Ribbed Roofs on Passenger Cars | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum

MilwRdPaulOGR Forum Member

Hi everyone, I just got a set of Lackawanna Phoebe Snow smooth-side passenger cars. The roofs on these cars are ribbed or grooved from front to back. I also have a set of Milwaukee Road smooth-side passenger cars and their roofs are smooth. Were the ribbed roofs indigenous to the Lackawanna or did other railroads have them also?

Speaking of ribs, were there ribbed-sided and smooth-sided passenger cars also? If so, what was the significance or reasoning for the two types and was there an official name for them?

9/21/141:29 PM

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fisch330OGR Forum Member MEMORIALIZED MEMBER

Not sure of other builders, but horizontally ribbed roofs were characteristic of Budd built passenger cars. The Milwaukee built most of their own passenger cars and used advanced welding techniques. Most of the pre-war cars (except the very first series built in 1934) were built with ribbed sides but smooth roofs.

Paul Fischer

Mill CityOGR Forum Member

Hate to admit that I haven't seen my ribs in years. Probably the result of consuming too many of these...

PRRTrainguyOGR Forum Member

FWIW

Ribbed roofs are Budd

Smooth roof are Pullman Standard.

Both above are for LW streamliners and there are exceptions for specific railroads specifying different details

mikeg

ReadingFanOGR Forum Member

Originally Posted by Mill City:

Hate to admit that I haven't seen my ribs in years. Probably the result of consuming too many of these...

Giving us a ribbing, eh?

9/21/1411:29 PM

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