ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY
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ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY
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Box cars were once the most common freight cars on a train. They carried anything that needed protection from the weather, like consumer goods and manufactured products.
This car was built for the Santa Fe Railway in 1910. It has double doors for loading large objects, and was initially called a "furniture car." In the 1930s special lifts were installed so four automobiles could be loaded with two on the floor and two above. It was then called an "automobile car." By the 1960s, automobile cars began being replaced by newer auto-rack cars.
In later years, this car was downgraded to work train service and was used as a bolt car, carrying miscellaneous bolts and tools for Maintenance Of Way repair crews. After it was retired in 1994, the Santa Fe donated it to the museum.
Besides the loads they normally carried, box cars (also called "boxcars") carried loose commodities like grain, coal, and ore in the early days before hopper cars were built. Special fittings were placed in the doorways to keep contents from spilling out during loading and unloading.
This 40-foot car was built by American Car & Foundry, originally with wood sides on a steel frame. It was probably in class Fe-L numbered 9401 – 9900, with "Fe" being the designation for furniture/automobile cars. In 1939 the cars in classes Fe-L/N/O, all built in 1910, were rebuilt with steel sides in Santa Fe's Topeka shops and were re-designated as class Fe-19. This one was renumbered to No. 5257 from its prior number, then during a 1954 renumbering it became No. 232493.
In later years when this car went into maintenance service, it was repainted from its previous boxcar red to maintenance-of-way (MOW) silver. After it was retired by the Santa Fe in Phoenix, it was delivered to the museum's Pecos Road storage track in early 1994. It was moved onto the Armstrong Park grounds later in 1994, still numbered 232493, and volunteers painted it dark green with a museum logo. In 2006 it moved, along with the rest of the fleet, to the museum's new Tumbleweed Park location.|
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11/25/2006 - View of the boxcar at Tumbleweed Park. |
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5/21/2005 - The car receives a new "ARM" paint job at Armstrong Park. |
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2005 - A coat of red primer before top color is applied. |
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2005 - The boxcar has been sandplasted and holes patched. |
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1994 - View of the boxcar as delivered in "MOW Silver" at Armstrong Park. |
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