Group, I just passed through a town called St. John, Michigan, and sitting behind the depot was one of the Wabash steel sided rebuilt cars. There was no number on it, naving been repainted in AA MOW black, however it was from a series which had 7/8 Murphy ends, rectangular panel roof, and four panels each side of the door. What I found interesting was the way they treated the joint between the ends and the side panels. Magazine photos I've seen make one think that the ends are the same width as the external dimensions of the sides; that they either built the ends out, or the overall width of the cars remained the same as the original DS wood sided cars that these were converted from. However, a visual inspection shows that the 7/8 ends remained at the original width, and the side panels were the width of a 1937 standard car. The difference in width was accomodated by having the side panels bend inward at what appeared to be an approximate 45 degree angle.

Just a trivial point, but interesting to see, nonetheless!

Regards,
Phil Buchwald