I am getting ready to upgrade the trucks and wheelsets on a number of my freight cars but don't know how to choose the right typr of trucks (Arch Bar, Bettendorf etc etc and wheel sets, 33", 36" etc etc.
I model is transistion era (early 1950's) with freight cars ranging from a some turn of the century style wood braced/sheathed cars right up to post war era steel sheathed cars. Can anyone help me out here?
Hi Guy, and to the Forums.
Arch bar trucks were prohibited in interchange after July 1, 1940. They could still be used on non-interchange cars (cars restricted to their owning road).
T-section and L-section Bettendorf trucks were banned from interchange on January 1, 1953
On January 1, 1954, any trucks with I, T, L, or U-section tension or compression members were banned from interchange (this includes U-section Bettendorf and Andrews trucks).
A lot of these "banned" trucks ended up on maintenance-of-way equipment, so if you like the look of arch bars, etc., put 'em under your work equipment.
Roller bearings were first applied to a freight car in 1923, but didn't really become common until the late '60s. By the mid-'20s, though, they were being used on some passenger cars.
Most passenger cars would use 36" wheels, and, in your chosen era, most freight cars would use 33" wheels.
Cast iron wheels (the ones with the ribs on the back) were prohibited from use on new or re-built cars in 1958.
I'm modelling the '30s, so lots of variety in trucks.
Andrews:
Bettendorf:
T-section Bettendorf:
Arch bar:
Wayne
40' all-steel boxcars were being built in the 1910's and 20's, but some composite cars (i.e. cars with wood sides but steel roof, end and underframes) continued to be built during that time. Most of these cars (both all steel and composite) would be about 8.5' tall. The "standard" 40' long / 10' high boxcar didn't go into mass production until about 1936.
Keep in mind that freight car design actually regressed a little during WW2. All steel boxcars had become standard for new cars by the 1930's, but new cars with steel roofs and ends but wood sides were built during WW2 to conserve steel for the war effort. Other cars were built partially of wood too during that time.
Cars without steel underframes (which often used truss rods) were banned from interchange about the same time as archbar trucks, around 1940.
Colorful private owner / leased "Billboard" reefers were also...well, not "banned" exactly but became extremely limited after 1934 due to some ICC rulings / regulations came into effect. However, railroads were not affected, and starting in the mid-thirties began to use boxcars to advertise their top trains and service.
Freight cars have to undergo a major rebuilding in the shops every 25 years (IIRC?) and normally during that time would have been repainted, so during the 1950's most older cars would have been repainted into "modern" post-war schemes.
Adding to what 'Stix' mentioned about 'Billboard' freight car restrictions. In 1934, the ICC order affect both private and railroad owned cars. Basically, if the car was not filled with the companies 'product' that was advertised on the outside of the car - it was banned. The C&NW was big on selling advertising on their grey reefers. The problems were because there may be ABC Creamery advertising on the car, and if was parked for loading at XYZ Creamery(their competition).
A current example was a WSOR insulated car painted for a Sargento Cheese promotion. The Sargento lettering had to be removed from the car before it could be put back into service as the car could be loaded with other product from othe companies. If the car is restricted to only Sargento service, there would be no issue(but WSOR would have rather poor car utilization of that car).
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Wayne:
This was exactlky what I was looking for. You made it nice and easy to understand.
Thanks!!
Stix:
Thanks for the info. This along with the other responses has made it easy for me to now decide.
Jim, the ICC ban related to the issue of backhaul more than anything - although there were a lot of other factors.
Basically the issue was that if company A put their product in a reefer they leased and covered with their company name and such, and sent from New York to Chicago, no other company would want to put their product in the car to ship it back to New York. If they did, they'd be paying for company A to get free advertising as the car travelled across the county. A railroad often ended up having to haul it back empty (and not making much money on it) to company A. The ICC rule said if you had a billboard reefer, you had to pay the railroad for shipping the empty car back to you at the rate they would have gotten for a full load....like I said, it's more complicated, but that's the general idea as I understand it.
Technically CNW wasn't selling space on their cars, their refrigerator car subsidiary was leasing the cars to the private companies, who then put their name and product info on the cars. Railroads were required back in the Theodore Roosevelt "trust busting" days to spin off their refrigerator lines, so the railroads (either together or individually) set up separate companies - well, that were at least on paper separate - to handle the refrigerator cars. So technically "Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX)" was a separate entity from the CB&Q Railroad for example. "X" of course meaning the car isn't owned by a railroad or isn't in general revenue service. In the 1930's the vast majority of reefers would have been involved in some type of lease agreement.