The Freight Cars

 

As reported in the March 30, 1919 issue of Railway Review on March 27, 1919 the USRA design committee on freigh car standards released their specification for 3 box cars, 3 gondolas and 2 hoppers. Quoting from the article, the chief characteristics of each car was described as follows:

 

Box Cars:

Forty-tons capacity steel under-frame, double sheathed, with wood superstructure framing, steel ends and box-girder center sills.

 

Forty-tons capacity steel under-frame, single sheathed, with exterior pressed steel superstructure framing, steel ends and fish-belly center sills.

 

Fifty-tons capacity, steel under-frame, single sheathed, with exterior pressed steel superstructure framing, steel ends and fish-belly center sills.

 

Gondola Cars:

Fifty-tons capacity, composite, high side, flat bottom with fixed ends and eight flush drop doors hinged at the center and arranged to dump toward the side, the doors being operated in pairs from the corners of the car . The center sills are 12-inch by 35-pound channels, spaced 12inches back to back. The car is designed to carry a concentrated load of two-thirds its rated capacity over a distance of 10 feet at the center.

 

Fifty-tons capacity, all-steel, high-side, flat-bottom, with fixed ends and eight flush drop doors, the doors to be hinged crosswise of the car and operated in pairs from the sides of the car. The center sills are 12-inch by 35-pound channels spaced 12 inches back to back. The car is designed to carry a concentrated load of two-thirds its rated capacity over a distance of 10 feet at the center.

 

Seventy-tons capacity, all-steel low side, flat bottom with drop ends. Center sills are of the fish-belly type, 30 inches deep at the center . The car is designed to carry a concentrated load of two-thirds its rated capacity over a distance of 10 feet at the center.

 

Hopper Cars:

Fifty-five-tons capacity, all-steel, double hopper bottom having four doors hung crosswise of the car and operated in pairs. Center sills are 12-inch by 35-pound channels with facing flanges and are spaced 1:l-13/16 inches over backs.

 

Whether it was the rush to first publish or the specifications changed, the 40-ton double sheathed box car became one having a 50-ton capacity and the 50-ton single sheathed was dropped to 40-tons with wood superstructure framing.

 

 

(Source: Railway Mechanical Engineer Vol 92 No 4)

 

 

Designed and built by the USRA:

 

Description	# Built
40' 50 ton steel frame single sheathed box cars Specification #1001B 5 Builders Railroads Contract price per car $3,050.05	25,000
40' 40 ton steel frame double sheathed box cars Specification #1003-B 9 Builders Railroads Contract price per car $2,918.88	25,000
50 ton composite gondolas with a drop bottom Specification #1002-B 5 Builders 27 Railroads Contract price per car $2.698.20	20,000
55 ton twin steel hopper Specification #1005-B 6 Builders 23 Railroads Contract price per car $2,816.67	25,000
70 ton low side gondola (with wood floor) Specification #1006 2 Builders 9 Railroads (initial allocation) Contract price per car $3,173.89	5,000
Total	100,000

 

 

 

Designed but not built by USRA:

 

• 50 ton steel box car
• 24' Composite Caboose
• 30 ton composit refrigerator car (specifications %1386)
• 50 ton general service car - 42-foot steel flat car with fish-belly center and side sills and a wood deck
• Steel tank car
• 70 ton triple hopper
• 60' and 70' baggage cars

 

August 31, 2015