Hello, freight car fans, I need help. [:P]
From time to time I can see phrases and words like:
- truss rods underframe
- steel center sills
- stirrups
- double sheated / outside bracing…. etc.
… which are not that familiar, as english is not my native. Would somebody try to explain in simple english what and where those parts are? Any picture would be even better. As allways, thanks on your time.
Truss Rods = old 19th century cars both freight and passenger cars had several steel rods running under the car from end to end to strenghten the car and keep it from bowing down in the middle. Find a picture of Bachmann’s cars and you will see the truss rods under them.
Double sheated = like a house the walls had a inside and outside covering.
Outside brace = sheated on the inside only. You see the verical bracing giving the walls strengh. inside braced = is sheated on the outside only. Generally the bracing has anchor points to secure the loads to.
Sturrups = (I think) refers to polling pockets at the corners of older cars ( small cup at or below the floor level) used to push a car on a different track with a long pole.
All of the above is correct except for the stirups. They are the drop down steps at the corners of the cars below the ladders. The pockets on the ends of older cars are called poling pockets. It was an interesting way of moving cars around. Basicaly a pole was placed between the engine and the car in the pockets to move the car. The advantage of this was you could move a car on an adjoining track in needed. It was banned some years ago due to the obvious dangers.
Originally freight cars and passenger cars were all wood, and used steel cables under the cars to help support them. These were the truss rods, they could be tightened or loosened to keep the car level. If they were set improperly, the car could be humpbacked or swaybacked.
Later cars were built with a steel center-sill, basically a channel of steel under the center of the car…kinda like slapping an I-beam the length of the car. Originally the centerbeams were very big and shaped kinda like the old truss rods and were clearly visible under the car. (Sometimes called a “fishbelly” sill.) Later it was shown that they could be smaller and became less noticeable.
Stirrups are steps that hang down from the four corners of the freight car to allow brakemen to climb up on the car, they’re usually a squared off “U” shape.
Here’s an outside braced single sheathed boxcar. Notice the angled outside supports on the sides of the car. You can also see the stirrup step (the loop of metal hanging down and forming a step) on the lower left of this car just under the ladder on the side (it’s kind of in front of the wheel).
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/aag.jpg
You can also just make out the fishbelly frame under the car. It’s kind of fat, hanging down, in the middle, and tucked up under the car towards the ends.
Here you can see the fishbellied frame under the car a little better on another outside braced single sheathed boxcar.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/abu.jpg
Here, you can clearly see the stirrup step on the side of the car closest to the camera.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/adz.jpg
I don’t have any prototype pics of truss rods on a car, but I do have a model pic that shows them.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/N%20Scale%20Trains/WGH%20Show%202007/Picture037.jpg
One additional comment on truss rods (which were the tension members in an inverted queen-post truss - hence the name.) They almost always had a turnbuckle in the middle - under the center of the car. If a car started to sag the turnbuckles would be tightened to bring the floor back to level. If the car’s turnbuckles had been tightened too much - possibly to level the floor under an overload - the car would ‘hog’ - hump up in the middle. Both sagging and hogging were undesireable, since the compressive strength of the longitudinal sills would be compromised if they weren’t perfectly straight.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Vow, thank you all, really helpfull answers.
Thats why we’re here…to help each other out!
Few times I came across word “apron” in steam loco texts. What is apron?
I always thought that an apron associated with steam locomotives was the plate at the rear of a locomotives cab designed to cover the gap between the engine and the tender. Obviously tank engines would not have an apron; neither, I would guess, would SP’s cab-forwards but I could very well be wrong on that matter.
Now, what do you call the drop-plates on the end of diesel locomotives designed to facilitate movements between units?
Drop steps?
Worthless [:-^]
A couple guys I work with call them the “gang plank” jokingly, but usually we just call it a step, as in, “Did you flip down the step between the engines?”
One more question:
“NEW ___” and “BLT ___” - what is the difference?
Minor point, they weren’t “cables”, they were rods, solid steel or iron.
Originally the truss rods were all one piece or two pieces that were riveted together in the center. In the 1860’s and 1870’s the turnbuckle was used to allow more adjustment of the tension in the truss rods.
Stirrups are techincally called “sill steps” and weren’t required before 1910.
Outside braced is also called “exterior post”.
The difference is that on the fishbelly car the center sill is the major structural member and is supporting the majority of the weight. On later cars the rest of the car was more “structural” so the size of the centersill could be reduced because the side sills and car sides supported more of the weight.
Dave H.
BLT indicates the date the car was built. That remains the same over the car’s lifetime.
NEW would indicate that the data on the car - it’s weight in particular - is from when the car was new (i.e. when it was built). Later when the car went thru repairs and maintenance, it would have the stenciling change to indicate where the work was done, and that the data on the car was as of the more recent date shown.
Sometimes it would be as simple as the car being re-weighed, I think the car has to be re-weighed every so-many years. In a case like that, you can sometimes see where the old weight info was painted over and re-stenciled.
So let’s say a railroad bought a new boxcar in July 1954. The car’s lettering would say BLT 7-54 and NEW 7-54. In March 1966 it goes into the railroad’s Chicago shops to get some work done, is repainted into the railroad’s latest paint scheme, and then is re-weighed. Now the lettering will say BLT 7-54 and CHI 3-66, and the data on the car will be as of March 1966.
about “poling”
In the old days, around the beginning of the 20th century, steam locomotives were equipped with poling pockets on the pilot beam and on the beam at the rear of the tender (or the rear beam in the case of a tank engine.) Locomotives that were used in a poling operation were also equipped with a pole made of wood with metal caps on the ends. These metal caps were made to fit into the shallow pockets on the pilot beam. Freight cars were also equipped with poling pockets on their end beams, right at the corners. Some good models show these pockets and most early steam engine models with good detailing will also show them along with the pole and the hangars for storing the pole. Most often, the pole was hung on a set of hooks on the side sill of the tender.
Poling a car on a parallel track took a fair amount of skill and was not without risk of injury. First, the heavy wooden pole was picked up and one end inserted into the pocket of the car to be moved. The other end of the pole was held at the right elevation so that the locomotive could approach at very slow speed and just nuzzle up to the end of the pole so that the other end could be placed in the pocket on the pilot or tender beam. This took some skill on the part of the engineer and the brakemen. Too fast and the shock of the pole meeting the pilot would cause the wooden pole to shatter with the splintered wood causing serious injury or even death. Obviously, standing so close to the track as a locomotive approached had its own hazards even if the engineer did his job just right. These movements would be done at only a mile an hour or so to keep things under control.
Once the pole was correctly located, the brakes on the car would be released to the point that just a bit of steam on the throttle would allow the locomotive to move the car down the parallel track without having the pole drop out of the relatively shallow pockets. Once the car was in the desired location, the locomotive would come slowly to a stop, all
While it’s not in use in this photo, taken in the mid-'80s, the pole is clearly visible hanging from the frame near the front truck:
Wayne