What’s the difference between heavyweight and lightweight passenger cars?
TIA,
supra880
Heavyweight are heavier[:D][:D] The only thing that comes to my head. The good question would be why some are heavier than others[?]
The answer is construction: heavyweight cars were built in the 1910-30 era and used heavy steel framing, roof and sides, and concrete floors. As a result, virtually all heavyweight cars require six-wheel trucks.
Lightweight cars, starting with Budd-built and Pullman-standard built cars in the mid-1930s, used lighter alloys (Cor-Ten steel, aluminum, and stainless steel) and innovative construction methods. Budd’s use of stainless steel as an integral part of the structure, not merely for decoration as with Pullman-Standard’s cars for the Santa Fe Super Chief, Southern Pacific Daylight, and others, enabled the Budd cars to be much lighter and use four-wheel trucks.
Because many heavyweight cars were later remodeled with larger, sealed windows and air-conditioning (which replaced the roof ventilators with a rounded roof), the easiest way to tell a heavyweight car from a lightweight car is to look at the wheels. Four-wheel trucks=lightweight; six-wheel trucks=heavyweight.
Thank you for the answer! It was exactly what I was looking for. [:)]
supra880
What’s the difference between heavyweight and lightweight passenger cars?
TIA,
supra880
Heavyweight are heavier[:D][:D] The only thing that comes to my head. The good question would be why some are heavier than others[?]
The answer is construction: heavyweight cars were built in the 1910-30 era and used heavy steel framing, roof and sides, and concrete floors. As a result, virtually all heavyweight cars require six-wheel trucks.
Lightweight cars, starting with Budd-built and Pullman-standard built cars in the mid-1930s, used lighter alloys (Cor-Ten steel, aluminum, and stainless steel) and innovative construction methods. Budd’s use of stainless steel as an integral part of the structure, not merely for decoration as with Pullman-Standard’s cars for the Santa Fe Super Chief, Southern Pacific Daylight, and others, enabled the Budd cars to be much lighter and use four-wheel trucks.
Because many heavyweight cars were later remodeled with larger, sealed windows and air-conditioning (which replaced the roof ventilators with a rounded roof), the easiest way to tell a heavyweight car from a lightweight car is to look at the wheels. Four-wheel trucks=lightweight; six-wheel trucks=heavyweight.
Thank you for the answer! It was exactly what I was looking for. [:)]
supra880