Over the many years I've been in this hobby, I never took the time to learn why passenger car roofs were built in the various configurations that came down the pike. I speaking of heavy weight cars.
Besides the clearstory version, some cars have a partial clear story and the rest is rounded. Some have a complete rounded roof.
What's the reason for the various designs ?
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the addition of air conditioning.
Actually many arch roof or "round roof" cars were built long before air conditioning became common. Some had mechanical forced air ventilation systems, others relied on roof vents to bring outside air into the car. Clerestory (not clear story) roofs had windows that opened and allowed air to escape, however, those windows were notoriosly "leakers". It was hard to seal all of those windows and keep them in good, tight fitting order. At best. the cars were often hot and stuffy in the summer but people didn't know any better until A/C. Most, or at least many, of those older clerestory roof cars had air conditioning added in the 1930's and 1940's and had all of their windows sealed. Often the A/C ducts were installed int the clerestory area of the ceiling or additional housing was added to the roof areas, alongside the clerestory roof to accomodate the A/C equipment.
Whether the cars were built with arch roofs or clerestories was a decision of the railroad itself. Part of that decision was costs, and I'm certain that the clerestory was more expensive to buld.
Paul Fischer
"Clerestory (not clear story)" I knew something was wrong.....I also know that I have forgotten more things than some of the younger guys will ever hope to know.....LOL
yes, there were cars like Harriman style coaches that were built right from the start with rounded roofs. i was thinking about cars like most any of the Pullman sleeper plans. i had always assumed the half rounded roof add on to those cars was installed to duct the a/c up to the roof utilizing the existing clerestory windows/ vents. other roads like the B&O added shrouding to the entire car for a streamline look until they were finally phased out in favor of newer lightweight coaches.
Don't sell these young folks short. They may grow up more informed and better informed than we could possibly have.
The clerestory is not a clear story at all. In my understanding, there are the three major classifications, "Standard" or "Bullnose", "Monitor" (for the Civil War ship) and amorphous "Stillwell", the appearance of which is explained by a glance at the underlying framework. Within and between these groups there are seemingly endless variations - my favorite being "The Duckbill".
I came across this older thread and I think the clerestory is what I need. I dropped one of my nutcracker cars and the clerestory cracked. It looks like this is a separate piece added to the regular old timer passenger cars to give them a different look. Does anyone know if there is a replacement part available? I tried Lionel parts, but no luck.
I can only suggest looking for a "parts car" on eBay.
If you do a simple patent search you will find the passenger car roof designs were patented. To avoid infringement while the patents held alternate roof designs were utilized by carbuilders without rights. The clerestory roof design was patented by Alba Smith in 1862 #36536.
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