From a very old post for which I did some more research ...



ChetFrench wrote:

The January 1, 1957 Wabash equipment book shows all 50 cars equipped
with racks in 1956. Those equipped with Ford frame racks had an "8"

stenciled above the reporting marks and the cars with Mercury frame
racks were stenciled"54".

Tim O'Connor replied:

It's very odd that 50 had racks in 1957, but only 33 in 1959
(their numbers are listed in Note DD), and then all 50 again
later.

According to the October 1955 ORER no Wabash gondolas in the series
12600-12649 were assigned to auto frame service, but the April 1959 ORER
lists 33 converted to with racks to carry Ford passenger frames with the
individuals cars listed in note DD1,and the October 1959 ORER lists all
50 of these gondolas assigned to auto frame service. Which source should
we believe? I would tend to the ORER as railroads often had plans, but
often lack funds to implement them. I don't have an ORER between October
1955 and April 1959 to verify Chet's information.

As of April 1959 the following 33 gondolas in the 12600 to 12649 series
had racks to haul passenger frames.

12600 to
12606,12610,12611,12612,12614,12616,12617,12618,12621,12623,12624,12627,\
12628,12629,12631,12633to
12636,12638,12639,12640,12643,12645,12647,12648,12649

Hopefully having the cars numbers and a narrower date range will help
models determine which car numbers are appropriate for general service
or for auto frame service. Did anyone find a photo of these cars with
the racks for auto frame service?

Regards,

Bob Witt