PRR Automobile
Box Car
Men who draw cartoons for the comic papers cften have a
little fun at the expense of automobilists by representing a splendid
modern motor car being hauled home by the much despised horse. The
Pennsylvania Railroad, however, are able to transport the automobile,
whether broken down or in good condition, and in a way
which is not calculated to hurt the tenderest susceptibilities. 
There are 100 specially designed box cars being built at the Altoona
shops of the railroad, which have extra large doors, diagonally placed
so that automobiles can be easily loaded and unloaded, and a
long or short journey can be made without trouble of any kind. The box
car, which is 38 ft. 6 ins. long over the bumpers, is made with
ordinary doors opposite each other in the sides of the car, and these
doors are 6 ft. 1 in. wide by 8 ft. 4 1/2 ins. high.
The car as it stands can be used for freight in the usual way, but when
it ccmes to automobiles the Pennsylvania box car opens a second door in
either side and thus gives a total door opening per side of 12 ft. 2
ins. wide by 8 ft. 4 1/2 ins. high. The large opening is got by
removing a temporary center post bo.x car side doors butt up to a
removable post in the middle. This arrangement is made so that only the
ordinary bo.x car door will be used unless the car is to carry a motor
car.
The plan of the wide automobile doors is shown in the sketch, and the
diagonal arrangement is at once apparent. Two road machines can, if
necessary, be carried in one car. The floor cf the car is 42 3/4 ins.
from the top of the rail, and the car is 8 ft. 4 ins. wide and 36 ft.
long inside. This gives a floor area of 300 sq. ft. The car has a tare
weight of about 45,000 lbs. and a marked capacity of 100,000 lbs.
The side sills of the car are made of what are practically Z-bars, and
these are faced on the outer side by wooden stringers about 5x4 ins.,
which are the end supports of the floor planks. The center sills are
made of two pressed steel shapes of the channel form, reinforced with
an angle along the lower edge.
from a 1902 magazine, in the
public domain
