And, one car has Z-bracing between the door and the next vertical post, and the other one does not. (!)

Ron Merrick


--- In STMFC@..., "soolinehistory" <destorzek@...> wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@> wrote:

<snip> Where did they come from, and

when were they rebuilt into this form?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Orig-Slide-SOO-LINE-40-Wood-Sheathed-Boxcar-75761-/360358184867

Tim O'Connor

Well, someone put a couple photos of one of these cars preserved at New London, WI in the PHOTOS area a while back:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFC/photos/album/925508989/pic/list

The car at New London has been re-roofed with non-original material, which is the reason for the heavy looking eaves.

These cars began life as 200 door and a half auto cars with wood doors, AC&F, 1924. Since we just had a thread about the evolution of boxcar construction, these were the first cars on the Soo with metal ends. Fifty cars had their doors widened to 12' during the thirties. 150 cars were rebuilt with 7' doors in the early fifties, as shown here. Incidentally, the series was even numbers only, and this is actually a photo of 75764. An interesting rebuilding of ten additional cars turned them into insulated boxcars, with tiny plug doors fitted into the larger opening.

Dennis