Pat Wider wrote (responding to Randy Hees):

To quote the
P-S ad in the 1940 CBC: "The necessity of reducing the weight of freight cars and
converting the saving into revenue load is well recognized."

And from the U.S.S. ad: "Reduction of dead weight with a corresponding increase in
capacity for carrying payload has been the outstanding feature of this new development in
freight car construction using U.S.S. High Tensile Steels." The ad goes on to press this
point further.

It was well recognized, all right: by the operating boys. Mechanical departments disliked this idea, as weight savings often meant different designs and different materials, which then became THEIR headache. Traffic people knew that the cars were rarely loaded to capacity, so the claim of "converting the saving into revenue load" was, statistically, silly. And of course US Steel wanted to sell premium steels, if they could just persuade railroads that they needed them . . .
I don't think the case is so simple as you state, Pat, certainly not prior to, say, 1960. Indeed, if "everyone" knew this, those ads you quote wouldn't have needed to press the point.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
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