Surviving 36ft Boxcars in the 50s

[sailormatlac]

While the Southern's Su-class boxcars did have truss rods, they also had steel underframes.

Steel underframes were required on all cars built after Jan. 1, 1927, or re-built after July 1, 1928. All-wood underframes, including steel-girthed centre sills, were prohibited in interchange after Jan. 1, 1940, but truss rods on composite underfames weren't banned from interchange until Jan. 1, 1952.

Wayne

Ray Breyer did a quite extensive search on 36 footer and how long they survived.

http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/accur...type-data/

Basically, most stuff was scrapped by 1950 and only a few roads stuck with them up to 1952 or 1954 (depending which banned was in effect - brake gear or underframe). Cars that survived that era were in MoW or updated oddities (melon cars are a good example). I'm seriously thinking about moving my era from 1952 to 1948 or 1952 to have more choices.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

...Ray Breyer did a quite extensive search on 36 footer and how long they survived....

Yeah, Matt, quite an extensive read, but well-worth it if you're looking to model a prototypical freight car fleet. I've save all of those for reference, although most of the Fowler cars I buy will become EG&E cars, as they're a perfect match to my prototype...right down to the plastic bodies. I'll probably pick up a few of the double sheathed 36'ers, too, but after that, most new freight cars will be, I hope, scratchbuilt or parts-built.

Wayne

[sailormatlac]

...Ray Breyer did a quite extensive search on 36 footer and how long they survived....

Yeah, Matt, quite an extensive read, but well-worth it if you're looking to model a prototypical freight car fleet. I've save all of those for reference, although most of the Fowler cars I buy will become EG&E cars, as they're a perfect match to my prototype...right down to the plastic bodies. I'll probably pick up a few of the double sheathed 36'ers, too, but after that, most new freight cars will be, I hope, scratchbuilt or parts-built.

Wayne

Wayne, I read all Ray's PDFs and didn't regret doing it. I've bought two 36ft recently. Definitely a neat boxcar for further detailing and bashing. I suspect the Fowler will be quite popular. It's a blessing Accurail dared to make such a prototype.

Matt