And 2 of those 5 cars were round-end observations to simplify turning the train without turning the train…
That was all the size required, or perhaps all the money for stainless steel the Reading cared to spend in 1937. Of course they had a stainless ticket booth in the old Reading Terminal that would put a Burlington Zephyr and a flying saucer to shame at the same time. I can’t imagine the awful thing has not been preserved somewhere.