James Mischke wrote:
The Intermountain web site show them coming out with WWII war
emergency single sheath boxcars...
Nickel Plate questions: Web artwork shows NKP 8026. Original
series 8000-8199. I understand cars in this series were
renumbered into a 20800 series at some point. When?? Were
they ever steel sheathed or were they woodies to the end? I
model 1964. Any left then? ORER 1/64 notes mention Evans auto
loading equipment, 20800 series might be a different car by then.

Hi James,

The 8000-series were planned for a steel-sheathed rebuilding program in early 1964. The rebuilds, with 9' doors, were started in April, 1964, and completed in September, 1964. These cars were in the 8200-8299 number series.

There were never any NKP cars in a 20800 number series, at least as far as I've been able to find. My ORER collection ends with the end of steam, so I've never looked at them into the 1960s.

Since I don't have a 1964 ORER, I can't tell you how many of the 8200's were ever built (I have a diagram page for the series, but no data on how many cars were actually built). At least two of the as-built War-Emergency cars survived in their original form: car 8166, photographed by Howard Ameling in the late 1970s, and car 8099, which is preserved at the Indiana Transportation Museum. In 1956, 20 of the cars were converted to roofless, doorless coke cars and renumbered to the 120-139 number series.

Hope this helps!

Ray Breyer