As our company's IP attorney explained it: You can't copyright, "It rained on the evening of October 17th." You CAN copyright, "It was a dark and stormy night. . ."

> Also: has there ever been lists made of who the various
SHPX/UTLX/GATX
> tanks were leased out to?

Not really. An early issue of the RPC covered the AC&F Type 27 and
has much of that information for that design, and Ed Kaminski's AC&F
tank car book offers a lot of information about original leases.
http://www.signaturepress.com/tank.html
However, tanks moved on and off lease with some frequency, so this
data may not be terribly relevant for your dates.

Since Tony is apparently not going to tell us the reason for this arrangement, holding us hostage to the cost of his book, I'll give it a guess, which will only cost you 2 cents*.

The arrangement provides a wider opening for easier mechanical loading without a tremendous amount of extra complexity (just three more hinges and an extra door leaf) and no loss in the thickness of the insulation in the door area. Of course, plug doors accomplish the same thing, which is likely why this solution fell out of favor after only a short time.

Bob

Here's a shot of the NP reefer that Matt described (the one
I confused with the PFE R-40-28)

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=26019

I noticed the unusual (to me) door arrangement on the PFE reefer (PFE
11303) pictured on the following link:
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=26183

Bruce and Ben, thanks for the info.

I mentioned the Canadian example mainly because that was the first that
came to mind; I'm actually modeling South Carolina in 1951. However,
wanting to have a few Canadian cars present for the sake of modeling
something 'closer to home: where can I find information regarding the
rules governing international movement of cars?

Also: has there ever been lists made of who the various SHPX/UTLX/GATX
tanks were leased out to?

Frank Valoczy wrote:
"I know boxcars got everywhere imaginable - I have a photo from the
early 1960s of a Florida East Coast boxcar behind a BC Hydro Railway
locomotive in New Westminster - but what about other types of cars?
I assume things like ore cars wouldn't venture too far from their
home roads (or perhaps more likely, certain lines on their home
roads). To variegate the rolling stock collection, I'd like to add
non-boxcar types from foreign roads, perhaps distant ones, too, but
am not certain as to what travelled how far from home. Any insight
would be very appreciated."

Ben replied:

Frank, the short answer is as follows:

- Flat cars and gons, though not as plentiful as boxcars, generally
shared similar use patterns with the exception of specially equipped
cars.

- Cars in coal service tended to be limited to specific regions.
Some cars are found far from home, but to far less an extent than
boxcars.

I'll add:
Tank cars - After WWII, most of these were used in the delivery of
refined products or chemicals. Road names were almost exclusively
private and shipments were mostly local to regional.

Stock cars - Depending on the season, these could get quite far from
home. PRR cars on the left coast and UP, ATSF & GN etc on the right
coast were not unheard of. In addition to hauling stock for a
variety of reasons, these were used to haul other cargoes out of season.

Reefers - Again, mostly private. However, these cars traveled
nationwide. Originating roads for cargos often had fairly biased
fleets (e.g. UP and SP almost all PFE, ATSF almost all SFRD) however
terminating roads often had a mix. In addition, related companies
like FGE/WFE/BRE pooled reefers to cover different harvests so you
were likely to see BRE reefers in Georgia and FGE reefers in the
Pacific NW.

You mention a Canadian example - if you are modeling Canada, the
issue is very much more complicated due to the issues of
international travel of cars.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
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thanks for the informative reply. i would not dare to infringe on your copyright and repeat the explanation from your book here.

Frank Valoczy wrote:
"I know boxcars got everywhere imaginable - I have a photo from the
early 1960s of a Florida East Coast boxcar behind a BC Hydro Railway
locomotive in New Westminster - but what about other types of cars?
I assume things like ore cars wouldn't venture too far from their
home roads (or perhaps more likely, certain lines on their home
roads). To variegate the rolling stock collection, I'd like to add
non-boxcar types from foreign roads, perhaps distant ones, too, but
am not certain as to what travelled how far from home. Any insight
would be very appreciated."

Frank, the short answer is as follows:

- Flat cars and gons, though not as plentiful as boxcars, generally
shared similar use patterns with the exception of specially equipped
cars.

- Cars in coal service tended to be limited to specific regions.
Some cars are found far from home, but to far less an extent than
boxcars.

PFE and NP bought cars with these combination swing-plug doors -- the PFE class was R-40-28. Tony Thompson probably can tell you the logic behind the doors. It was not repeated on subsequent orders.

... I have posted photos showing the photoetch
details that will come with the Sunshine Models plywood and T&G
reefers built by FGE/WFE/BRE in 1942 and 1944.


These will be on sale at Naperville.