In the 1950s, there were few cars with more than a 70- (later 77-) ton nominal capacity. That's a function of axle loading, and the typical 70-ton car had a gross rail load of 220000 pounds (the 50-ton cars had a gross rail load of 177000 pounds). There were "100-ton" cars out there--notably the "battleship" gondolas rostered by the Virginian (C&O and N&W had also had them, but theirs were gone by the 1950s). Not familiar with anything like that which the Big Boys would have hauled. The 100-ton cars (263000 g.r.l.) started showing up in the early 1960s; I think they were preceded by "85-ton" cars on the same trucks.By the late 1960s there were some "125-ton" cars with larger axle sizes and a 315000-pound g.r.l., but those nnever found much favor.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
http://www.quorumcorp.net/Downloads/Papers/RailwayCapacityOverview.pdf
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Does anyone know the AAR freight car weight limits in the 1950s? I know the current in 286K but someone on another site is saying that the Big Boys pullets 260K cars back when they were in regular service. My google-fu isn't working well today.
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