Re: Non-Revenue Service Cars

Posted by SteveG on May 09, 2022; 5:41pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Non-Revenue-Service-Cars-tp14179p17732.html

Hey Jim,
My undergrad major was physics, not mechanical engineering, but thinking about the forces involved, the use of the needle beams to hold the sills in alignment would make more sense if there was a transverse truss rod running thru the needle beams, to take advantage of the fact that wood is stronger in compression than in tension.
None of the photos to date would seem to support the existence of such rods, and John's comment on the vertical rods thru the car body truss structure would seem to preclude another, transverse rod thru the same beam, but I am reminded of the transverse rods on the car ends that were later discarded (even though the corner brackets were kept on the much later SUF box cars).
It seems the concern on side loads lasted all through the development history of C&S rolling stock.
Regards,
Steve Guty