Richard or anyone else familiar with Pennsy autoboxes....that white stripe on
the right door (on 40' double door cars) that designated internal racks, do
you know which # series had those stripes? Were they only round roof cars?
Thanks in advance. Bud Rindfleisch

Guy, Thanks for your reply. I kind of like the looks of cars with the white
stripe, makes them stand out in a train, but if its not prototypical, I ain't
gonna do it! This car BTW has a 10'6" IH as per the dim data. It is an S
scale Pacific Rail Shops kit that was done on special order for the South
Jersey S Scalers. Bud

In a message dated 7/30/02 1:55:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
BlackDiamondRR@... writes:

<< Guy, Thanks for your reply. I kind of like the looks of cars with the
white
stripe, makes them stand out in a train, but if its not prototypical, I
ain't
gonna do it! This car BTW has a 10'6" IH as per the dim data. It is an S
scale Pacific Rail Shops kit that was done on special order for the South
Jersey S Scalers. >>

Bud,

You are always welcome.

There MAY have been some confusion by the S Scale group as to the
classification of the car, or maybe they have further details than we have
found. These were classed as XA as of April 1942 and 67368 had a 10' 8"
inside height. Though stenciled as Automobile cars by the Pennsylvania they
were not equipped with Auto Loaders as of the above date. Maybe someone can
tell us if the cars were intended to eventually be equipped with loaders and
war time conditions dictated that they not be? Or, were the cars built
specifically to handle auto parts?

Interestingly, during the war the removal or pemanant stowage of Auto Loaders
within auto cars (classed XAR) which were placed into general service and
re-designated as; XA, XAB, XAF, and XF led to shipper confusion as to how a
car was equipped. The AAR subsequently dropped these designations, effective
August 1, 1946.

Dictated by shipper requests, on March 20, 1946 the General Committee of the
AAR authorized the marking of cars equipped with permanent auto parts racks.
The new marking was the (now familiar) horizontal "key hole" symbol painted
white. The marking was to be painted onto; each door of cars equipped with
single doors, both right hand (main) doors of cars equipped with double
doors, and centered on the door approximately 3 feet up from the floor line.
The marking consisted of a 5 inch diameter circle and two three inch high by
three inch long "wings".

Regards,

Guy Wilber
Sparks, Nevada

Guy, One thing puzzles me about the Pennsy X37b or later XM 40' double door
boxcar. If indeed these cars were used in the shipment of auto parts from the
Ford Motor Co. Woodlawn, NY stamping plant, there were no "small" parts
there. Everything coming out of a stamping plant would be body panels, hoods,
sides, doors etc. all which required some kind of rack to prevent damage
during shipment. Just curious as to the "return to SBRwy" stencil. Bud