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| "Heading Down Winding Stair," Frisco 1332 pulling a 35-car freight train down the south side of Winding Stair Mountain near Talihina, Oklahoma, June, 1948, George Preston photo posted February 8, 2025 by Richard Crabtree on the Facebook group: Frisco Rails Across Oklahoma. Note that the car side appears smooth, but there are no notations of steel-sided cars in this group, meaning this would be double sheathed siding |
By the Transition Era, double sheathed auto cars were very much a rarity, with the Rio Grande's 50-footers being the most obvious exception. Another interesting example making it into the Transition Era was the Frisco's 40-foot prototype built by American Car & Foundry before World War One and improved over the years. I saw the photo included above on the Facebook group, Frisco Rails Across Oklahoma, and was immediately curious about the first car behind the tender, as it was clearly not a standard forty-foot auto car. I recalled some chatter about Frisco auto cars on the groups.io Steam Era Freight Cars list (search "SLSF 152203 DS auto car" in messages) from a few years back and searched the archives. I have synthesized and augmented that information below.
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| Two AC&F builder's photos from Westerfield AC&F CD containing lot listings and builder's photos |
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| "Amphibious DUKW cargo truck being unloaded from one of the hundreds of thousands of freight cars which carried victory cargo to San Francisco Port of Embarkation" from the book Gateway to Victory profiled by John Barry at his blog |
Around 1937, the cars were rebuilt to incorporate Dreadnaught steel ends (4/5 square corner on the B end and 3/5 end doors on the A end,) Youngstown corrugated steel doors with Union Duplex fixtures, and "Hutchins Dry Lading Riveted" (trade name for the Murphy rectangular panel roof used on these cars, not to be confused with a Hutchins "Dry Lading" roof, very common in the 1920s.) Also, note that the height was increased by the addition of a side plate section above the existing car side, of undetermined shape, although likely zee bar. This section was further bolstered by diagonal shapes with a triangular opening "inside" the angle formed by the two surfaces they supported. These improvements are shown in the image above.
There were a little over 200 cars still in service in late 1951, at which point they were rapidly retired, with only 96 cars listed in the January, 1953 edition of the Official Railway Equipment Register.
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| West Bottoms, Kansas City, circa late 1940s |
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| detail from previous photo, showing two of the cars in question |
Circling back to my original thought: double sheathed auto cars were rarities in the Transition Era. Modeling such cars in HO scale presents an opportunity to include something different in the fleet. I am at work on completing the effort begun by Bill Welch to create patterns for the 50-foot Rio Grande cars, so that box is nearly checked. These Frisco cars would be a compelling "scratchbash" candidate and a complement to the Rio Grande cars. There are components out there to address many of the components, although there are issues with most. The roof is easy as there are many options. The side plate and braces (or whatever ids actually is can be scratchbuilt.) The ends are a little more difficult, but can be kitbashed from a variety of sources, but the 3/5 end door A end would require "surgery" of an existing part, either the resin end from Yarmouth or a bash from a Proto2000 car. The doors are also a challenge as Union Duplex fixtures are still not offered for many Youngstown configurations/sizes. The sides could easily be scratchbuilt from Everegreen siding. The underframe would be a complete mystery absent drawings, but who would know what's right and wrong on a model? The center sills are straight, making things a little easier. It would be a fun and very challenging project....
Much of the story was compiled by Eric Lombard and shared on the groups.io list referenced above. There are still gaps in information so any solid leads, photos, etc., that can be shared can be added to this post.
