Afternoon y'all,

I am reposting this to this group with the author's permission. I have put
the photo on my site at
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/BFSpages/NavGenCar.jpg

Does anyone know what this car was before a shop built a shed on the deck to
house a diesel generator? What might give you a clue is the
"half-of-a-hinge" on the side sill just a ways back from the side step.
There is a small chain hanging from one end of the hinge that has a small
pin attached. It looks like it might have been used to secure a larger pin
that would go into the holes of both parts of a hinge. There is a device
like this on all four corners of the car.

The car appears to me to be a truss rod flat car and the device in question
is centered over the bolster. Was it some sort of external bearing for the
truck? Any help would be most welcome!

Happy Rails
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith V.M.D., Ph.D.
Scott-Ritchey Research Center
334-844-5587, 334-844-5850 (fax)
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin
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Bruce,

That's weird. I've never seen anything like it. Your guess is probably close to correct, maybe mounting
points for snubbers of some sort. I would not be surprised if the car originally had some other type of
truck, since there doesn't seem to be a corresponding mounting point on the arch bars in the picture.

Also notice that the truss rods are bolted or riveted to the side sill, rather than running over the
bolsters and ended at nuts in the end sills. And isn't that exhaust stack great?

The military owned a lot of really strange cars, many built or rebuilt for special purposes, or for
foreign use. Since a great many were never intended for interchange, they could get away with some really
bizarre stuff.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

"Bruce F. Smith" wrote: