I just put together an Accurail model of a 40 foot comob-door boxcar and it brought up a few questions.
How common were they?
When were they produced? (model has build date of 1959)
What were they used to typically haul?
Thanks for any help.
A combo door box car allows the load to stacked by the plug door. with both door open, a forklift can access the car. In the MILW's case, these cars had load dividers to assist securing of the loads. Once the plug doors were locked, the load dividers could be locked into the slots in the doors.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
BerkshireSteamWhat were they used to typically haul?
Anything. The advantage to the combo door box is you can treat it both as a single door car or a double door car. When the plug door is closed, it's like an extension of the interior car wall, so the car can be used as a regular single door car, but the plug door can also be opened to provide a much larger door opening for bulky loads.
On Canadian roads, lumber and plywood were common comodities shipped in double door cars, but anything else is also possible.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog