Pure, uninformed speculation: Could it also have to do with the thickness of the steel used in the various door panels, similar to what was done with car ends? For example, could the bottom panel of the door been of a heavier gauge steel, with the different panel heights depending on how high the car owner wanted the heavier gauge steel to extend?

Richard Townsend

Lincoln City, OR

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Storzek <dennis@...>
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Sent: Fri, Jul 15, 2022 1:08 pm
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] 7' wide 10' IH Youngstown door for CRP XM-4

On Fri, Jul 15, 2022 at 12:45 PM, hubert mask wrote:

Usually door variations were determined by satisfying the shipper’s needs for loading and unloading at consignee .  It’s my thinking that is why there no door one size fits all.

Just my thinking. 

Yeah but... we're not talking about the size of the door here, but rather the relative size of the panels that make up the door. It's easy to see why the stamped steel ends on the USRA cars were three panels; the cars were five inches taller than what came before, and likely two panels would exceed the size of the available stamping presses, especially on short notice. But these doors used different combinations of panels at different times. I suspect the answer lies in what other doors the three panels were also used in, and which panel (top, middle, or bottom) was easiest to build a tool for, considering the low production anticipated after the AAR standard went to 10'-6" IH.

Dennis Storzek