I am still trying to figure how to justify building my F&C kit of a 40 foot
NP truss rod box car that fits my post WWII modeling. I now have two photos
of NP cars with fishbelly center sills and one truss rod to either side of
the centersill, both in company service, #'s 207648 & 207220. 207648 has be
renumbered but otherwise all the revenue stenciling remains, showing a built
date of 1913. No source is stamped on the back so I don't know where I got
it. 207220 is from Ted Schnepf and is dated May 1970. The ends on both cars
are different than the one on the F&C model, with no exterior bracing and a
steel channel end sill, whereas the F&C model shows a pair of vertical steel
braces going up the ends and a different kind of structure at the bottom of
the ends (how to describe?!).

I am assuming that the fishbelly centersills were part of a rebuilding
program for the NP's truss rod cars but were they applied to all of their
cars, or only to some series? Some of their stock cars show this same
configuration. What about the ends? 207220 show no lumber door on its "A"
end, but this is something that would have likely been resheathed when it
was in company service. (207648 shows the "B" end)

I can build the new end, no problem, and have the centersill parts ready to
go. I am just unclear which is the legitimate end for these cars in the
1947-1953 time period. I am also unclear what a legitimate car number would
be. My 1953 ORER shows 282 cars of the same dimensions as 207648 in the
39504-40995 series, with lumber doors.

For those interested, I also have a photo of NP 49473, circa 1937, from the
Sirman collection. It shows four truss rods. It does not have the same
rectangular bolster ends that characterize 207648 & 207220. It is a dead on
side shot so the ends are not visible.

Can anyone clarify this class of cars on the NP in the postwar era?

Bill Welch