Abbreviation for coil cars

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I have a question about car classification abbreviations. What is the designation (like XM for boxcar, LO for covered hopper, etc.) for a flat car set up to carry coil steel with “bath tub” type covers? I found several lists of such abbreviations, but I do not see a F? abbreviation describing this type of car. Your help is appreciated.

Ron

2

Most of these are classified as gondolas, strange as it may seem. They’re AAR Mechanical Designation GBSR (“GB” for gondola, “S” for a specific commodity, and “R” for the covers).

There are exceptions–UP rebuilt a number of flat cars for handling wider coils, and those are AAR Mechanical Designation FMS.