--- In STMFC@..., "Donald B. Valentine" <riverman_vt@> wrote:
What a super boxcar restoration and display but a double door auto car for shipping grain???? Was this a "common practice"??
Don Valentine
Mr. Valentine, In a word, no. Grain doors were sized to fit the standard 6' boxcar door opening in the steam era. Occasionally, 7 and 8 foot door boxcars may have been pressed into service, but this required the use of more than one grain door per side, both to cover the door opening and reinforce the "splice" in the doors to prevent failure of the grain door and subsequent loss of lading. This was done only as a last resort, because grain doors, like boxcars, were always in short supply during the harvest rush.
Late in the steam era, the GN (and several other roads) built and bought several series of 40' and 50' plug/sliding door boxcars that had 6' sliding doors so that they could be coopered if needed for grain service.
Sincerely, Robert D. Heninger Iowa City, IA
Thanks very much, Bob. That's about what I expected. I'm reasonably familiar with both Signode grain doors and, to a lesser extent, the wooden ones. But it is still good to see the Rock Island automobile car so well taken care of though it is unfortunate that the museum could find a more appropriate car, even if it were an older steel one.
