Folks -

I seem to recall seeing a photo of a box or refrigerator car with ends that had circular type ribs. I don't recall if this was on RyPN, or some other site. Anyone have any idea as to what this type of construction was called, if such a thing actually existed?

Thanks.


Les

Les,

Is this the thread?

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34769

Joe

Joe -

Thanks, but no. The circular ends I'm talking about were kind of like in a "target" with a smaller circle, then larger, then larger still. Not sure how many circles altogether.


Les

They were known as Van Dorn ends, after the company that developed them. Here's some history:

https://books.google.com/books?id=dKFMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1603&lpg=PA1603&dq=Van+Dorn+boxcar+end&source=bl&ots=IRJ8STgOOX&sig=6-tc5VBEon5cxuKkSxvdG84Zf5Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RK7nVOmgCMv5yQSi4YCgCA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Van%20Dorn%20boxcar%20end&f=false

They got a good bit of play in the trade press of the day, but I don't think they actually sold many.

Dennis -

Thanks for the info that these were known as Van Dorn ends. I gave up looking through the highlighted copy of Railway Age Gazette since it is over 1600 pages. I did use the reference to Van Dorn ends though and found some model railroad cars with them, and they are exactly what I was talking about. Tried to find a reference on the internet to a prototype photo, but had no luck. I'm sure there must be one out there.

Thanks again.

Les

Les,

My link goes directly to the proper page, but the article of interest is low on the page, off the screen. When dealing with these Google book scans, don't use the scroll bar; the book is hundreds of pages long and one little bump on the scroll bar takes you pages away, and the only way to find your way back is to close the window and click the link again. Instead, place the cursor on the page image. The cursor will change to the "pan" icon, a little hand. Hold the left mouse button and "slide" the image of the page up, and the article, with pix, starts at the bottom of that page.