Re: UTLX Tank Car ?s

After 1948, there may well have been more narrow gauge frameless tank cars than before 1948, because a batch of frameless cars were converted to narrow gauge about that year. The apparent reason was that the tank support plates of the old frameless cars were not strong enough to retro-fit newer automatic brake equipment. The automatic brake valve is heavier because it contains the timing mechanism for the emergency brake, and the automatic brake air tank is heavier because it includes two sections - a section for service air and a section for emergency air. The older Westinghouse equipment usually consisted of a single unit containing both the triple valve and the service air tank only. About 1948, many standard gauge railroads began objecting to handling cars that did not have the emergency (automatic) brake feature. For that reason, a large number of old standard gauge frameless tank cars suddenly became surplus, and were available for conversion to narrow gauge.

Robert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2024 08:03AM by Buffalo Bob.