Flat Car Friday (Saturday!) - Southern Pacific F-50 family

This version of Flat Car Friday is less a focus on a specific prototype or load and more about a detail. The prototype shown here is one of the SP's (or perhaps an SP-affiliated road's) numerous 50-ton flat cars in the classes F-50-5/-8/-9/-10/-12. The photo illustrates the side sill and stake pocket details quite clearly. Fairly obvious also is the person taking a break on the deck surface. What I want to emphasize, however, is the condition of the deck. The boards are quite distressed and chewed up. This is something most of us try to emulate in our models, but looking at this image makes me realize that I still have some work to do to develop and improve my technique. This image is one of many from the FSA/OWI collection at the Library of Congress.