how are passenger, freight cars measured...

overlandflyer posted:

i suppose i could also ask what is 40' about a 40' boxcar?  again, internal length?

thanks...gary

Correct.

Simon

When I ran 1:1 passenger trains in tourist service we just assumed that the cars we were using were 80' long and went with it.  I am sure we never measured.  Since all our passenger cars were basically the same length we called out distance in multiples of car length.

i.e. backing/pulling into a station might go : 2 cars...1 car... 1/2 car.... 1/4...that'll do!!

I have heard that passenger car lengths were listed without the vestibule.    The reason stated was that on most the vestibule was outside the frame.

On the Pennsylvania RR, it was definitely the practice to class the length without the vestibule.   the P70 coach which they had a kazillion of was close to 80 feet long but was 70 feet without  vestibules, hence the P70 class.     The P54 coaches were also classes that way.   These are the ones that were converted to MU cars on the East coast.     There where also later P85 and other classes of lightweights.

The PB70 baggage car was shorter than the P70 coach because it did not have a vestibule on one end.     the M70 mail car and B70 baggage were about 70 feet at the end beams.    The B60 baggage was 60 feet long.

Everything I have read says they did not measure over coupler face on anything on the Pennsy.

Also I think the 40 ft boxcar was internal length.    This was what the RR used to decide how much they could haul inthe car and that is very important to the business.   

Also I think I remember reading that the NYC 70 foot coach was measured without the vestibules.

SP did something similar.  The passenger car measurements seemed to vary from over the buffers to just the interior.  The RPOs apparently were measured by the length set aside for the mail.  All very confusing.

There was a long article in the PRRT&JS journal a few years back about RPOs.     The PRR did not have any 60 foot mail cars.     they had 70 ft (MB70) mail cars and MB70 baggage-Mail combines.    This article said that the US Postal service leased cars in 15, 30, and 60 ft increments for RPO (Railway Post Office) service.    The PRR M70 had a 60 ft RPO and a 10 ft mail storage section.   the MB70 had a 30 ft RPO and a 40 ft baggage section that could be regular baggage or mail storage.     

Most railroads had 60 Ft RPOs if they had full length cars like the one that Weaver did  years ago.

Another different practice for the Pennsy was their Gas-Electrics.     None of their Gas-Electrics had RPO sections while many on other RRs had 15 ft RPO sections.    When the PRR assigned a Gas-Electric to a route that required an RPO, the Gas-Electric would pull a car with an RPO as a trailer.    

Freight cars such as tank cars and covered hoppers typically have multiple measurements too; from end to end; between coupler pulling faces; truck center to truck center; what have you.  Basically you use the measurement that is most relevant to whatever question is being posed.  For example; if you are trying to determine how many cars can be placed into a particular track; you use the measurement between pulling faces.

Curt