Elvas Tower: Great Northern USRA Clone 50-TON,40-ft Double-Sheathed Boxcar #25096 - Elvas Tower

The United States Railway Administration took over the railroads in December 1917 in an
attempt to ease the freight car shortage. As part of the program it designed standard cars,
had them built and assigned them to the various railroads. 24,500 double sheathed cars
were built beginning in late 1918 and assigned to 25 roads. Too late to aid in the war effort,
the design set a standard for the following decade. The USRA design was the last double-sheathed design to be built in large numbers. Requiring more maintanance than single-sheathed or steel cars, they were rebuilt or scrapped earlier than the more modern designs. By 1940, AT&SF, ACL, C&NW, DT&I, EJ&E, SL-SF, GTW, RI, and Wabash had steel sheathed some or all of their DS cars. Other roads never rebuilt them except for modern appliances, running them through the 1950's. MP and NYC are examples of the latter.

Great Northern received 1,000 cars from Mt. Vernon Car in 1919. As delivered the cars
sported the front-facing goat herald. In 1941 the side-facing goat supplanted it.
-Data from a Westerfield HO Car Kits catalog.

Cloned Cars of the 25000-class had 7/8 Murphy ends (two panels, one with 7 ribs, one with 8 ribs), differing from the USRA standard 5/5/5 ends ( three panels with 5 ribs each).

Original File Name = GN_USRA_box_25096.zip