Bob: You are right about the difficulties of loading automobiles into boxcars -- no wonder the railroads lost most of the finished automobile market until the advent of multilevel flats!
One factor that drove the conversion from 40 foot to 50 foot boxcars, that you do not hear a lot about in the model press, was the increasing use of mechanized loading (fork lifts)during the 1950's. The typical 6-foot door on a 40-foot boxcar was a good door size during the days when labor was cheap and a car could be loaded one box at a time (or one stick of lumber at a time). The 6-foot door was also easy to close off with a grain door, for grain loading. Generally, you need at least an 8-foot door width to effectively utilize a fork lift, and if you are loading lumber, a 16-foot double door is better. So, even if a customer did not necessarily need the extra cubic capacity of a 50-foot car versus a 40-foot car, the door width of the newer 50-foot car was often the determining factor. Dan Vandermause --- In [email protected], Bob Werre <bob@...> wrote: > > Dan, you are absolutely correct about when 50 cars started their > invasion. But don't forget about earlier 50 ft cars assigned to > furniture service and also many DD cars were used to haul finished cars > with internal racks. Those must have been a real pain to load and > unload! I think there is a Union Pacific book showing little Crosley's > loaded in a boxcar--two aside. Despite Crosley's being very narrow, I > don't know how the last driver got out of the car door. > > I grew up on a very light rail'ed branch that pretty much only saw the > 40' cars until I went to college in the 70's--many outside braced wooden > cars until the late 60's and always a good grouping of the ribbed sided > boxcars followed after that. Also since most of the traffic was > outbound, most of the cars were home road cars (Milwaukee). So yes, it > was boring growing up on the endless prairie seeing a couple of six axle > Alco's pulling cars through the tall grasses--(so I never really did > grow up... that is)! > > Bob Werre > > > On 8/15/11 9:57 AM, danvandermause wrote: > > > > Lest we be lumped in with our AF brethren, who are often accused of > > purchasing only "colorful" freight cars, let's not forget that even in > > the late steam era, 50 foot boxcars were rapidly dominating the boxcar > > fleet. > > By the late 1950's, not only were 40 foot boxcars rapidly on the way > > out (with the exception of midwestern and Canadian roads with > > significant amounts of light-density grain branchlines, where 40 foot > > boxcars were still being used for grain loading), but new 50 foot > > boxcars were already starting to evolve into 1960's patterns of wider > > doors, plug doors, cushioned underframes, etc. > > The 50 foot Pacific Rail Shops boxcars represent a typical 1950's > > general service boxcar, and should have some representation on our > > layouts. My layout is based on the mid-1960's and by this time the 50 > > footers were even more prevalent. > > > > Dan Vandermause > > Ellicott City, MD > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
