As the waycars converted from boxcars were so
obviously unsafe (even to non-rail workers), I wonder why efforts weren't made
to make them safer, possibly on the lines of the transfer waycar #14700. I
know that the Burlington was frugal, but I have never seen a comment that it
would deliberately risk the safety of its employees in order to save
money. These conversions weren't exactly a new concept - the
Burlington's subsidiaries had used "bouncers" and "box ways" since the
early 1890's, and 24 of them had been assimilated into the CB&Q
roster in 1904, so there was ample opportunity to identify the problems before
the next round of conversions.
Looking at the box waycars that the
Burlington converted post-1904 and in 1943-5, the biggest obstacle to
providing better egress and exit might have been the position of the
trucks, which were nearer to the ends of the car than on a waycar, and there was
insufficient space outside the trucks for conventional waycar steps. Whilst
the underframes were wooden, all the cars had either truss rods or steel
centre sills so moving the trucks inwards would have been a
major difficulty.
There were two possible solutions. Rebuild
the superstructure ends (the XM-10 and XM-11 cars that were used were
double sheathed with wood ends as opposed to the steel ends of the XM-18's) to
create a platform at each end similar to 14700 or, if rebuilding was
not acceptable, at least put a door at each corner with steps
below. That would have reduced the available space inside, but that would
have been a small price to pay for the added safety. At least if there was
a fall, the crew would not be at risk from the following truck.
Rupert
Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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