Freight cars of 1965

[frank-w44]

I'm interested in the freight cars running in the year 1965., any thing that would distingui***hese cars from those before or later. Which cars would not be available yet? Any sources for information about freight cars available in that year? I am aware that this is about the time running boards were removed from boxcars, etc, but is there anything else that would date freight cars to that year.

[orsonroy]

Oof; that's a tough question. Freight cars were undergoing a major transition during that time period, with cars that we would consider "modern" just coming onto the stage, and cars we would consider "ancient" finally leaving. You could see a 86' aut parts box coupled to a 36' wood meat reefer!

In general, the cars themselves would still be from the late steam era: 40' steel boxcars, twin hoppers, and a wide assortment of gondolas. There would still be a very few wood-bodies freight cars out there, mostly wood meat reefers, war-emergency twin hoppers, and newer (late 1920s) single sheathed boxcars, but they'd be on their last legs, and not found on every train. New cars (bi- and tri-level autoracks, LONG boxcars, TOFC flats) would be in dedicated service on specific routes, between manufacturers and destinations. Grain-carrying covered hoppers were bursting onto the scene, but the majority of grain was still carried in 40' boxes.

Probably the biggest diference was in the paint schemes. Just because a 1929 40' steel boxcar was still running in 1965 doesn't mean it still had it's 1929 paint scheme. Usually, freight cars were painted every 7-12 years, meaning that the vast majority of cars would have a newer scheme. All of the major roads changed their paint schemes during 1947-1960, so you'd see older cars (pre-WWII) in Chinese Red or Big Sky Blue, something unheard of when the cars regularly ran behind steam. By 1965, the Pensy, with the largest freight car roster on the planet, had only a very few cars left in the old circle Keystone scheme.

Your best bet would be to study the photographs of the period. Thankfully, there were a LOT of railfans out snapping pictures of everything that moved during the 1960s, so it's easy to find data. Spend a few days (or months!) digging through the several large RR photo sites (like Fallen Flags) for a sense of what yards looked like during the 1960s; that should give you a good sense of what was out there.

[dknelson]

It is expensive but the 1966 Car Builder's Cyclopedia is exactly what you need.
Failing that -- try finding a 1965 bound volume of Trains magazine and/or "Railway Age" for coverage of what was brand new at the time.
In 1965 even the biggest cars still had roof walks and full height ladders. That's right even the huge 86 foot auto parts hi cube boxcars had roof walks!
There were covered hoppers but plenty of grain was hauled in 40 foot box cars with grain doors.
Coal was mostly in hoppers, not in gondola bottom cars intended for rotary unloading
There were still stock cars!
There were also still wood reefers and outside braced boxcars and probably a few composite hoppers still around too. Some reefers had ice bunkers but the newest ones were mechanical reefers.
Dave Nelson

[ezielinski]

Just look for "Build Dates" printed on the cars. These dates show the manufacturer's build/rebuild dates. The dates should be before 1/66. Any cars with a build date earlier than 1/66 are fair game.

HTH

[wjstix]

A big change came into effect at that time - I think 1964?? - that required railroads to remove roofwalks and full length ladders from the cars. This was phased in over like 5-6 years or so, so it didn't happen overnight, but I imagine any new car built in 1964-65 would have the new shorter ladders and no roofwalks.

Otherwise, it was kind of "steam railroading by other means" I can recall seeing engineers wearing bib overalls and the standard railroaders gloves and hat - even thought they were running a Baldwin diesel. Lots of 40'-50' boxcars, 36' covered hoppers. Bigger equipment was just starting to show up.

I can remember seeing a wood (Soo?) boxcar in about 1964-5 or so, but otherwise it was all steel. Oddly enough, in the thirties virtually all new frieght cars were built as all steel cars, but during WW2 they went back to woodsided cars due to steel shortages.