Can anybody identify this type car ?

[3rdrail]

Hi all ! Can anybody identify who manufactured this steel car which is the third one down in the photo with the curved side panels which are below the floor line ? This happens to be the "Palmetto" about to leave DC in 1960 and the car is Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac stock. Were these cars sleepers or coaches ? I'm curious as they are rather unique with their inwardly curved shroud and have appeared in the model train world as well, probably most notably in Lionel's 2400 series passenger cars. Is that shroud a baggage compartment ? (Thanks to NERAIL and Bill Hakkarinen for the photo.)

[DutchRailnut]

The shroud just hid some of underbody equipment like airvalves , steam fittings , electrical and airconditioning piping.
railroads most of time removed such shrouding in later years as it was mainly a maintenance expense.
The New Haven pullman built coaches had such shrouding when new

[D.Carleton]

Here is a similar car with the shrouding removed revealing some of the under-car details.

[John_Perkowski]

Dutch nailed it. It's shrouding around the underbody equipment of an early streamliner era car. I'd hazard to guess it was built by Pullman-Standard.

Railroads in the early streamliner era tried a very early version of HEP, then went to individual car generators, water tanks, a/c units (in EARLY A/C car that meant ice bunkers for up to 4,000 lbs of ice), and all of that was under the frame.

Here is ex-Union Pacific lounge-dorm "The Little Nugget", now on display at Los Angeles Travel Town museum. She still has her skirts.

Here is an era locomotive on picture of the 1934 UP Train "City of Salina"... note she has a fully enclosed underframe.

Here's one from her tail (not observation) car.

[ex Budd man]

I think it is an American Car & Foundry product. They were a minor player compared to Budd and P-S. I need to double check my copy of the 1941 Car Builders Encyclopedia to confirm this. The second car IS a Pullman-Standard car. When I get the chance to read the "big book" I'll repost any new findings. TTFN!

[David Benton]

Whats the first car , with the celestory (sp) roof ???on its way to a cowboy film set ???

[John_Perkowski]

David,

PRR/PC had P-70 HW cars running into the 1970s. HW Pullmans ran to the very end of the company, albeit in seasonal extra service.

[3rdrail]

I think it is an American Car & Foundry product. They were a minor player compared to Budd and P-S. I need to double check my copy of the 1941 Car Builders Encyclopedia to confirm this. The second car IS a Pullman-Standard car. When I get the chance to read the "big book" I'll repost any new findings. TTFN!

Hi Budd !
Are we sure that this is not a Budd car ? (I thought that I would go right to the source !)

[ex Budd man]

I've looked at the photo several times and one thing I am sure of is that it isn't a Budd car. All Budd cars had corrigated roofs, this car has a smooth roof. Not all Budd cars had fluted sides. Many were painted, which was difficult since stainless steel doesn't take paint without being roughened to give the surface tooth. It could be a Pullman car, Pressed Steel, St. Louis, or ACF. Or it may have been built or rebuilt by the railroad's own shops. Several builders favored the lower skirting to hide the mechanicals and enhance the streamline look.

[3rdrail]

Here's Lionel's version of the car, produced in 1948. It's a shortened version I'm sure, but they got the 10 windows correct. The only thing visible under the skirt appears to be a simulated air tank, just as in the photo above of the Palmetto car. It's a near dead-ringer for some unidentified prototypes that I have seen in photos of roughly that period, so they must have been based after a prototype.

[John_Perkowski]

The fluted-side Pullman is a 10-6.

I don't know of very many ACF cars built with fluting, but I have a second source mail list I will ask...