The Great Northern’s plywood boxcars
The 1944 vintage express boxcars in the 2501-2524 series (right) were identical to the freight boxcars in the 44025-44399 se- ries but for marker brackets, foot step at side door, coupler release rod to both sides, passenger train piping and roller bearing trucks. Painting and lettering also looked the same except for the use of Scotchlight black for the road name and reporting marks and for the lettering in the herald. The outer ring of the herald and the back- ground for the goat was crimson red Scotchlight. The goat was white Scotchlight.
want to arrange for use of high-strength steel in a sample boxcar, much as was done with aluminum. You may work this out in connection with the building of the next five hundred boxcars.” This appar- ently never came about.
This second group of 500 plywood- side boxcars built in 1945 and into 1946 received numbers 10000-10499. They had a riveted Murphy rectangu- lar panel roof and side construction like the first series, and the first 400 had the early Camel/Youngstown side doors. Cars numbered 10400-10499 re- ceived Superior doors according to a note in the AFE. The whole series re- ceived American Steel Foundries A3 trucks. The new features were a steel running board and early improved 3/4 Dreadnaught ends instead of 4/5 Dreadnaught ends. I do not have access to the AFE for the plywood-side boxcars built in 1947,
GNRHS COLLECTION
but the title of the AFE dated April 26, 1946 is “Construct 500 40′-6″ 100M ca- pacity boxcars, 100 of which to be 10′- 6″ at eaves and equipped with type “F” Evans loaders.” This resulted in the 400 single-door cars in the 10500- 10899 series and the 100 double-door cars with a 10′-8″ interior height in the 38700-38799 series.
The 10500-10899 series had the same riveted Murphy rectangular roof, a metal running board (Morton, Apex,
U.S. Gypsum were used), the early Im- proved 3/4 Dreadnaught ends, the ply- wood side construction of the earlier series and American Steel Foundries A3 trucks. Side doors were either Su- perior or improved Camel/Youngstown. This time the GN spent money on Cor- Ten steel for the underframe. The 38700-38799 series also had the riveted Murphy rectangular panel roof, metal running board, the taller 4/4 early Improved Dreadnaught ends, plywood side construction and improved Camel/Youngstown double 7′-0″ doors. The Evans auto loaders were removed and the cars placed in general service in 1961.
Around the late 1950s the plywood end panels were exchanged for steel. One additional series of plywood- side boxcars on the GN has a complete- ly different story. It was the 32000- 32999 series.
They were former
COURTESY OF BOB’S PHOTO: TA COMA, WA; FEB. 20, 1955 NORMAN PRIEBE: ST. PAUL, MN; NOV. 26, 1966
45000-52999 series, 1937-1942 vin- tage, tongue-in-groove, double wood- sheathed cars rebuilt with plywood sides in 1954-1955. The plywood sheathing was used differently than on
By 1951 some of the express boxcars had been repainted all green with lettering and numbers in yellow (above left). The 72″ monogram had a yellow outer circle with an inner field of Caboose Red. The goat and mountain were white. Judging by the GN employee publication Talking It Over, the 47 plywood side and all steel express boxcars were upgraded and painted in an- ticipation of the Christmas rush in 1963 (left). They received the GN loader scheme, which featured orange on the top half of the sides; green on the bottom half of the sides and on the roof and ends; and black on the underbody and trucks. The mono- gram on the orange car side was white with a white goat on a black background.
66 JUNE 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124