Guys,

Speaking of NYC boxcars, what's the story on this relic?

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc-xx235adl.jpg

The date of the photo is 1959. Other than paint, the car
is not in bad shape really. Any guess as to its lineage?

Shawn Beckert

The angle makes it hard to tell whether it's 36-ft or 40-ft (NYC had
large numbers of both). HO models are available. It would be
extremely rare for this car to be in interchange service in 1959,
but these cars were common as dirt in an earlier era. What is the
photo location?. Many 40-ft cars were rebuilt to all-steel cars,
and I know of a few still in existence although not preserved. The
only wood-sheathed cars still in existence that I know of are
several Rutland cars built in 1924, and mor eof the survivors are in
preservation than not.

Jeff

Jeff,

Location is Framingham, MA. Caption says car number is "xx235".
Which probably doesn't help, since usually the first two or three
numbers denote a car series.

Shawn

From Shawn Beckert:

Speaking of NYC boxcars, what's the story on this relic?

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc-xx235adl.jpg

The date of the photo is 1959. Other than paint, the car
is not in bad shape really. Any guess as to its lineage?

One of a large number of NYC 36' double wood sheathed box cars built in
several lots ca. 1910-1912 with fishbelly steel center sills, most later
converted with inverse corrugated steel ends. Owing to the rebuilding and
renumbering, the roster is a rat's nest, though it's mostly decipherable
from the NYC equipment diagrams. I have a couple of fairly good-in service
photos.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Hello everyone,

Would this 36' car have a cubic capacity of 2448? About what range of years would the metal ends have been installed? Can I assume they were built with wood ends?

Thanks for your help.

Ted

At 03:43 PM 10/14/2002 -0700, you wrote:

From Shawn Beckert:

Speaking of NYC boxcars, what's the story on this relic?

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc-xx235adl.jpg

The date of the photo is 1959. Other than paint, the car
is not in bad shape really. Any guess as to its lineage?

One of a large number of NYC 36' double wood sheathed box cars built in
several lots ca. 1910-1912 with fishbelly steel center sills, most later
converted with inverse corrugated steel ends. Owing to the rebuilding and
renumbering, the roster is a rat's nest, though it's mostly decipherable
from the NYC equipment diagrams. I have a couple of fairly good-in service
photos.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Ted Schnepf
railsunl@...

Ted,

You wrote:

Would this 36' car have a cubic capacity of 2448? About what range of

years would the metal ends have been installed? Can I assume they
were
built with wood ends?

Since the photograph was taken in Framingham MA in 1959, let's assume it
was a Boston & Albany car - not necessarily a good assumption.

In the January 1938 ORER, there were three 36' boxcar B&A series with
two different inside heights.

Ends IL IH Cubic Qty. Year Blt
35000-36999 Wood 36' 8' 6" 2,601 341 1912
35000-36999 Steel 36' 5" 8' 6" 2,631 1,585
37000-38999 Wood 36' 8' 4" 2,550 368 1912
37000-38999 Steel 36' 5" 8' 4" 2,580 1,552
39000-39904 Steel 36' 3" 8' 4" 2,568 882 1914

The #39000 series were built with steel ends while the other two
originally had wood ends; whatever conversion to steel probably happened
in the 1920's.

I do not know whether the series built with wood ends had steel angle
irons to help hold the ends to the car sides were originally applied or
added later.

All told, the NYC System had built 5,960 cars (including B&A's 2,000)
similar to the B&A #35000 series, 9,950 similar to B&A's #37000's, and
7,405 similar to B&A's #39000's. The photo on page 162 of Kaminski's ACF
is of P&LE #31060, one of 3,000 36' footers having 8'3" Inside Heights
which the NYC acquired - the B&A had none of these cars built in 1910.
For the record, as part of the War Effort in 1943, the B&M rebuilt P&LE
#33596, a 36', 8'4" IH, 2,550' wood-end car, and renumbered it #64680.
The ORER's between 1943 and 1948 include this car as part of the
#64680-65687 series, but its inside height was 8' 4" per the Class Card
Diagram vs. 8'0" for the remaining #64680-65687 series. B&M's original
#64680 was built in 1908, but had been retired in the late 1930's.

Hope this helps, but it probably does not answer the question.

Tim Gilbert

Ted Schnepf inquires:

Would this 36' car have a cubic capacity of 2448? About what range of
years would the metal ends have been installed? Can I assume they were
built with wood ends?

Cubic capacities were either 2601 or 2550 (steel end cars had 36'5" IL).
Photos show these cars with inverse corrugated steel ends, which would date
the application of steel ends to the early 1920s. But not all of the cars
got steel ends. Note also that many were built for both the NYC and MC
with 10' side doors. Most of these were later rebuilt with 6' doors, but
many MC cars had the door openings enlarged to 12'.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520