railcar capacity question

Hi Gents:

What would be the average capacity (in pounds or tons) and the weight of the empty car for a D&RGW standard gauge 40 ft boxcar circa 1900 to 1940?

Thanks,

Ben

Ben,

I looked around and couldn't find anything on this. You might want to ask the DRGW historical society?

http://drgw.free.fr/DRGW/Freight/Boxcar/Couvert_en.htm


Boxcars
Flat cars
Gondolas
Cabooses
Tank cars
Reefers
Stock cars
Freight cars menu
Flying Grande on boxcar Version française

Back
D&RGW Home

Denver & Rio Grande Western boxcars


Boxcars were the category of freight cars the most important in number on the Rio Grande narrow gauge roster, nearly 4,000 boxcars were built for the railroad all together. They were used to transport any kind of cargo, from ore to manufactured goods. The first D&RG boxcars, built in 1871 according to a Billmeyer & Small pattern, were 10 short and light (12ft long and with a capacity of 10 tons) 4-wheel cars, all retired from service before 1883. These cars were considered too light and in 1872 and 1874, 166 new 8-wheel boxcars with a 8-ton capacity were built by the Denver & Rio Grande, still with parts and according to plans from Billmeyer & Small. They have been used until 1903. Then in 1879, the St. Charles Car Company built another 50 10-ton capacity boxcars for the D&RG, they were all scrapped before the end of 1906. Between 1878 and 1883, the Rio Grande shops built the railroad largest class of boxcars: over 2500 cars with a capacity of 10 tons and a length of 24ft. In 1903, some of these cars (those being in the best shape) were rebuilt with new trucks increasing their capacity to 20 tons, and with automatic couplers and air brake to comply with the new Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. Another hundred boxcars from the same class have been more heavily modified between 1884 and 1895 with new 20-ton trucks and a length increased to 27ft. These boxcars were also rebuilt in 1902 to meet the new Interstate Commerce Commission standards and were renumbered between 4000 and 4099. In 1923, only a few of these boxcars remained on the Rio Grande roster, most of them as company cars in the MOW fleet. A boxcar of this class, sold to the Rio Grande Southern in 1891 and converted later to a bunk car as #01789, is preserved today at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

In 1895 and 1896, the Denver & Rio Grande ordered two series of 200 boxcars from the Ohio Falls Car Manufacturing Company, with a capacity of 20 tons and 30ft long. In 1902 half of them were renumbered in the 4400-4499 and 4900-4999 blocks, the remaining ones took available numbers in the 4000 block and higher. A dozen of these cars were converted in 1916-17 to carry automobiles by adding large doors at one end. In 1923, over 200 of these boxcars remained on the Rio Grande revenue roster and a hundred other had become non-revenue work boxcars, after modifications for some of them. Several boxcars of this class have survived today in their non-revenue service version, most of them in the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad collection of MOW equipment, such as #04444. In 1942, all the boxcars of this class still in revenue service were transfered to the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. Fifty other 20-ton 30ft long boxcars have been built for the D&RG in 1902 and numbered from 4500 to 4549. The last of the class (#4549), which became tool car #04549 in the Rio Grande non-revenue fleet, is preserved today on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. One last class of 750 boxcars, 30ft long and with a capacity of 25 tons, has been delivered to the D&RG by the American Car & Foundry in 1904, they were numbered from 3000 to 3749. In 1926, these boxcars were extensively rebuilt, keeping only a few iron parts from the original boxcars, but the new cars retained the same numbers. A large part of these boxcars remained in revenue service until the end of freight operations on the Rio Grande narrow gauge in 1968. Many boxcars of this class have been preserved today, including 45 on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, about twenty in their original condititon on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (plus 22 other converted to passenger cars), 9 at the Georgetown Loop Railroad and another 4 at the Colorado Railroad Museum. All the Rio Grande boxcars were completely made of wood (body and frame), except for numbers 3000-3749 which received a steel roof during their 1926 rebuilding.


Photo gallery
Click to enlarge
D&RGW boxcar #3705 preserved at the Colorado Railroad Museum. This lettering scheme was in use between 1921 and 1926.
Click to enlarge
Work boxcar (block car) #04444, carrying wood blocks used during wreck clean-up operations. It was originally D&RG boxcar #4444 built in 1895.
Click to enlarge
Rio Grande boxcar #3669 in a livery used after 1939, conserved in working order on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
Click to enlarge
Boxcar #3407 at the Georgetown Loop Railroad, freshly painted in the livery used by the D&RGW between 1936 and 1939.
Click to enlarge
B end of boxcar #3705, with its hand brake.
Click to enlarge
D&RGW boxcar #3275 today in use on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG).
Click to enlarge
Line-up of boxcars in the Chama yard on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
Click to enlarge
Boxcar #3134 in Rio Grande gold livery. It is used today as a baggage car on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Mesurez votre audience
Boxcars
Flat cars
Gondolas
Cabooses
Tank cars
Reefers
Stock cars
Freight cars Menu
Flying Grande on boxcar
Back
D&RGW Home

http://hon3annual.com/blackstone-rio-grande-refrigerator/

Ben, I also found this info, hope its of some help.

Update: My apologies Ben, and you did state Standard Gauge.......Sorry about that!

Hi Blue:

Lotsa of good info there particularly since I'm basically a narrow gauge Trainzer but I was asking about 40 ft standard gauge cars.

Let me see if I can explain.

As you have probably noticed (how could you miss it, lol) I have been making a lot of items for the 3 ft gauge Uintah Railway of late. Its primary revenue product was gilsonite (some sort of petroleum product) carried in bags on flatcars. At the interchange with the D&RGW standard gauge line these bags were placed in boxcars and the boxcars weighed. I suppose to either be certain they didn't exceed the cars load capacity or to determine how much to charge for transportation to wherever they went. Some months ago I made a working railroad scale that read out the weight of the train car and displayed it on two vertical bar graph type indicators via scripting. I set full scale at 200 tons (I think) which was probably to much but this was a modern facility.

I'm in the process of converting that RR scale into an older version with a dial type readout (like non-digital speedometers, tachometers, etc.) and wanted to get the full scale value close to whatever the prototype was for std ga 40 ft D&RGW boxcars in the era the URY operated.

Ben

A 1940 steel standard gauge boxcar would have weighed about 30 tons (60,000 pounds), and might have had a load limit of 70,000 pounds. A new wood car built in the 1920's would have weighed 20 to 25 tons (40,000-50,000 pounds), and would have had a load limit of 50,000-60,000 pounds. I haven't looked much at earlier cars, and can't tell you how much a wood car from the 1900's might have weighed, nor what it's load limit would have been. But best guess would be 15 to 20 tons (30,000 - 40,000 pounds). I can't get at my research results at the moment, so can't confirm these amounts, but I expect them to be in the ballpark. My source is photos from various on-line digital archives around the internet, including from the University of Kentucky, where I found a number of photos of L&N and AGS (Alabama Great Southern) and Q&CS (Queen and Crescent City) boxcars, both wood and steel, dating to the era you are asking about.

ns

From 1903.

PRR-36' cap 100,000lb wt 44,300lb

P&R-34' cap 60,000lb wt 32,300lb

SP-39' cap 100,000lb wt 33,000lb

Erie-50' cap 60,000lb wt 44,000lb

NP- 40' cap 90,000lb wt 39,750lb

Hope that helps.

Thanks guys - helps a heap. I'll set full scale at 100 tons which should leave room for an over loaded car.

Ben