referred to requested that the effective date of the entire classification be postponed, in order to give the objectors an opportunity to check the items and obtain evidence upon which to attack each change under which there was an increase in rate or with respect to which it was felt that the transportation cost might be increased. The classification was suspended and hearings have been held at which a great deal of testimony was taken.

"Aside from the adoption in Classification No. 51 of the findings of the Uniform committee, various changes were made in the ratings which involved both advances and reductions. When considering the findings of the Uniform committee it was found by the Western Committee that a great many of the ratings provided in Classification No. 50 were not on a proper basis. Examination of the items developed that the ratings had been established on low priced articles or material, which when the ratings were made, had been submitted by shippers without any investigation upon the part of the carriers to ascertain whether they were truly representative of their kind with respect to the elements of value, density, etc. It was found in many instances that much more expensive grades are on the market than the grades on which the ratings provided had been predicated, and that when the average values, density, etc., are taken into consideration higher ratings than those provided in Classification No. 50 are justified.

"In other cases it was found that the ratings had been established in connection with a carload minimum weight which the shippers represented could be loaded, and that in numerous cases of this kind the minimum weight could not be loaded. In all such cases the carload minimum weights were reduced to a reasonable loading basis for a standard 36-ft. car, and ratings were established, which in some cases involved an advance to a reasonable basis for the minimum weights prescribed. Where the contrary was found to be true, the carriers did not hesitate to concede reductions in the ratings, and acting accordingly hundreds of reductions have been made in the ratings under those provided in Classification No. 50.

"It was stated by one of the state railway commissioners that the reductions in ratings related principally to commodities that do not move, or at least that move in limited volume. This we emphatically deny, and by way of answer refer to the large number of protests that have been made against the suspension of the ratings that have been reduced. It was stated, also, that the promulgation of Classification No. 51 represents an effort through the medium of the classification to secure a general advance in rates throughout the West. But an impartial analysis of the changes in ratings that have been made will disprove any such intention on the part of the carriers.

"Numerous objections to Classification No. 51 were offered by representatives of certain state railway commissions, based on the allegation that advances had been effected through changes in package requirements and by the elimination of carload ratings. The Uniform committee when dealing with specific items, found package specifications for certain items which provided for some packages that are not used, and in other cases for packages that are unsafe for transportation. Provisions of this kind were eliminated with the approval of shippers. Such eliminations of carload ratings as have been made were based entirely on investigation by the Uniform committee, which developed that in those cases there is no carload movement, and therefore no necessity for carload rating. In all the cases where carload ratings have been eliminated, only two instances have developed where a carload movement has been demonstrated, and in those two cases the carriers have agreed to restore the carload ratings. Further, the carriers are willing to restore any of the specific carload ratings that have been eliminated, if the interested shippers are able to demonstrate that they shipped in carloads under Classification No. 50.

"In the preceding pages we have described the character of the work of the Uniform Classification Committee, and the object which that work was and is intended to accomplish. The

committee in its work was at times confronted with transportation and commercial conditions that were peculiar and restricted to a given territory, but as uniformity in classification for the entire country was the end that the committee had in view, it was found that only the general average of conditions throughout the whole country could be accepted, and that conditions peculiar to a restricted territory necessarily had to be ignored. In no other way was it possible for the committee to prosecute its work along uniform lines, and in no other way can uniformity in classification ever be secured. Therefore, the findings of the Uniform committee are necessarily based on average conditions, and cannot be expected, in the very nature of things, to reflect a variety of local circumstances and conditions. This feature of the committee's work is well known to, and understood by, the great majority of interested shippers, and with a few exceptions, they have approved the committee's findings. The record in this investigation is replete with testimony hat reflects conditions which are peculiar to given localities, or which are based wholly on some commercial condition. Manifestly, the classification is not a proper place in which to recognize conditions of this character.

"As already pointed out, every reasonable effort was made by the carriers to secure approval of the changes by shippers, and we felt that little opposition would develop to those changes. However, a few representatives of some of the state railway commissions, who interested themselves in securing the suspension of the classification, and who were most active throughout the hearings in opposing each advance, conducted a series of correspondence with many shippers in an effort to induce them to appear at the hearings and testify, or at least furnish information or data that could be used in opposition to these changes. In fact, the efforts thus made were not confined to changes, but in a number of instances related to items on which no change had been made. We even have letters in our files which leave no room for doubt that, when in certain instances these representatives, or those working in harmony with them, were advised that the shipper had no complaint to offer, a second letter was sent out containing the statement that it was a well known and generally understood fact that the carriers proposed to cancel the commodity rates of that particular shipper and thereby increase his cost of transportation, the statement apparently having origin in the imagination of the writer. We do not question the right of any one to file complaint with the commission on any matter within its jurisdiction, or to communicate with shippers in an effort to secure evidence, provided the effort is bona fide and the attitude of the carriers is correctly represented. But looking at this matter in an open and fair manner, we do question the expediency of the untiring efforts of those representatives, who are not themselves shippers or personally concerned in these changes as such, to induce complaints against various items, when as a matter of fact the great majority of those items already had been so formulated as to meet the views of the interested shippers. From the foregoing we do not think it can be questioned that much of the testimony, other than that relating to agricultural implements and the proposed adoption of a rule similar to Rule 10 of the Official Classification, was inspired in this manner."

In harmony with the decision to eventually have all of its cars of the all-steel type, a freight car, the framing of which can be used practically without change for either box, stock or refrigerator cars, has been designed in the mechanical engineer's office of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The all-steel design is not feasible for the two latter types of cars, and in considering the box car design, the advisability of the use of steel was taken up with the transportation, traffic, claim and other departments of the railway, as well as with a number of shippers. The decision arrived at from this discussion favored the use of a wooden floor and a wooden lining, and the new box cars are being built in this manner. If at any time it seems

UNDERFRAME.

desirable to use a steel inside finish, it can be substituted with out material change in the structure.

The box car thus consists of a steel underframe of the fishbelly center sill type, but differing from previous designs as will be explained later; steel side framing formed of posts and braces in pressed shapes secured to angles at the top and bottom; an all-steel roof made up of steel carlines and steel roof sheets, the latter having riveted butt joints with an outside and inside cover plate; a 23 in. tongue and grooved wooden floor and a 14 in. tongue and grooved side and end lining on the inside of the posts and with the joints running vertically. The stock and refrigerator cars differ from this only in the lining. The box cars have sliding all-steel doors of special design, while the stock and refrigerator cars have flush doors. All cars now being built are carried on standard arch bar trucks, having 51⁄2 in. x 10 in. journals. The box and stock cars have an inside length of 40 ft. 6 in., a width of 8 ft. 10 in. and a clear

as is needed for stiffness and to carry the side bearings. The center sills are formed of 3% in. plate pressed with 4 in. flanges at top and bottom. The sill is 20 in. deep between the cantilever connections and narrows to 11 in. at a point 22 11/16 in. inside the center plate and continues this section to the end sill. A 4 in. x 4 in. x 9/16 in. angle is riveted to the bottom of each sill on the inside, and extends continuously between the inside draft lug faces. which are incorporated in the center plate casting and are located about 15 in. outside the center pin at either end. A 1⁄2 in. x 24 in. top cover plate extends continuously for the full length of the center sills.

The cantilevers on either side of the center sill are formed of two dished sections of 3 in. plate, having 31⁄2 in. flanges. These are set 5 in. apart and secured to the web of the center sill and to the 4 in. x 6 in. x 3 in. angle forming the bottom member of the side truss, hereafter called the side sill, by riveting through their flanges. There is a % in. x 12 in. top cover plate, 5 ft.

81⁄2 in. in length and a similar 3% in. bottom cover plate which extend continuously across the top and bottom of the center sill and are riveted to the flanges of the cantilever members. A properly formed casting is used as a stiffener between the bottoms of the center sill girders at this point.

At the end sills a large part of the weight of the car structure is transferred by diagonal braces from the corners directly to the center sills; hence the structure of the underframe at this point is considerably lighter than at the cantilever, but is of even greater stiffness in the vertical plane. The end construction consists of a 3% in. plate extending the full width of the car. It has a depth of 5 in below the top of the center sills and is flanged in

pressed steel sections 7 in. in depth, and 73% in. wide in the channel section, which are riveted through their outward flanged edges to the center and side sills. Above the side bearing is an iron filling and stiffening piece. At the extreme end is a castThe ing suitable for attaching chains, or for jacking the car. center plate casting fits between the members of the center, sill and extends some distance toward the end sill, forming the back stop casting for the draft gear. The center plate itself is a separate piece riveted to the bottom of the sill. Very heavy diagonal braces extend from the corner casting, which includes the push pole pocket, to the center sills at the center plate. There are six stiffeners between the center and side sills, four

ward for a distance of 103% in. at the center and narrows somewhat toward either side, and then is carried up on the inside of the corner and end posts for a distance of 235% in. It is secured to the draft casting at the end, to a corner casting which includes the push pole pockets, to the side longitudinal angles, to the corner posts and the end post and braces, as well as to the two horizontal stiffeners between the corner post and the braces just at the top of this plate. A study of the drawings will show the advantages of this end construction, which not only has great stiffness in the vertical plane but also forms a secure and permanent end structure suitable for resisting shocks, both of shifting load and of misuse.

being located between the cantilevers and one midway between them and the center plate. These consist simply of dished sections 634 in. in depth and without cover plates. Similar dished pieces 8 in. in depth are secured between the center sills at these points. There are no intermediate longitudinal members, the floor being constructed of 23% in. material, giving ample strength to carry the lading without such supports.

SUPERSTRUCTURE.

The side framing consists of a series of posts and braces, each formed of 3/8 in. open hearth steel pressed in "U" shape of varying cross section, as is shown in the detail of one of the posts.

RAILWAY

Forty-foot Box Car with Steel Frame and Steel Roof; Pennsylvania Railroad,

fastened to the side sill, this does not offer a point of weakness. The end of the car has a post in the centre, and diagonal braces from the upper corners to the center sill on either side. These pass outside the steel end sheathing and are securely attached to it. They transfer practically all the weight of the car body and a portion of the lading directly to the end of the centre sills at this point. Practically all the rivets at the connections between the principal members in the side framing are 3/4 in.

Specially designed steel carlines are spaced 3 ft. 91⁄2 in. apart, being located without reference to the posts. These rest on top of the plate and are continued outside and flanged down at the ends. The in. steel roof sheets are in sections of the same width as the distance between carlines, but the joint comes midway between the carlines. Above the butt joint between the sheets the upper cover plate is formed with a ridge in the centre which adds to the stiffness of the structure. One-quarter inch rivets are spaced close together at the joint and no calking is required. The roof sheets on the cars now under construction are not continuous across the car and the joint at the center is formed by flanging up the edges and riveting them together. At the eaves the roof sheets are carried out beyond the plate and flanged over and a 38 in. x 1 in. strip is riveted along the edge on the inside, forming a stiffening piece. The roof structure is secured to the car framing at the sides by only ten rivets on each side. These are at the carlines where the sheet is bumped down and a 3/4 in. rivet passes through the sheet, carline and outwardly extending leg of the angle forming the plate. At the end of the car, the carline is formed of a 4 in. x 6 in. x 3 in. angle of the proper shape, and the roof sheets extend over it and are secured to it by a large number of 1⁄2 in. rivets. Here the eaves are carried over in the same manner as at the sides.

opposite the center plate and none of the load is transferred to the underframe at this point. The weight of the roof carried by this member is transferred up through the diagonal braces and distributed equally to the main post and to the end framing. Both the upper and lower longitudinal members of the truss are continuous for the full length of the car body. The side sill is reinforced under the door by a 4 in. x 32 in. x 8 in. bulb angle riveted to it. The Z bars installed for door slides also give some reinforcement at the top of the openings. The door posts themselves are bulb angles and are fastened to the plate and sill at either end.

The short horizontal struts of the same general style as the posts and braces, and secured between them at various points, are included as a means of fastening the side lining rather than part of the frame structure. The corner posts are 4 in. x 4 in. x 3 in. angles and have one leg cut away at the bottom where they are riveted to the side sills. Inasmuch as they pass outside of the end lining and are securely riveted to it, and are also

The running boards are fastened to two short sections of Z-bars, riveted directly to the carlines and through the roof sheets as is shown in the illustration.

The wooden side lining is secured on the inside of the frame at the top by means of a 3% in. x 21⁄2 in. bar on the inside of the lining, which is held by 3/4 in. bolts passing through the plate and with nuts on the inside. It will be noted that the top of the lining is somewhat below the top of the plate and that between all carlines there is an open space between the plate and the roof sheet, equal to the thickness of the carlines at this point. This permits excellent ventilation of the car without the possibility of the entrance of snow or rain. At the bottom the side lining extends inside of the floor down to the side sill, and is held on the outside by a wooden strip fitted between the posts and braces, which is held by castings riveted to the side sills. In addition, the lining is secured to the posts and braces by numerous screws. At the end of the car the lining only extends down to the top of the steel plate.