This may be of interest to CB&Q fans
On Sunday, June 1, 2014 4:51 PM, "Cyril and Lynn Durrenberger
durrecj@sbcglobal.net [STMFC]" <STMFC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
One has to be very careful of plans published in the railroad press. In some
cases modifications were made between the time the plans were submitted for
publication and the time when the cars were built. Two cases come to mind:
When it was announced that PFE was formed, a tentative plan was published that
showed a refrigerator car with truss rods, yet PFE, to my knowledge, never
owned any truss rod cars.
A plan was published for a SA&AP vent car that showed a wood roof. The cars
were built with a Murphy roof and some other modifications not shown in the
plans. The builders' photos show these modifications.
Cyril Durrenberger.
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On Sun, 6/1/14, destorzek@mchsi.com [STMFC] <STMFC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Murphy Roof Stencil
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, June 1, 2014, 2:20 PM
It wasn't uncommon. It varied by road, and
sometimes by era, same as stenciling paint codes... When
someone in the Car Dept. decides they want to see which car
paint holds up the best, they put out a memo to the effect
that all cars will be stenciled with a code for the type of
paint used when repainted. Then, fifteen years later, when
the paint has finally gotten to the point where some useful
information could be gathered, come to find that the guy who
wanted the codes applied retired five years before, and the
shops just quietly stopped applying the codes.
Back when I was developing resin kits in the eighties, I was
somewhat mystified by the fact that all the drawings and
photos of a certain type of NYC automobile cars published in
the Car Builder's Cycs showed a roof with round battens
and iron clasps at the eaves, but not a single in service
photo showed that roof. Surely a steel roof should last
twenty five or thirty years at least, I thought. Eventually
I was able to inspect a body of one in a lumber yard in
Marquette, MI (ex DSS&A, nee NYC) and it was stenciled
inside near the door, "NEW ROOF APPLIED EAST
ROCHESTER..." and a date in 1922. The car had been
re-roofed within the first six years in service. Apparently,
the pre-"flexible" steel roof designs did not hold
up all that well.
Dennis Storzek
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