Rebuilt Heavyweight coach 338

[benjamintickell53]

From Yahoo Mopac group, June 2015

Here’s a nice shot of rebuilt heavyweight coach 338 at Palestine. No date is given, but early 50s would be a good guess.

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth25640/m1/1/?q=palestine

Dick Ryker

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Is that a dog setting just on the inside of the coach ?
Dennis Faircloth

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looks brand new, is spotless, and has a step stool on the depot side — I wonder
if it was placed there for “inspection” by local patrons.
Tim O’Connor

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What does the letter “B” indicate?
Charles Weston
San Antonio

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Speed restriction on this car because of its construction.

B means, off the top of my head, higher center of gravity (heavyweight) construction, non-tightlock couplers and one or two other things. This limits the car to a maximum speed somewhat less than that of the streamlined lightweights, which were marked D. Full details of this are in ETTs of the period.

For all intents and purposes, only B and D were used, to my knowledge. There may have been definitions for A and C also.
Ron Merrick

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Charles & Ron,
Upgraded MP heavyweight coaches 6330-6336 had the “C” speed restriction
letter. This designation applied to heavyweight cars equipped with
tight-lock couplers and trucks with roller bearings. “C” was
essentially the same as “D” that all lightweight passenger cars
received, the difference being that “C” had a higher center of gravity
than “D” cars.

The speed restriction letters started use ca. 1949. Passenger cars with
“C” and “D” were restricted to 79 mph on tangent track. Cars with “B”
(the balance of heavyweight passenger cars) were limited to 75 mph on
tangent track. This was discussed on p. 10 of the Spring-Summer 2004
Eagle (double-issue) on MP heavyweight coaches, the cover of which had
a photo of MP 6336.
Ed Hawkins

[benjamintickell53]

60-seat coach 338 was originally classified as an International-Great Northern car before the consolidation of Texas subsidiary lines. The diagram for cars 337-339 has an original date of July 30, 1949, the approximate year of rebuilding. In the MP 1963 renumbering of passenger cars, coach 338 became coach 1161. The car last appeared in the March 1965 issue of the Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment, thus giving an approximate time of its retirement.

Bill Pollard

[Author]

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