May of 1912 Westinghouse ordered 3 depressed center flats from Atlas car co. They had a very hard time convincing the railroads in allowing these cars on their lines. The roads themselves could not believe that non continuous beams could handle the weight. Sixteen years later the PRR built their own F29.
I would suggest the book titled Pennsylvania Railroad Flat cars 1881 to 1968. Great book that chronicles the development of the flat cars. Not only the PRR but many roads copied what the PRR did. It also tells how stubborn the railroad was to the shippers needs. Westinghouse, General Electric, NYC, and others built their own depressed center cars before the PRR did.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
I can't say that they were the first, but I found reference to an article about Canadian Car & Foundry building some for the CPR in 1921.
Wayne
From my research, I know that heavy duty flatcars have been around almost since the beginning of railroading, and some of the early all steel flatcars were heavy duty ones. As for FD types, many were built by the railroads themselves in the 1950's and 60's.
Does anyone know when the first depressed center flatcars were built? (And who by?)