Reply To: 70′ Lightweight mail storage car

[Richard Ryker]

MoPac built these cars not only to replace aging heavyweight mail storage cars, but to take advantage of Post Office contracts that paid the railroads by the linear-foot of mail hauled, not weight or volume. Hence, these cars with 8-foot interior height earned as much revenue as a car with a 10-foot interior (such as the ACF “economy” storage cars). The cars were also built by MoPac forces and were less expensive than cars from ACF or Pullman-Standard. Had not the Post Office pulled mail contracts from the railroads in 1968, this type of car may have seen wider use by other railroads.