|
American Car & Foundry Box Cars, 1960-1981 by Edward S Kaminski
American Car & Foundry Box Cars, 1960-1981 by Edward S Kaminski
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket
248 pages
Copyright 2015
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements7
Introduction - By Paul G. Kinnecom9
Chapter 1- History and Evolution of Box Cars11
Chapter 2 - 40-foot and 50-foot Inside-Post Box Cars49
Chapter 3 - 50-foot Outside-Post Box Cars93
Chapter 4 - 60-foot Inside-Post Box Cars167
Chapter 5 - 60-foot Outside-Post Box Cars214
Chapter 6 - Complete Box Car Production List 1960-1981231
Appendix243
Index244
About the Author247
466 photos, 41 drawings & graphics, roster, more
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION
Though American Car & Foundry was among the very largest companies which manufactured freight cars, the production of box cars eventually came to an end in the years 1960-1981 This book was developed to present both the history and business aspects of the production of that time, along with details of car design and construction in the same period. An important feature of the book is the extensive color photography it contains.
An introductory chapter describes box car history and development, with considerable detail about AC&F box car design after 1960, including the "Precision Design" approach, and including several ACF "Service Bulletins." The following chapters describe separately 40-foot as well as 50-foot inside-post cars, 50-foot outside-post cars, and then both inside- and outside-post cars of 60-foot length, along with many variations in door arrangements, side sheet design, trucks, load-restraining devices, and other specialties. Many of these 60-foot cars were built for auto parts, paper, or appliance shipping.
Many colorful paint schemes were in use by railroads and and particularly by short lines, large and small, in this period, and they are shown here, including many Incentive Per Diem schemes. Most are builder photos, but informative in-service photos are also included. A complete production roster of the box cars built is also provided.
Author Kaminski is an acknowledged authority on freight car history and has extensively researched AC&F records to write this account. Any modeler of the 1960s and '70s, or any freight car fan, will want this book.
INTRODUCTION
IF the World Wide Web had existed in 1960, I probably would not have joined ACF. A little research would have revealed that they were seriously
into a mode that is today referred to as "downsizing" or "rightsizing." Paradoxically, the facility closings that had already taken place had created the need for ACF to replenish their engineering staff. So I came to work at Berwick, PA in June 1960, joining a number of young engineers who all started at about the same time. There were two junior-level engineering positions available: design engineer, and project engineer. Design engineers did conceptual design and structural analysis. Project engineering was a coordinating position, directing the activities of the other engineering disciplines and interacting with Marketing, Purchasing, Manufacturing and others (like the customer's engineers) to produce railcar orders to customers' specifications. It was a standing joke among us that the company sat us each down at a desk with a phone and a slide rule and assigned us based on the device we reached for first. I grabbed the slide rule and was immediately sentenced to a five-year term as a design engineer. Ultimately this was beneficial for our understanding of railcar structure and an ability to play with the variables.
You would think that, after having existed for well over 125 years, there would be nothing left to design on a box car. You would be wrong. The 1960s were a time of fruitful innovation in railcar design. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) published industry standards that provided for acceptance of longer, higher and heavier cars. In addition, the AAR published in 1964 a definitive bible for the railcar designer entitled "Specifications for the Design, Fabrication and Construction of Freight Cars" (also known as Specification M-1001, also known as Section C, Part II of the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices - we at AAR are nothing if not wordy). This publication was developed by members of the AAR Car Construction Committee in concert with engineers from ACF and the other carbuilders. M-1001 covers minimum requirements for the design and construction of new freight cars, mandatory for equipment used in interchange service. This was the first comprehensive compilation of design loads and allowable stresses in the industry. The "meat" in M-1001 was the section on design loads and allowable stresses; however, there was much, much more to M-1001. For example, there were sections covering design data such as standard nominal dimensions and limiting parameters, information on materials of construction, tolerances for dimensions on completed cars, expected levels of workmanship, and fatigue design requirements. There is even a Volume 2 that provides a primer on some analytical techniques and provides examples of complete stress analyses for different car types. This was and is a designer's best friend.
In order for ACF to be a player in box car production, we were faced with the need to have in-house designs and specifications to cover all possible design parameters: 50-foot and 60-foot, 70-ton and 100-ton, Plate B, Plate C, rigid underframe, sliding sill, inside post, outside post, sliding doors, plug doors, combination doors, wood floors, steel floors, forklift truck capacity, bulkheads, belt rails, etc., etc. In addition, you could subdivide almost any of the above parameters. For instance, doors could be any size from 8 feet wide to 16 feet wide, centered or staggered, even offset to one end of the car. Further, we had to accommodate the design differences between different manufacturers' designs for the same size door. We would equip cars with underframe cushioning devices per a customer's specifications, as cushioning was a popular option at the time. We had success in equipping the cushioned underframe box cars with the ACF Freight-Saver 20-inch and 30-inch sliding-sill cushioning devices. ACF bought this design from Bendix, where it had been developed as an aircraft landing gear shock absorber. Its innovative feature was the use of nitrogen gas under pressure to act as a return spring, rather than the mechanical spring that was used on competing devices. Ironically, the Freight-Saver is no longer sold, but the gas-powered return mechanism has become the industry standard.
How did we cope with all the different design possibilities? Well, for a while you crank out similar analyses until that gets old, at which time you start to think about how to organize the process so you can better spend your time. We began to compile our data into reference databases that could be mined for response to customer requests or augmented, if required, in order to be responsive.This evolved into the "Precision Design" philosophy of analyzing all possible structural permutations and "rightsizing" the most efficient design for each, using a few standardized design sections and a selection of material properties for optimum strength with minimum weight.
For example, the standard ACF box car side sill reinforcement design was unique. Rather than using a one-piece channel section, which was a common design, the ACF design comprised a number of pressed steel elements, channel-shaped in the door opening, L-shaped from door posts to bolsters, and featuring a complex hot-formed pressing at the door posts, where the door post connection was a critical element of a side design. We could vary the material properties of any of these elements to suit the analysis. We standardized on two depths of side sill reinforcement, and we added an optional bottom reinforcing bar when required by the analysis. Based on door opening width, our database by
1967 included nine basic side designs for 50-foot box cars and three designs for 60-foot cars. Each of these had six variants to provide for different forklift truck axle loads, resulting in a matrix of seventy-two possible designs (which was still not enough - when I left ACF in 1972, they were working on 50-foot, 100-ton designs).
This design elasticity could manifest itself in production, as well. Production runs of 60-foot auto parts box cars were popular in the 1960s, and they could get quite complex. For example, a railroad might order 200 cars built to perhaps 5 or 6 configurations to carry specific automobile components. Other railroads would 'tack on" their orders to this initial order. We had one run that ended up with over 1,500 cars and involved 16 railroads and 71 separate lots. After we completed engineering those cars, engineering personnel went on loan from St. Charles to spend over 6 months at the St. Louis plant to help out with the production of the cars.
Author Kaminski discusses the demise of the box car business in 1980 and the reasons - the Staggers Act, the Incentive Per Diem bubble, the container-onflat-car (COFC) business finally gaining traction. There were 453,219 box cars in the North American fleet in 1980, of which 210,426 were general purpose (so-called "plain") cars and 169,220 were equipped with special load restraints. By 2000, the box car fleet was down to 159,151 cars, of which only 24,969 were plain box cars. Box car ownership is changing, as well. In 1980, Class One railroads owned 84 percent of the box car fleet. By 2000, the Class Ones owned just 59 percent of that diminished fleet, ownership by short lines was up to 31 percent, and 10 percent were owned by non-railroad entities. Today there is some activity in specialty cars for paper and for auto parts; however, the box car business has never recovered to the levels that were enjoyed prior to 1980. And it probably never will.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
US Shipments: When you add multiple items to your cart, the reduced shipping charges will automatically be calculated. For direct postage rates to other countries, send me an email. Shipping varies by weight.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us before making a return. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding or buying.
Thanks for looking at our items.
|
