--- In STMFC@..., Rob Daniels <shalizadad@y...> wrote:

I have a photo of B&O 269284, an M-26A, dating to the early 60's. In

the photo the car has what appears to be a replacement door of
Superior type with six panels. Does anyone know approximately when the
original Creco doors on M-26A's were replaced with this type?

Thanks.

Rob Daniels
New York, NY

Rob,

My limited photo collection has an example of an M-26A with a re-weigh
date of 1940 already with Youngstown doors. Another from the
mid-1950s has Superior panel doors. There are limited records
indicating that the B&O M-26's received repairs including patch panels
and doors as necessary starting after W.W. II and continue into the
mid-1950s. This apparently was not done to all the cars. I have a
photo I took in the early 1960s of an M-26D recently shopped and
repainted in Washington, Indiana still with its original doors. It
did have patch panels.

Recent information about the original doors indicates these were
termed "XLT Doors" and were based upon patents held by J. J. Tatum the
B&O Superintendent of Cars at the time. Paper records from the B&OHS
Archives has yielded additional information about other freight cars
parts all termed "XLT". Some of us in the B&OHS are trying to
organize this information and understand what was going on with Tatum,
his patents and the B&O freight car construction.

Bob Witt, Indianapolis, Indiana