Jim,

There are two "B" end photos of composite BX-58's on page 106 of John C. Dobyne III's Santa Fe Boxcars 1869-1953, a Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society publication.

One car is numbered 32485 and the other is numbered 32434. The first car is in sawdust service and has roof hatches for easy loading, while the other is a true single door boxcar. Both have 7-5-5 Corrugated doors with flat steel extensions to make up the height difference. Both have second hand radial roofs.

The end ladder has seven rungs. The bottom of the ladder stiles begin above the first bottom corrugation of the car end. There is a riveted steel reinforcing strip that goes across the top of the car end with another which appears to be the upper riveted eave strip (which wraps around the edge of the car side at the end corners) above it that partially overlays the first. The top of the curved ladder stiles end at the point where the top strip overlays the lower one. The running board end supports are riveted to the top riveted eave strip.

The cars are equipped with AB brakes and have Ajax hand brake gear. The trucks are Andrews cast sideframe with bolted journals. The retainer valve pipe runs up the end of the car just to the right of the ladder and at the base of the Ajax brake gear housing curves to the right around the housing with the retainer valve attaching to the car end just above the top riveted eave strip between the gear case and the running board left support strip. The brakeman's step is located by the 2nd rung of the ladder from the top (between the 5th and 6th end rib from the top) of the car.

According to Mr. Dobyne's book, cars were painted mineral brown with metal roofs (after 1931) coated with black car cement with slate granules sprinkled in it to provide a non-slip surface. He also states that outside wood roofs continued to be painted mineral brown. He added that in or about 1951 the railroad began using a brown car cement on roofs or spraying them with mineral brown paint and that by the late 1950s the majority of car roofs would have been brown.

I hope that this information helps. The SFRH&MS has published a number of very well executed books on freight rolling stock (shameless plug) and are a must if you are building Santa Fe freight rolling stock.

Tom Olsen
7 Boundary Road, West Branch
Newark, Delaware, 19711-7479
(302) 738-4292
tmolsen@...