1000 new box cars for the Chesapeake & Ohio

The title of this article could have been the announcement for the 1000-car PS-1 box car order placed in 1946-1947 with the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. However, that was history repeating itself. The subject of this article is the specifications for a state-of-the-art freight car that eventually ended with an order to the Pullman Company, some 50 years earlier. The motives were the same: standardize and employ the latest technology to save weight and receive cost savings.

Pages 615 and 616 of The Railroad Gazette of September 3, 1897, had the following technical information:

"Specifications and drawings have recently been sent out for 1000 box cars of 60,000 lbs. capacity for the Chesapeake & Ohio. The cars will have an inside length of 36 ft. and a width of 8 ft. 2-1/4 in., and they will have a height of 7 ft. 7-1/4 in. from the floor to the underside of the carline. The length over the end sills, which will be of clear oak 8 x 10 in. in size, will be 38 ft 1-1/2 in. The cars will have side sills of long-leaf yellow pine 5 x 9 in., framed to end sills with double tenons, and fastened to the end sill at each end with 3/4-in. bolts. The side sills will be gained for the bolsters, to which they will be fastened with 3/4-in. bolts. The center sills, also of yellow pine, will be 5 x 9 in. and framed to end sills the same as the side sills. They will be gained for bolsters and beams and fastened to them by 3/4-in. and 5/8-in. bolts respectively. There will also be 4 x 5-in. pieces bolted to the under side of the center sills between bolsters. The intermediate sills will likewise be of long-leaf yellow pine 4 x 9 in., and be framed to the end sills with double tenons, the same as center sill.

"The body bolsters will be made of wrought iron with a 7/8-in top plate and a 1-in. bottom plate each 8 in. wide. The plates will be shaped and drilled; and when put together, the spaces between them will be filled with oak wood. Cross-frame tie timbers and carlines will be of oak, the former 4 x 8 in. in dimensions and the latter 2 x 13 in. Draft timbers will be of clear white oak 6-1/2 x 8-7/8 in., gained for tie plates, anchor blocks, and chafing irons, and fastened to under side of center sills and tened to under side of center sills and through end sills and tie plate with 7/8-in. bolts. The drawbar will be of an approved make, provided with an arrangement for coupling cars from the outside, and fitted with drawbar yokes of wrought iron 1 x 4 in., which will be riveted to the coupler by two 1-1/8-in. rivets. The drawbar will also be fitted with the Butler drawbar attachment and Chesapeake & Ohio standard double coil springs, outside coil 6 in. in diameter, 8 in. long, and made of 3/4-in. diameter crucible steel and compressed 5/8-in. when put in position. The springs will be subject to the railroads specifications for coil springs.

"The inside lining of the cars will be 7/8-in. oak. The boards will be tongued and grooved and planed on both sides, and must not be over 6 in. wide. The cars will be lined from floor to plates. The roof will consist of two courses of white pine boards 7/8-in. thick and not over 6-in. wide, with a plastic roofing material, of an approved make and guaranteed for life of the car, laid between courses. The side door openings will be 5 ft. 6 in. wide to the clear and full height between floof and plate. The doors will be hung from the top, and the style and make of fixtures will be subject to approval. The cars will be provided with grain doors of some approved make.

"There will be four 1-1/8-in. body truss rods on each car. These will have a 1-1/4-in. upset at the ends for both the nuts and turn-buckles. They are to have a tensile strength of 50,000 lbs. per square inch and are to be bent to shape in a former white hot. At the option of the inspector, these rods may be subject to individual tests. The body center plate will be either of malleable iron or pressed steel, fastened to the bolsters with the 3/4-in. bolts which bolt the center sills and bolsters together.

"The cars are to be equipped with the Westinghouse freight air-brake, and brakes are to be applied to all the wheels of both trucks. The brakebeams will be hung from the truck bolster.

"The trucks will be the standard for freight cars of 60,000 lbs. capacity, with M.C.B. [Master Car Builders] standard axles, having 4-1/4 x 8-in. journals. The truck bolster will be of the compound type, made of three pieces of white oak, the outside pieces to be 3-1/2 x 10-1/2 in. and the center piece to be 4-3/4 x 10-1/2 in. Between the three oak timbers there will be two pieces of wrought iron 3/4 in. thick x 10-1/4 in. wide. The bolsters are to be bolted together with 3/4-in. bolts, and when finished they will be 10-1/2 in. deep x 13 in. wide x 7 ft. 5 in. long. They are to be gained on each end so as to leave 7-1/2 in. depth of timber. The spring plank will be made of two pieces of angle iron 3 in. x 4 in. x 3/8 in. thick x 7 ft. 5 in. long, weighing 13.6 lbs. to the foot. The spring seat will be riveted to these by 5/8-in. rivets. The iron for the arch bars and tie bars is to have tensile strength of 50,000 lbs. per square inch. The top and bottom bars will be 1-1/8 x 4 in. and the tie bars 3/4 x 4 in. The trucks will be fitted with cast-iron wheels 33 in. in diameter. These are to be 5-1/2 in. wide and are to weigh no less than 590 nor more than 610 lbs. each, 600 lbs. being the standard. They are to be bored with two cuts, the last being not over 1/16 in. and are to be forced to place on wheel seat with a pressure of not less than 30 tons nor more than 40 tons.