"The flat car is a Pennsy Class FM flat car built early in the last century (1902 – teens) and the first design to shed truss rods made to Pennsy specs by several builders. I should be able to place the date (and builder) if I have a car number. Initial cars were 38’ long and most were later extended to 40’. The same frame was used for Class GRA gondolas, XL boxcars and RF refrigerator cars. The truck (wheels) are a Bettendorf design – or the Pennsy’s equivalent. The dimple on the car end corners were for poling of the cars – an unsafe practice whereby wood poles (maybe steel in the final years) on steam locomotives or special poling cars attached to the loco could engage the dimple to push cars on a parallel track. (The poles would too often break or pop out with dangerous consequences for the crews.)" - email from Phil Selinger 2009 01 19


image 2490, Jan 2008