General Steel Castings pulpwood car
CRAFTSMAN/James Kinkaid
Loaded Above: There was no information as to the location or date when ACL 70334 was photo- graphed, but this is the car the drawings are based on. Note that the shop forces have already removed the left-hand truck bearing retaining bolts. Below: A rotary slack adjuster is added to MEC 7693. These may have been added after delivery to original own- er C&O. (top, Paul Faulk; below, George Melvin photo)
Pulpwood has low intrinsic
value, and railroads can expect little revenue from this traffic, so keeping capital costs down was essential to make any money. Historically, pulpwood cars were older flatcars and cut-down box- cars pressed into the trade. However, these modified cars were often problematic. Some had bulkhead support brack- ets that interfered with loading and unloading. Most had flat floors, sometimes making stack- ing an issue. Many cars were worn out to begin with, and the rough lives of pulpwood service, along with absolutely minimal maintenance, caused no end of problems. In 1950, Gulf, Mobile & Ohio,
members of the American Ply- wood Association, and several on-line pulp mills decided to ad- dress the lack of suitable cars. As a group, they worked with General Steel Castings (GSC) to develop a new car for the pulp- wood trade. General Steel Castings Cor-
poration of Granite City, Illinois, had established an enviable reputation within the industry for locomotive steel castings. It seemed nothing was too intri- cate for GSC to cast. Perhaps not as well known, the company also supplied castings for freight cars, which date back to at least 1923. When most people think of General Steel, heavy-duty flat- cars probably come to mind, but GSC also supplied castings for other car types. Most were known for their durability. When design-
ing the pulpwood cars, the group de- cided on several critical character- istics. The group recognized
the
cars would nor- mally be far from
60 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
major shops and expected them to receive little maintenance. Ad- ditionally, the rough-and-tum- ble nature of wood loading de- manded a durable, strong car of simple design. The cars needed to be easily assembled by shop forces to keep costs down. The industry wanted a 22-cord ca- pacity, which was larger than existing equipment. The collabo- ration created what can only be considered an iconic freight car: the cast steel AAR class “LP” pulpwood car. Two versions emerged: the 50-ton car (the fo- cus of this month’s article and drawings) and a longer, 70-ton version.
Basically, the car came as a
kit. One large casting made up the body, and shop forces as- sembled the ends from four castings (per end). Workers sim- ply dropped the ends into place and welded them to the body. The railroad then supplied safe- ty appliances, trucks, brakes, and flooring. According to an ar- ticle in the GM&OHS News, the simplicity of the design allowed 14 men to assemble a car in two days. Most cars were fitted with sheet metal flooring, but several sets were known to have
GSC PULPWOOD CAR
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