lengths of cars in Archives

[NW Mailing List]

Mike

That is kind of an unusual way of searching. Generally speaking, you are correct, the higher the class number, the newer the cars, but not always, some classes might be inherited classes from other merged lines. Such as hoppers, Virginian H-14 hoppers, became N&W H-34 I believe. The earlier boxcars may also be alpha listing, not simply B with a number, but BK, BL, BS, etc. 

Without a doing a detailed search, it appears to me that the N&W classification system for boxcars went with a number on the boxcars in 1936, probably because they were starting to run out of the alphabet on boxcars. Probably became a policy on totally new construction on all types of equipment. Yes, I am aware they were building HL hoppers into 1940, but that was not totally new design and construction. The first covered hoppers, built 1935 were HC, but the next cars built two years later were HC-1.

What I’d suggest as a starter, is take a look at Jim Brewer’s excellent lists at

https://www.nwhs.org/data/freightCar/

Jim has compiled them by year, and it depicts all the N&W roster in that particular year from 1935-1957, giving you a wide range to look at. After 1957, most (but not all) new freight cars were becoming longer as axle loadings and journal capacity increased.

Otherwise, a diagram book of freight cars or an Official Register of Railway Equipment is in order, but without looking, I think the Equipment Register does not mention the class, just goes by number series. But with both sources, you kind of need to pin down some years when you are looking, otherwise, you are going to have some big piles of paper stacked pretty high!

Best
Ken Miller

> On Jun 8, 2024, at 10:49 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Has anyone compiled a list of rolling stock according to length?  I would be interested in searching for 40 ft or 50 ft boxcars or flat cars, etc.  
> I presume that the higher numbers are more modern...B49 is earlier than B100 earlier than B119.
> I presume also that whenever anyone said B100, everybody just knew how long it was.
> Appreciate any help and ideas.
> Mike Shockley
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/