Railway freight car

An articulated railway trains including a series of freight railcars, and comprising;

• spine cars each having a center sill with transverse parallel webs,
• a crossbearer and bolsters extending across the center sill,
• said center sill crossbearer and bolster having load bearing areas lying in a common plane above the upper edges of said webs;
• a swivel truck supporting ends of adjacent cars;
• a pair of straight cantilevered bearing beams projecting outwardly from each car end,
• at least one car having a rectangular end frame and a trapezoidal end frame;
• top plate means covering said center sill, crossbearer, bolster and said trapezoidal end frame;
• said bearing beams freely extending toward and laterally offset with respect to opposing bearing beams of an adjacent car and lying therewith in a common horizontal plane;
• and
• relatively light side stiffeners interconnecting ends of said webs.

A railway freight car comprising a center sill extending along a longitudinal axis of the car;

• a series of generally triangular webs extending across the center sill;
• a stiffener interconnecting ends of said webs;
• a bolster located at each end of the car;
• end frame structures attached to said bolsters;
• said structures including a pair of cantilevered bearing beams;
• an enclosure wall extending across said bearing beams;
• a shear plate covering said bearing beams and enclosure wall, and
• said bearing beams freely projecting outwardly of said enclosure wall in a longitudinal direction;
• and
• a support wall connected to said enclosure wall and extending under the inner ends of said bearing beams, and a second support beam extending from a side of said center sill under each bearing beam intermediate the ends thereof and connected therewith.

A railway car comprising:

• a railway car truck rollingly supported on a pair of rails;
• a center sill pivotally supported on the truck;
• an end member connected with the center sill and extending generally laterally therefrom;
• a bolster member connected with the center sill longitudinally inward from the end member and extending generally laterally from the center sill;
• the truck having bearing means thereon;
• a cantilever supported bearing arm member fixedly connected with the end member, said bearing arm member extending above and engaging the bearing means for limiting tilt of the railway car with respect to the truck, and
• support means extending from said center sill beneath said arm member intermediate the ends thereof in an area between the adjacent outer end of the center sill and said bolster member.

A rail car comprising:

• a center sill extending from end to end of the car and having top and bottom and lateral sides;
• said center sill having a strong deep load-supporting center portion and shallow end portions;
• a plurality of crossbearers extending laterally from opposite sides of said center portion and having inner edges connected to adjacent lateral sides thereof, and
• narrow reinforcing beams connected to the lateral sides of the center portion intermediate the top and bottom sides thereof and extending longitudinally of the center sill through apertures in said cross-bearers and providing a connection and support therefore.

A freight rail car for transporting containers comprising a single load-opposing center sill extending along a longitudinal axis of said freight car from end to end thereof and having an upper side lying in a horizontal plane,

• support beams connected to said center sill and extending laterally outwardly therefrom,
• container supports on said support beams,
• a series of webs extending transversely from opposite sides of the center sill and terminating in distal ends,
• said webs having upper edges spaced below said plane,
• light stiffener members interconnecting said distal ends of said webs at each side of the center sill, and
• an end frame structure located at each end of the car,
• at least one of said frame structures including straight cantilevered bearing beams projecting toward an adjacent car and beyond the respective end frame structure,
• said upper side of the center sill adapted to support portions of a container in the event of rupture of the container or failure of said supports.