4/4 Improved Dreadnaught End
In 1945, Standard Railway
Equipment Manufacturing Company introduced its Improved Dreadnaught end (IDE)
as a replacement for the earlier Dreadnaught end. Box cars of 10’6” inside height received a version of this
end that had 4 major corrugations in each of the top and bottom end
sheets. This design was used
extensively on postwar box cars, however in 1948, SREC modified the
design. Some 28,045 box cars were
built for US railroads between 1945 and 1948 with the 4/4 IDE, although the
ATSF received an additional 3750 pairs which they installed on cars built in
company shops in 1951-1952. The
MKT also received their one and only example of this design in 1949. Two different polyurethane resin
castings are included for the A and B ends of the car, as the prototype ends
differed at the top corrugation in order to accommodate handbrake
installation. SRCC offers kits for
the following roads that purchased cars with this end: ATSF, CNW, NKP, NP, NYC, and SP&S.
EN-02-----------------------------------$9.00