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Ralston Steel Car Co. - 1940 cars
While the Ralston Steel Car Co. continued to build freight cars into the early 1950s my photo collection stops with these three photos. Here are examples of two hopper car built in the big build up to World War II.
This Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railroad car is the 1935 AAR Alternate Standard 50-ton twin hopper, used heavily by the Van Sweringen roads C&O, NKP and W&LE. The key spotting feature is the use of "hat" ribs / double rivet rows vs. angle stock on the much more common "Standard" car.
200dpi jpg (354K) photo 93 End view of the same EJ&E hopper car. Many of the C&O cars had Dreadnaught pressed steel radial end arches, like the EJ&E example.
An AAR Standard 55-ton twin hopper car built for the Norfolk and Western Railroad in February, 1940. N&W 58338 is an HL class car. These were all rebuilt 1948-1956 as H9 cars. The key difference was a notch in the end arches above the ladders. "N&W Coal Cars" by Andrew Dow, 1998, is a great reference book on N&W and its acquisitions' cars, especially the Virginian and NKP Railroads. |
