Those structures on the deck form a V-shaped trough. The weight of the coils was supposed to keep them in place. However, they did shift during transit, causing the cradles to crack. Post-STMFC cars of this type received heavier ends and "wave" pattern side braces, and presumably the earlier cars were rebuilt with heavier cradles.

Tony was too modest to point out that his SOUTHERN PACIFIC FREIGHT CARS V.3 covers these cars. Pages 338-341 have many photos of these cars, including showing the trough from deck level. His photo cutlines tell us that the first block of these cars was converted from F-70-7 flat cars in 1956-1957. On page 322 there is a roster of these cars showing when the four number blocks were converted, which will be useful to a STMFC modeler wanting to add some of these cars, but I will summarize. The largest block were the initial 165 cars in series 595000-595164, with 50 more cars in series 595165-595214 following in 1959. The notes show 595000-595149 were assigned to USS's Columbia works in Utah, with 595150-595164 assigned to Kaiser Steel (Fontana works?). The 1959 cars were all assigned to USS Columbia. The Columbia cars likely showed up at USS steel's re-rolling plant in Pittsburg (no "h"), California, which the Columbia works supplied. This suggests that they would be regularly seen in SP through trains on the Overland Route from late 1956 to the end of our period of interest.

The third block was completed right at the end of our time period in 1960, and the last with the wave bracing in 1963. No assignments are mentioned for these cars.

Yours Aye,

Garth Groff  🦆