Wood vs steel box cars

[Steve Monson]

I did some research and came up with the following for April 1959 :

40' boxcars only, outside braced (no double sheathed)

Great Northern  212 out of 18777 (1.1 %)

CB&Q  1663 out of 20396  (8.2 %) 

NP 1913 out of 14563  (13.1 %) 

So I think I will get a couple and letter them NP and CB&Q. 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

One of the larger owners of outside-braced wooden boxcars into the 1960's was Wellsville, Addison and Galeton, a shortline in the Salzberg collection.  As mentioned above, they were often used for hauling hides since WAG had several on-line tanneries.  It was not unusual to spot them in Chicago area yards in that period.

[Steve Monson]

I guess for my modeling I am interested in a few late model wood boxcars to mix in with my steel ones.  Were some built with a steel frame, steel ends and doors, but single sheathed wood sides?  In my mind I think I have seen these, but I haven't come up with a photo.  I am from Minnesota, so GN, MILW, RI are all interesting.
 

I appreciate all the comments. 

Steve 

[CShaveRR]

I doubt that you'd find any double-sheathed wooden box cars in service in the 1950s or later.  Reefers, yes--the outer sheathing held the insulation in.

Single-sheathed (outside-braced) wooden box cars were still fairly common, and railroads like Great Northern had a good share of them.  Other American railroads that had a large number were the Milwaukee and the Rock Island.  They were pretty well restricted to the lowest grade of service possible--hides.  (Maybe I saw a greater proportion of them because there was a tannery in the town I grew up in.)  These cars had been rebuilt with AB brakes, and their construction didn't involve truss rods, so they didn't run afoul of AAR regulations.

I don't know of any box cars that were built with wooden or composite sides during World War II.  There were hoppers and gons obtained by a number of railroads, and most of them were rebuilt with steel sides within a decade of the war's end.  (However, CNW bought a bunch of old CB&Q wood-side hoppers in the early 1980s, and used them in ballast service for a while!)

[AgentKid]

cx500

In Canada wooden cars were still relatively common in the 1950s, although I would hesitate to name a ratio. 

 

AAR interchange rules prevented cars with truss rods and Model K air brakes from being interchanged after I believe 1935. However both CP and CN could run cars from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans on their own systems. Trains Mag has videos advertised where you can see CN passenger cars with truss rods that are still in service in the early's 1960's.

At Irricana AB about 1960-62 there were still coal drags of 40-50 cars SB from the Atlas Coal Mine at East Coulee AB with outside braced wood boxcars from start to finish. These were the last ever revenue runs for those cars. When they were unloaded at their destination they were hauled to the scrap yard. There were still a few wood cars in grain service and I saw wood refers as well, Then there came the day when there were no longer any NB wood cars.

AgentKid

 

[Anonymous]

In 1960, I would guess 80% steel and 20% wood for boxcars and reefers combined as a group, on average for all U.S. railroads.  Although this probably varied considerably from one road to the next.  The Soo had a lot of outside braced wooden boxcars in use relatively late.  The Milwaukee had a huge number of outside braced wooden boxcars built in the 1920s that were routinely running 60-70 mph in their Pacific Extension time freights up into the mid 1960s.

[Steve Monson]

That all helps. Certainly no one can fault me at least if I run a couple mixed in with the steel ones. Thanks guys. Steve

[cx500]

 A few were still running in interline service surprisingly late.  In 1969 I saw a pair of Great Northern outside-braced wooden boxcars arriving in Montreal (Canada) on a CPR freight.  One had what appear to be Andrews trucks.  In 1970 or 1971 I also remember a green&yellow wood refrigerator car in Toronto, I think lettered for the CNW.  CNR also had a number of WAG outside braced boxcars that were leased in the early 1970s.  

A lot will depend on what commodities were common in a given area, since high value goods would normally be assigned the newer steel cars.  Open cars like hoppers and gondolas adopted steel construction somewhat earlier than boxcars, except for the war emergency cars, so they could be expected to disappear much earlier.

In Canada wooden cars were still relatively common in the 1950s, although I would hesitate to name a ratio.  There were some still hauling grain for the CNR in 1974, although by then it was the last gasp in revenue service.

Best will be to check photographs from the era, and see what is visible behind the locomotive or on adjacent tracks.  There are a lot of picture books that have been published in recent years, and the 1950s with the end of steam and early diesels have been a popular topic.  With luck you will even be able to find pictures from your geographic area.  

John

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

Some wood/steel composite boxcars were built during Word War 2 to conserve resources.  Some of these lasted into the 1960s, 70s.  Wood-sided ice reefers were still around too.

 

[KCSfan]

As I recall by the late 1950's there were few if any wooden boxcars still in interline service. The few that I remember seeing were confined to work or wrecking train service.

Mark

[Steve Monson]

I model the late 1950s.  For a mainline standard gauge US railroad what would be a good ratio to run of wood double sheathed box cars, wood single sheathed outside braced box cars and steel box cars?  Thanks.  Steve