I have tried to find the reason and use for a box car to have combination doors. Was it a money saving avenue for a railroad to take when a car was damaged or did these cars have a particular use?
to the MR Forums, trains1504!
One of the reasons railroads used combination-door cars was their versatility. If a shipper needed a standard boxcar, the plugdoor half of the opening wasn't used as a door, but simply functioned as part of the car's interior. That portion of the car was loaded in the same manner as the rest of the car, the interior surface of the doors indistinguishable as doors.Another shipper might require a car for bulkier items that might not fit through a single door, and in that situation the plugdoor could be opened for loading and unloading (along with the sliding door, of course).
Hopefully, someone more familiar with the prototype can elaborate on other possible advantages of the design.
A damaged car (I'm assuming that you're referring to one with one door damaged) would likely be refused by the shipper - they'd want their shipment secure and undamaged, and not exposed to the weather or vandals, as might be the case with a damaged door.
Wayne
trains1504 I have tried to find the reason and use for a box car to have combination doors. Was it a money saving avenue for a railroad to take when a car was damaged or did these cars have a particular use?
If you're asking if they put the plug door in as a repair to a damaged car, then no. I think all such cars were built that way new, or as a massive rebuild.
The Great Northern had a number of these cars. I think one reason they chose them was that the car could have a large opening, like a regular double door car, but could also be used to carry grain.
For a long time, boxcars were used to carry grain. They put a thing called a grain door into the regular door opening. I think that grain doors weren't strong enough to span the wide opening of a regular double door. But with the combination type, there was only ONE door when the plug door was locked in place. And then they could use the grain door. And thus use the box car to ship grain.
So they could have a boxcar with a wide door opening that could also be used for grain shipment.
Ed