Southern Railway Postwar AAR Box Cars - an extremely interesting quirk

 

As an expansion from my previous post, the Southern purchased 1,000 Postwar design AAR box cars from Pullman-Standard between 1946-1947, Lot 5855. The most visible details were 8-foot door openings, not unheard of at the time, but not all that common, either, and their Superior 7-panel doors or Improved Youngstown doors with 6-6-5 arrangement (top to bottom.) Other details included prominent push pole pockets and specialties as noted in the table below.

Series Start	Series End	Side sheathing	Subsidiary	Hand Brake	Running Board	Doors
330000	330499	Irregular	NO&NE	Miner	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23000	23241	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23242	23268	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Superior
23269	23299	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23300	23472	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Superior
23473	23486	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
262000	262049	Regular	CNO&TP	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
307025	307027	Regular	AGS	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown

One interesting quirk that I noticed in photos years ago, but hadn't researched thoroughly was that 500 cars had a highly unusual, if not unique arrangement of side structural posts (zee bars where the side sheathing panels overlapped and were riveted.) On 500 cars, the structural posts were marginally closer together (3'0-1/2" vs. 3'1-7/8" on a standard arrangement) and an additional structural member was added extremely close to the adjacent end, necessitating an additional row of rivets close to the ends and corner posts. I have not seen this feature on any other cars and have no documentation as to why it was done. The only reason for this arrangement that makes sense to me is that four of the panels on either side of the door were generated from tooling for a car with a 7-foot door opening (the edges closest to the car ends were crimped to overlap the next panel) and then the last panel on each side, adjacent to the ends, which did not have a crimp (it was just sheet/plate steel) was made wide enough to span the leftover distance. A plausible (yet thoroughly speculative) reason is availability of such side sheathing panels when the first cars were built beginning in 1946; maybe panels for 7-foot door opening cars were already being cut and pressed for the Nickel Plate order, but presses for 8-foot door opening sides were not tooled yet. This rationale is a weak explanation for the presence of the zee bar structural member 6-7/8" from the corner post. Nonetheless, it results in an extremely cool feature if you're a freight car geek, like I am. Click on the photo to see a larger view

This photo of Southern 23000 illustrates another interesting detail that I have only found on this car. It was equipped with roping staples at each bolster. I am unsure if there were other cars wit hthese, but it is noteworthy. I could find no reference to it in the Southern book*.

There is (was) an incredible reference for Southern box cars, Southern Railway Equipment Drawings and Photographs, Volume 1, Book 1, 40' Steel Box Cars, George Eichelberger, Southern Railway Historical Association, 2004