Pieter remarked about the floor boards:

Also interesting is the weathering of the floor boards. Both ends

are covered with blackish "grunge" up to the cross bearer. Beyond
that,and especially between the large frame members the color is
mostly natural aged wood.

Richard replied:

Easily explained. In the summer of 1950, shortly before this car

was wrecked and photographed, the Santa Fe began replacing the draft
gear and bolsters on these cars, a process which required the removal
and replacement of the flooring at each end of the car. The new
flooring was treated with preservative before it was applied; the old
flooring in the center of the car was neither treated nor repainted.

DANG! That killed my pet theory, which was that the floor in the
doorways had been replaced, given that that was the highest traffic
area and subject to the most damage. In fact, many railroads put
steel decking in the door area to help with this...

Regards
Bruce

Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL

On Jul 25, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Bruce Smith smithbf36832 wrote:

Pieter remarked about the floor boards:
>
> > Also interesting is the weathering of the floor boards. Both ends
are covered with blackish "grunge" up to the cross bearer. Beyond
that,and especially between the large frame members the color is
mostly natural aged wood.

Richard replied:
> Easily explained. In the summer of 1950, shortly before this car
was wrecked and photographed, the Santa Fe began replacing the draft
gear and bolsters on these cars, a process which required the removal
and replacement of the flooring at each end of the car. The new
flooring was treated with preservative before it was applied; the old
flooring in the center of the car was neither treated nor repainted.

DANG! That killed my pet theory, which was that the floor in the
doorways had been replaced, given that that was the highest traffic
area and subject to the most damage. In fact, many railroads put
steel decking in the door area to help with this...

Ah, yes, another pet theory shot down in flames. Isn't it
disappointing how often even the most plausible seeming speculations
turn out to be unsupported by the facts?

Richard Hendrickson

Richard wrote:

Ah, yes, another pet theory shot down in flames. Isn't it
disappointing how often even the most plausible seeming speculations
turn out to be unsupported by the facts?

And isn't amazing how often those facts only surface as a result of
someone's plausible speculations?? :-)

That's a Good Thing.

Tom "'plausible' is about all I have to offer on this list" Madden

Posted by: "smithbf36832" DANG! That killed my pet theory, which was that the floor in the
doorways had been replaced, given that that was the highest traffic
area and subject to the most damage. In fact, many railroads put
steel decking in the door area to help with this...
==================

What doors ? Looks like a bulkhead flat to me. Since the photo was taken from a dome car location that was obviously higher than the side of the car, wouldn't we see the sides if it was a house car.

Since it looks like a flat area, there are mountains in the background, and the sun is on the left side of the train, I nominate eastern Colorado as the location.


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

On Wed, July 25, 2007 12:39 pm, Malcolm Laughlin wrote:

Posted by: "smithbf36832" DANG! That killed my pet theory, which was
that the floor in the
doorways had been replaced, given that that was the highest traffic
area and subject to the most damage. In fact, many railroads put
steel decking in the door area to help with this...
==================

What doors ? Looks like a bulkhead flat to me. Since the photo was
taken from a dome car location that was obviously higher than the side
of the car, wouldn't we see the sides if it was a house car.

Malcolm,
I don't know of too many bulkhead flats with running boards ;^) (and
side ladders are pretty rare on bulkhead flats too, now that I think about
it)

Regards
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL

Flat cars don't have roof walks on them. This is what's left of a 50 foot double door auto box in the
Santa Fe class Fe-6 to Fe-20 series.
Charlie Slater

From: Malcolm Laughlin <mlaughlinnyc@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Re: floors was Holes (was: any guesses about this car?)
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:39:40 -0700 (PDT)

Posted by: "smithbf36832" DANG! That killed my pet theory, which was that the floor in the
doorways had been replaced, given that that was the highest traffic
area and subject to the most damage. In fact, many railroads put
steel decking in the door area to help with this...
==================

What doors ? Looks like a bulkhead flat to me. Since the photo was taken from a dome car location that was obviously higher than the side of the car, wouldn't we see the sides if it was a house car.

Since it looks like a flat area, there are mountains in the background, and the sun is on the left side of the train, I nominate eastern Colorado as the location.


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

_________________________________________________________________
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_2G_0507

On Jul 25, 2007, at 10:39 AM, Malcolm Laughlin wrote:

What doors ? Looks like a bulkhead flat to me. Since the photo was
taken from a dome car location that was obviously higher than the side
of the car, wouldn't we see the sides if it was a house car.

Hello, Malcolm. You haven't been paying attention. I've already
identified the car as a Santa Fe automobile car, definitely a house
car, and I'm absolutely confident of my identification(I did, after all
write the book on those cars).

Since it looks like a flat area, there are mountains in the
background, and the sun is on the left side of the train, I nominate
eastern Colorado as the location.

Again, another list member has already identified the location as the
Mojave Desert, and since I grew up near there, I'd bet a case of Goose
Island at Naperville that he's right.

Richard Hendrickson

Malcolm Laughlin wrote:

What doors ? Looks like a bulkhead flat to me.

Malcolm, you gotta read all the posts, and notice the ones from the experts. Both Richard Hendrickson and Charlie Slater observed that it's a Santa Fe automobile car. Listen up.

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@signaturepress.com
Publishers of books on railroad history