Progress in railroad freight car engineering

This paper is the result of an annual survey, conducted by the author on behalf of the Rail Transportation Division (RTD), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to document progress in the design, construction and use of freight cars and components. Typically, the design must be at a prototype stage or beyond in order for it to be included here. Letters were sent to car builders, component designers and manufacturers, railroad and leasing company freight car owners/users, and others in the railway engineering community, requesting information on new cars/components that were designed/built during the past year. These letters were sent to an established list which includes recipients in Europe, Asia, South America and the North American Railways. The developments in intermodal equipment, autorack cars, center beam cars, coal cars, insulated box cars, grain cars, covered hopper cars, freight car components, center bowl liners, and other components, are outlined.