12-24-2009, 07:57 PM
The other thing is that if a car got a complete rebuild, they were good for another 40 years. I think many of the Santa Fe ice bunker reefers were rebuilt. I think that many were originally truss rod cars that were rebuilt with fish belly frames. Later many of the old wood sheethed cars were rebuilt with steel bodies. I don't know if anyone rebuilt hoppers, or if they just bought new.