Hi Guys,
I would like to know when railroads started putting DF on the side of
boxcars. I think it was for Evans Damage Free apparatus inside the car?
Any and all help would be highly appreciated. Thanks, Davey

Dave Powell wrote:

I would like to know when railroads started putting DF on the side of boxcars. I think it was for Evans Damage Free apparatus inside the car? Any and all help would be highly appreciated.

Dave, this product was invented about 1947 but I don't know when any particular railroad started using the "DF" emblem, and would guess that it varied from road to road. Possibly it was a request or requirement from Evans at some point. Personally, I associate the WIDESPREAD use of that emblem with the late 1950s.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

A lot of the Auto Parts box cars (That Ford designed) had that "DF" in the 60's WJK

walter kierzkowski wrote:

A lot of the Auto Parts box cars (That Ford designed) had that "DF" in the 60's

True, but the emblem appeared at least as early as 1955, well before those 60-foot cars appeared--and in any case the latter period is off the end of the permitted period of the list <g>.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

Posted by: "Tony Thompson" walter kierzkowski wrote:

A lot of the Auto Parts box cars (That Ford designed) had that "DF" in
the 60's

True, but the emblem appeared at least as early as 1955, well
before those 60-foot cars appeared--and in any case the latter period
is off the end of the permitted period of the list <g>.

DF was a trademark of General American which I believe had the original patent for belt rails with interlocking bars across the car. Evans also was involved - don't recall its relationship with GA. The generic term used by the railroads, which you will see in the ORER and car service directives, is "load-protective device". That term also applied to the vertical inside door type devices, pne of which was the tradmark "Compartmentizer".


Malcolm Laughlin, Editor 617-489-4383
New England Rail Shipper Directories
19 Holden Road, Belmont, MA 02478

Malcolm Laughlin wrote:

DF was a trademark of General American which I believe had the original patent for belt rails with interlocking bars across the car. Evans also was involved - don't recall its relationship with GA.

An interesting statement, as the articles in Railway Age announcing this new product referred to it as a product of Evans, not mentioning GATC.
Evans and General American teamed up to form the leasing company, General American-Evans, which were GATC-built cars with Evans DF loaders. The result was the GAEX cars of the 1950s. According to Railway Age, this was done to make the technology available to railroads for trial with leased cars, thus avoiding the need for commitment to purchase of a new technology until the system could be tried out.

The generic term used by the railroads, which you will see in the ORER and car service directives, is "load-protective device". That term also applied to the vertical inside door type devices, pne of which was the tradmark "Compartmentizer".

Pullman-Standard marketed the "Compartmentizer," while Pacific Car & Foundry beat them into the market with the "Car-Pac Loader," and Evans also had a single-door system called "DF-B" (for Bulkhead), different from the P-S system which had pairs of narrow, independent doors in each end of the car. And there were a couple of others, ALL of them "load-protective."

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

No argument with what Tony says. I knew there was some Evans/GAC connection. My Varney GAEX box car is still in service on the Chesapeake system. Thanks for clarifying the whole situation Tony.

Malcolm Laughlin, Editor 617-489-4383
New England Rail Shipper Directories
19 Holden Road, Belmont, MA 02478

In a message dated 9/22/06 10:09:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mlaughlinnyc@... writes:

The generic term used by the railroads, which you will see in the ORER and
car service directives, is "load-protective device". That term also

applied

to the vertical inside door type devices, pne of which was the tradmark "
Compartmentizer".

The brand name reffered to by the DF on the doors was "Damage Free." Evans
Damage Free loaders was a pretty commonly used term by people dealing with the
cars in the 1960s. One of the ad salesmen at Railway Age during my time there
used to be a freight car parts salesman, and he used the term pretty fluently
when I'd bring up the grand old days of selling freight components.

As an aside, he related that Pullman was tough on freight car parts salesmen
because it made and sold all of its own details and parts -- doors and ladders
and running boards and outlets, etc. Other builders allowed customers to
specify third party details. One of his biggest volume items were nailable steel
floors, and Pullman had those, too.

Mike Del Vecchio

The CGW was fitting PS1 box cars with DF equipment in 54 and painting
them maroon with large DF to the right of the door.
Clark Propst