Abstract: A gondola car has a door and an associated door frame the end. The door hangs hingedly from the header of the frame. The header runs across the top of the door opening and is connected to the top chords at either side. The door posts are positioned inside the side sheets and tie into the header at each upper corner. The side sheets lap onto the door posts to allow longitudinal adjustment of the side assemblies and the door frame relative to each other, at assembly. The side posts are connected to the header with a tie plate that is bolted to both members. The car may also have a tarp dome at each end. The tarp dome has non-welded connections that have play to permit the tarp dome to accommodate movement of the top chords.

Abstract: A well car for carrying shipping containers has a pair of end structures supported by railcar trucks, a pair of first and second spaced apart side beams extending between the end structures and a well defined therebetween. Container support cross-members are mounted between the side sills in a position to support an end of a shipping container load carried within the well. An array of elongate members is provided to divide the opening into smaller spaces and to prevent excessively large openings from being left. The elongate members can have different forms, whether rigid hollow structural sections, rods, or cables. The arrays of elongate members are oriented at oblique angles along the railcar body.

Abstract: A railroad box car has a combined underframe and floor structure that includes a floor sheet having an upper surface upon which to carry lading, and an underside to which a center sill, cross-members, and floor stringers are welded. The floor sheet defines the upper flange of the center sill, the cross-members, and the stringers, such that the center sill, cross-members, and stringers are mutually flush. For assembly, the floor sheet is upside-down, and the center sill webs, stringers, and tie-down mounting rails to it with longitudinal welds. The cross-members and center sill web separators are positioned cross-wise and welded in place. The floor sheet is a non-nailable surface that caps the underframe structure. The stringers are channels welded toes-in to the underside of the floor sheet with the spacing between the center sill web, stringer toes, and edge channel rails being roughly equal.

Abstract: A railroad freight car may have external fittings, such as trackside-accessible ladder fittings that permit personnel to climb onto the decks and walkways of the car. Several embodiments of movable ladder assemblies are described that provide an extended or deployed or raised position of a handhold, and a retracted or lowered, or stored position. In other embodiments, the assembly is provided with a compliant member that allows the handhold resiliently to flex when encountered by solid objects such as shipping containers.

Abstract: A symmetrical multi-unit railroad freight car, such as a 3-pack railroad intermodal well car, has body units that are connected symmetrically. The body units have a symmetrical arrangement of end trucks and shared trucks. The end trucks are 70 Ton Trucks. The shared trucks are 125 Ton trucks. The trucks have passive steering using geometric rocker stiffnesses. The rockers in the end trucks have a smaller radius of curvature than the rockers in the shared trucks. The spring groups in the shared trucks are stiffer than the spring groups in the end trucks. The spring groups in the end trucks have a different proportion of damping when empty, a shorter live load range of travel, and greater reserve travel than the shared trucks. The end trucks and the shared trucks have four-cornered damper groups that have the same sized damper wedges. The damper wedges have non-metallic wear pads.

Abstract: There is a damper wedge for a railroad car truck. It has a removable and replaceable friction element that reciprocates on the wear plate of the side frame column of the railroad car truck. It has a non-metallic wear surface; a spring seat that, in use, engages a spring of the railroad car truck; and an inclined damper wedge surface having a primary angle, alpha, and a secondary angle, beta. The inclined damper wedge surface has a curvature. The curvature has a working point. The working point is located in a central region of a contact patch, or working surface patch. The nonmetallic wear surface material is mounted to a carrier that mounts removably to the damper wedge body. The carrier has fingers that span the wedge and that transfer shear and resist torsion, the fingers preventing the non-metallic member from migrating out of position.

Abstract: A railroad hopper car has a hopper carried between two trucks, and has convergent end and side slope sheets that feed a bottom discharge. The bottom discharge has a rectangular frame. The bottom discharge is lower than the center sill. The car has a flat bottom discharge having multiple arrays of louvers. All of the lading discharges through the flat bottom. The side sheets extend downwardly beyond the side sills, so that the side slope sheets terminate below the side sills. The car has laterally extending shear force transfer members, that provide a shear connection between the side walls of the car, and have openings to permit lading from the main containment volume of the car to pass therethough to the lading discharges. The louvers are joined to move together. Alternatively, the gate may include two opposed sliding doors separated by a beam that runs under the center sill.

Abstract: There is a damper wedge for a railroad car truck. It has a removable and replaceable friction element that reciprocates on the wear plate of the side frame column of the railroad car truck. It has a non-metallic wear surface; a spring seat that, in use, engages a spring of the railroad car truck; and an inclined damper wedge surface having a primary angle, alpha, and a secondary angle, beta. The inclined damper wedge surface has a curvature. The curvature has a working point. The working point is located in a central region of a contact patch, or working surface patch. The nonmetallic wear surface material is mounted to a carrier that mounts removably to the damper wedge body. The carrier has fingers that span the wedge and that transfer shear and resist torsion, the fingers preventing the non-metallic member from migrating out of position.

Abstract: A railroad hopper car has a hopper carried between two trucks. The hopper has convergent end and side slope sheets that feed a flat bottom discharge. It has a rectangular frame at least half as wide as the car, and at least half as great as the truck center distance. The car capacity is over 5000 cu. ft. The bottom discharge is lower than the center sill. There are ring frames having a bottom reinforcement that passes clear under the center sill. The car has flat bottom discharge gates having multiple arrays of louvers. The side sheets extend downwardly beyond the side sills, so that the side slope sheets terminate at a transition below the side sills. The louvers have curved edges. The louvers move together. The gate may include two opposed sliding doors separated by a beam that runs under the center sill.

Abstract: A railroad hopper car has a hopper carried between two trucks, and has convergent end and side slope sheets that feed a bottom discharge. The bottom discharge has a rectangular frame. The bottom discharge is lower than the center sill. The car has a flat bottom discharge having multiple arrays of louvers. All of the lading discharges through the flat bottom. The side sheets extend downwardly beyond the side sills, so that the side slope sheets terminate below the side sills. The car has laterally extending shear force transfer members that provide a shear connection between the side walls of the car. The shear force transfer members have openings to permit lading from the main containment volume of the car to pass therethough to the lading discharges. The louvers are joined to move together. Alternatively, the gate may include two opposed sliding doors separated by a beam that runs under the center sill.

Abstract: A railroad tank car may have external fittings, such as brake fittings. A low mount brake fitting is located in a recess formed in the end sill of the car or in the side sill of the car between the main bolster and the end sill. Where an end sill installation is used, the end sill may be asymmetric, with the recess being formed to one side of the center sill. Alternatively, the end sill may be offset longitudinally away from the striker, and a spacer inserted.

Abstract: A transverse trough coil car has a straight-through center sill. It has a pair of truck centers. It has a set of trough slope sheet assemblies mounted to the center sill between a pair of side sills. The slope sheet assemblies include intermediate slope sheet assemblies that are pin jointed connected to the center sill. The pin joint connection has a tongue and clevis form that is aligned with the webs of the center sill. The car may have stub bolsters that are surmounted by pre-fabricated trough assemblies that mate with the stub bolsters and extend to the side sills.

Abstract: A transverse trough coil car has a sawtooth center sill. It has a pair of truck centers. Portions of the straight-through center sill deviate upwardly inboard of the truck centers and define saw teeth that have truncated tips. The center sill has an undulating top cover plate, or top flange. A portion of the center sill deviates slopingly to conform angularly to the inclined sides of the transverse troughs. The center sill is notched to conform to those transverse troughs. The car has stub bolsters that are surmounted by pre-fabricated trough assemblies that mate with the stub bolsters and extend to the side sills. The center sill has an array of internal web separators and gussets to discourage buckling. There are deep center sill webs that extend upwardly higher than the draft sill.

Abstract: A damper wedge for a railroad car truck includes a friction member that rides on the wear plate of the side frame column of the railroad car truck and a non-metallic wear surface; and a spring seat that, in use, engages a spring of the railroad car truck. The inclined damper wedge surface has a primary angle alpha, and a secondary angle beta. The spring seat has an axial centerline. The inclined damper wedge surface has a curvature. The curvature has a working point. The damper wedge has a datum plane that is normal to the non-metallic wear surface and that contains the axial centerline. The axial centerline meets the inclined damper wedge surface at an intersection point that is the center of a contact patch. The working point is located in a central region of the contact patch, or working surface patch, downslope of the intersection point.

Abstract: A well car for carrying shipping containers has a pair of end structures supported by railcar trucks, a pair of first and second spaced apart side beams extending between the end structures and a well defined therebetween. Container support cross-members are mounted between the side sills in a position to support an end of a shipping container load carried within the well. An array of elongate members is provided to divide the opening into smaller spaces and to prevent excessively large openings from being left. The elongate members can have different forms, whether rigid hollow structural sections, rods, or cables. The arrays of elongate members are oriented at oblique angles along the railcar body.

Abstract: A rail road car truck has a bolster having the form of a hollow beam that has a deep central portion and shallow ends. The bolster has a top flange, a bottom flange and internal and external webs extending between, intersecting and merging with the top and bottom flanges. A center plate bowl is located in the middle of the top flange, and brake rod passages are defined transversely through the bolster. In some embodiments, transverse ribs run underneath the center plate bowl. The ribs may be curved. The ribs may be flush with the brake rod openings in the various webs. There may be upwardly standing ribs running transversely across the bottom flange. Those lower ribs may terminate upwardly flush with the brake rod openings. Alternatively, the bottom portion of the bolster may by cast with a greater thickness, up to the bottom of the break rod openings. In other embodiments, the bolster may have partial or fully tubular brake rod opening liners or tubes that extend across the bolster beneath the center plate.

Abstract: There is a damper wedge for a railroad car truck. It has a removable and replaceable friction element that reciprocates on the wear plate of the side frame column of the railroad car truck. It has a non-metallic wear surface; a spring seat that, in use, engages a spring of the railroad car truck; and an inclined damper wedge surface having a primary angle, alpha, and a secondary angle, beta. The inclined damper wedge surface has a curvature. The curvature has a working point. The working point is located in a central region of a contact patch, or working surface patch. The nonmetallic wear surface material is mounted to a carrier that mounts removably to the damper wedge body. The carrier has fingers that span the wedge and that transfer shear and resist torsion, the fingers preventing the non-metallic member from migrating out of position.

Abstract: A rail road car truck has a bolster having the form of a hollow beam that has a deep central portion and shallow ends. The bolster has a top flange, a bottom flange and internal and external webs extending between, intersecting and merging with the top and bottom flanges. A center plate bowl is located in the middle of the top flange, and brake rod passages are defined transversely through the bolster. In some embodiments, transverse ribs run underneath the center plate bowl. The ribs may be curved. The ribs may be flush with the brake rod openings in the various webs. There may be upwardly standing ribs running transversely across the bottom flange. Those lower ribs may terminate upwardly flush with the brake rod openings. Alternatively, the bottom portion of the bolster may by cast with a greater thickness, up to the bottom of the break rod openings. In other embodiments, the bolster may have partial or fully tubular brake rod opening liners or tubes that extend across the bolster beneath the center plate.

Abstract: A railroad freight car has an underframe that includes a center sill and lateral cross-members such as bolsters, cross-bearers and cross-ties. Side sills run along the edges of the car. A floor sheet is welded to the center sill and side sills and above the cross-members. Floor stringers are welded to the top side of the floor sheet. A surface covering is mounted on top of the stringers. Thermal insulation may be installed between the surface covering and the floor sheets.

Abstract: A gondola car has a body for lading carried on an underframe. The underframe includes a center sill and cross-bearers. The car has deep side beams having top chords, side sills, and side sheets. The lower portion of the car includes tubs that seat between the cross-bearers. The car may have an internal volume of more than 8000 cu. ft. The car may have rotary dump claw sockets. The car has opposed internal and external stiffeners aligned at the longitudinal stations of the cross-bearers. The internal stiffeners may be triangular cantilevers extending upwardly inside the side sheets. The side sheet lies intermediate the stiffeners and their flanges. The top chords may be wider in cross-section than the side sills. The side sills may define torque tubes that co-operate with the sidewall stiffeners and the top chords to resist lateral deflection. The car may include a false deck, or dog-house at one end to accommodate the brake reservoir and brake valve, such that the car is longitudinally asymmetric.