Ben Scanlon wrote:
"...not my area of knowledge at all, but here is an FEC DS car.  Don't know anything about it. "

Rob Kirkham replied:
"Thanks for sending that photo along Ben.  It is another interesting car with many similar features.  To my eye, that looks like a former ventilated car end, with the louver panels blanked over.   Distinguishing features (from 11754) include the tack board location (more toward the corner), the murphy corrugations protrude outward (rather than inward), and the channel end sill [rather than the sill incorporated into the lower end panel (plus polling pocket)]."

This car was originally built as USRA clone ventilated boxcar in 1924 with 7/8 Murphy ends (differentiated from earlier closer copies of USRA DS boxcars built as ventilated cars with 5/5/5 ends for the FEC in 1918).  These were later rebuilt into FEC 20501- series insulated boxcars, with blanked ventilators and single doors as shown here.  196 of the rebuilt cars were later sold to the Savannah and Atlanta.

Funaro offers the cars with 7/8 Murphy ends in both original and rebuilt versions in HO scale (6410 series kits); Westerfield offers the cars with the 5/5/5 ends as built (6300 series kits).


Ben Hom

Thanks for filling in the blanks of this FEC car Ben.