit with CNoR number and lettering), but it took CN another year or so to issue their renumbering guide.

The second car is a CN 504xxx series car (I can’t quite make out the number), also built by Canadian Car & Foundry, but in 1929 (the so-called CNR 1929 Standard Boxcar — very common, with some 9600 cars built from 1929-1931). This was a slightly longer (40’6” vs 36’) and slightly higher inside (8’7” vs 8’) – although the increased height does not seem obvious in this photo.

Ian Cranstone
Osgoode, Ontario, Canada
lamontc@...
http://freightcars.nakina.net