Freight equipment the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad 1930s

The Most Significant Santa Fe Freight Car Classes In 1930

By Richard H. Hendrickson

from First Quarter 2000 Warbonnet

Box Cars

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Bx-O,-5	36' wd. body, f/b steel underframe	1906-07	7,000	Westerfield
Bx-W-Z	36'wd. body, tr. rod underframe	1910-15	8,200	Westerfield BX-W Westerfield BX-Z
Bx-2	USRA 40'wd. sh, Al. ends, f/b stl. ctr. sills	1919	2,700	Westerfield
Bx-3,-6	40'emp., sectional wd. sh., stl. cnds/drs.	1923,-25	5,000	Westerfield
Bx-8,-9,-10	40' ARA comp. wd. sh., stl. roof/ends/drs.	1926-28	3,000	Sunshine
Bx-ll,-12	40' ARA comp. sngl. sh., sti. roof/ends/drs.	1929-30	5,500	Westerfield BX-11 Westerfield BX-12

Auto Cars

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.
Fe-K, M	50'wd. body, f/b stl. u/f, end drs.	1909-12	1,400
Fe-L, N, O	40'wd. body, f/b stl. u/f	1910-14	1,250
Fe-P	40' comp., sectional wd. sh., stl. ends/drs.	1923	1,000
Fe-Q, R	50'comp., sectional wd. sh., stl. ends/drs.	1924,-26	1,000
Fe-S	50'ARA comp. wd. sh., stl. roof/ends/drs.	1928	500
Fe-U	50'ARA comp. sngl. sh., stl. roof/ends/drs.	1930	500

Flat Cars

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ft-G	40' f/b side sills	1905-06	925	Athern (kb)
Ft-I,-J	44' inset f/b side sills	1910-13	550	Sunshine
Ft-K, L	50' inset f/b side sills	1915-24	225
Ft-M	44' f/b side sills	1924	500	Athern (kb)
Ft-N	50' f/b side sills	1928	300
Ft-O, P	50' inset f/b side sills	1929-30	350

Gondola Cars

Ballast Hopper

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-N,Q,S	40'Rodger-Hart conv.	1906-10	1,800
Ga- 15,16,18,27	Rodger-Hart and Enterprise steel	1927-30	400

General Service

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-O,R,X,2,4,5,7,9-12,14	40' comp. body, Caswell drop drs.	1906-27	8,500	Westerfield
Ga-17,22,25	40' comp. body, Wine drop drs.	1928-30	1,225

Mill Gondola

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-6, 8	48' 50 T comp. body, f/b uff, drop ends	1921-24	500
Ga-20, 26	50' comp. body, Wine drop drs., drop ends	1929-30	525

Sulphur Gondola

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga- 13,19	40' comp. body, cast sd. u/f & body frame	1927-29	300	PR

Hopper

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-21, 24	70T all steel triple & quad hoppers	1929	150

Air Dump

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-36-42	Western, Clark, and Magor 20 and 30 yd.	1910-28	475	W & R

Tie

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Ga-Z	Santa Fe-designed steel framed tie cars	1916	400

Ice

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Frmr Rr-G-P 40' ex-rfr. cars, tr u/f		300

Refrigerator

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Rr-Q thru V	4 1' wd. body, tr u/f	1909-17	3,500
Rr-W thru 4	4 1' USRA wd. body, f/b stl. ulf	1920-24	7,900
Rr-5 thru. 9	ARA comp.body. sti. u/f	1926-30	2,900	Sunshine

Stock

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Sk-G	36'sngl. dk., tr u/f	1902-03	450
Sk-H,KL,N	40'sngl. dk., orig. Caswell conv. (some rblt.)	1906-17	5,400
Sk-M,O	40' dbl. dr. comp. body	1916-23	1,000
Sk-Q, S	40' dbl. dk. comp. body, Penna. Car Co.		500	PR
Sk-R, T, U	40'sngl. dk., comp. body, Penna. Car Co.		1,300	PR

Tank Cars

Class(es)	Description	Date	No. in Svc.	Model ?
Tk-C thru F	9,500 gal., AC&F f/b u/f		950
Tk-G thru. j	10,500 gal., AC&F f/b u/f		1,800	PR
Tk-K	12,000 gal., GATC	1915	500	PR
Tk-L	16,000 gal., cast stl. u/f & tank bottom	1930	100

All Types Total: 79,000

Notes: By 1930, almost all of the turn-of-the-century wood cars with truss rod underframes were gone, but half of the box car fleet consisted of 36'cars with wood bodies and either fishbelly steel underframes (Bx-O) or truss rod underframes with channel steel draft sills (Bx-W thru Z). Other box and auto cars had either all-wood or composite bodies. The most common furniture/automobile cars were pre-WWI AC&F wood-bodied cars with massive fishbelly steel side and center sills (most of them rebuilt with steel ends in the 1920s). The reefer fleet was dominated by the early 1920s USRA-design cars with fishbelly steel center sills, but a lot of earlier reefers with truss rod underframes were still in revenue service. Among the Ga classes, Caswell composite drop-bottom gondolas far outnumbered all other types. Caswell convertible stock cars (with roof hatches and drop bottom doors for westbound coke loading) were also very numerous. In the company service tank car fleet, most cars were pre-WWI with distinctive AC&F fishbelly-sill underframes and mid-height running boards.

Car Descriptions

AAR - Association of American Railroads
AC&F - American Car & Foundry
ARA - American Railway Association
comp. - composite construction' steel
framing with wood sheathing.
conv. - convertible
corr.-side - corrugated side sheathing
ctr. sills - center sills
drs. - doors
dbl. dk. - double deck
dbl. drs. - double doors
f/b - fishbelly
GATC - General American
Transportation Corp.
GSC - General Steel Castings
impr. - improved (i.e., post-WWII
design)
orig. - original, originally
pass. equipt. - equipped for passenger
train service
PSC - Pressed Steel Car Co.
rfr. - refrigerator car
reblt. - rebuilt
sngl. dk. - single deck
sngl. sh. - single sheathed
stl. - steel
12P - twelve panel
u/f - underframe
USRA - United States Railway
Administration
wd. - wood
wd. sh. - wood sheathed

Model Manufacturers

A - Athearn
AT - Atlas
BL - Branchline
BW - Bowser
C - C&BT Shops
E - Eastern Car Works
IM - InterMountain
K - Kato
kb - Kitbash
KID - Kadee
L - Life-Like Proto 2000
in - needs some modification
0 - Overland (brass)
PS - Precision Scale (brass)
RC - Red Caboose
S - Sunshine (molded resin)
W - Westerfield (molded resin)
WR - W&R Enterprises (brass)

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