I have not had any success in finding the layout of the structural underframe of the Northern Pacific stock car from Central Valley.
I have , however, learned that there are at least two of these cars in railroad museums. One is at the Northwest Railway Museum
in Snoqualmie, Washington and the other is at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, Minisota. Hopedfully someone
on this list lives in the general vacinity of one of these museums and would be kind enough to shoot a few photos of the car's
underframe.

Any help would be appreciated.

Billl Pardie

Here's a hint... remember I said that many / most steam era freightcar underframes DID NOT have the crossbearers in line with the side posts? Well, those crossbearers still need to be attached to the side sills, and the attachment rivets on the sill are a dead giveaway as to their location. Take a look at these two pix:
NP 82995

NP 83099

 See the pairs of rivets on the sill in the first and second panels out from the door? These are undoubtedly the attachment points for the cross bearers, just as the pair in the last panel, next to the post, are the attachment for the body bolster, the rivets for the edge toward the center of the car are hidden by the post. These are a feature you'll find on almost all steam era freightcars, because at the time welded fabrication was uncommon.

Given the location of these rivets, the CV crossbearer location appears to be correct:

http://www.cvmw.com/imagecvmw/1001album/image/690_cv_1000_und2bw.jpg

  Now the only question is are the crossbeares / cross ties the correct shape, and since CV went to the pains of making them different, I'd guess they had some reference material to work with.

I will be up at the Lake Superior railway museum in late September. If the car is accessible, I'll see what I can do for pix.

Dennis Storzek