Western Railroad Discussion > "DF" boxcars

In the 1960's and 1970's , railroads had nice logos and things like "Hydra Cushion","Super Shock Control", DF ("Damage Free") for cushion underframes and load-restraining equipment, hence the "DF" or damage free markings on boxcars. These types of marking have largely disappeared from the railroad scene. I do know a lot of modern boxcars have some sort of cushion underframe, but are there many cars that would be considered "DF" cars these days? Also what is the differance between "DF" , "DF..B" and "DF....2"? Here is a link to a somewhat recent sighting of a boxcar with "DF" on the side. http://www.krunk.org/~joeshaw/pics/ns/boxcars/ns467045.jpg Another link: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm495985agd.jpg

Any answers are appreciated.

SantaFeRuss

SantaFeRuss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the 1960's and 1970's , railroads had nice
> logos and things like "Hydra Cushion","Super Shock
> Control", DF ("Damage Free") for cushion
> underframes and load-restraining equipment, hence
> the "DF" or damage free markings on boxcars. These
> types of marking have largely disappeared from the
> railroad scene. I do know a lot of modern boxcars
> have some sort of cushion underframe, but are
> there many cars that would be considered "DF" cars
> these days? Also what is the difference between
> "DF" , "DF..B" and "DF....2"? Here is a link to a
> somewhat recent sighting of a boxcar with "DF" on
> the side.
> http://www.krunk.org/~joeshaw/pics/ns/boxcars/ns46
> 7045.jpg Another link:
> http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm495985agd.jpg
>
>
> Any answers are appreciated.
>
> SantaFeRuss


Some if not all of the the DF cars were equipped plug doors..Inside the cars were solid doors and were on a track that could be secured against the load so it would not shift during transit. Also, there were load bars that were at right angle to the load also to secure it from movement. These cars cut down the damage claims against the railroad. I know an ex SP employee that decided to move years ago. An employee was entitled to one box car a year to move their personal items. This employee was delivered a standard box car that was not equipped with the above amenities. He made the mistake of not securing the item inside and upon delivery to the tram track where the car was unloaded ; the refrigerator and fallen over and went back and forth throughout the car. It acted like a battering ram ! Most of his item were damaged or destroyed..

DF (Damage Free) loaders were designed by the Evans Products Company back in the 1940s or thereabouts. An improved version later came out, not compatible with the original DF loaders; this was DF2. DFB denotes cars with DF (or DF2) loaders that were also equipped with bulkheads to secure the loads.

Some railroads had different ways of denoting this. On Chessie System cars, for example, one could see "DF9" fairly often--this merely meant, in thir case, that the car had nine DF belts in the interior.

There were competing systems--one I remember was Sparton Easy Loaders (SEL would appear on the outside of these cars).

I think "DF" eventually (to Evans' chagrin) became a lower-case noun, something like aspirin, Kleenex, and Coke.

"DF", "Hydracushion", etc, were all advertising and/or trade names.
Lots of advertising on the sides of box cars when these things were new...
especially early-mid 1960's.

Now it's all ho-hum, and not advertised so much. The advertising of "DF"
worked, though, as the slogan has become part of the railfan vernacular.

I don't know any RR employees (non-railfans) who use the term DF at all, though.

The first "DF" Box Cars I recall seeing as a kid were built by General American, and were painted a dark green with gold yellow lettering/striping.

Reference:

http://www.greenbayroute.com/gaex112008.jpg

For the absolute best "primer" on "Box Cars", check out this NMRA document, with image links:

http://www.nmra.org.au/conventions/Clinics/Box_cars_101/Box%20Cars%20101v2-2.html

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

SantaFeRuss,

It's been a while since I've been in the business, but here is my impression of the situation.

DF equipment, moveable bulkheads, etc. have fallen out of favor as they were costly to maintain. For that matter, you don't see cushion underframes on new equipment like you used to.

I think a lot of disposable or reuseable, inflatable dunnage is being used now in lieu of the bulkheads.