-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
soolinehistory
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 11:21 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Panel side hoppers



--- In STMFC@..., water.kresse@... wrote:

While the panel sizes are not that much different, there appears to be a

greater depth of draw and the side-wall angles are more aggressive.  The
radii also appear to be smaller.  Do we know if these were cold or
warm-formed?  Where any every made out of COR-TEN steel?

Al Kresse

Alas, I really can't answer your questions. My reference materials for the
decade of the thirties are seriously lacking. IIRC, the first panel side
installations were done in 1931, but they are not in the 1931 Cyc. The
earliest reference I can easily lay my hands on is the 1940 Cyc, and at that
point the panel side concept was approaching ten years of age, and there is
no editorial info, other than SRECo was presenting drawings of two versions.
Tony Thompson sounded like he was familiar with a Railway Age article;
perhaps he knows more.

The 1940 Cyc. was all abuzz about the new low alloy high strength steels,
but no indication how long they had been available. Googling Cor-ten and
ASTM A242 didn't fare any better; nine thousand references to rusty
sculptures and buildings, but not a single decent history of development
with a date.

It's certainly possible, it appears that US Steel was pushing Cor-ten for
hopper slope sheets and the like because of its corrosion resistance without
suggesting the cross section be reduced... that appears to be where the
car-builders were trying to get an edge with "lightweight" car designs that
took advantage of the increased tensile strength.

Interesting point about the deep draw of the panels. makes me wonder if the
failure mode was rusting through at the bottom corners, since the sheet
would have become considerably thinner in those areas.

Dennis



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