It doesn’t look like much to the modern eye, but Boxcar 119462 was once cutting-edge technology and a marvel of its day.
This boxcar, built by the Canadian Car and Foundry Company, was part of an order of 3,000 Fowler boxcars placed by CP in 1914. The Fowler, named after one of its designers, was the answer to a crisis that gripped the grain transportation system at the turn of the last century. It was a boom time for grain shippers and as the only coast-to-coast railway in North America, CP was scrambling to keep up and needed thousands of new rail cars.
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But it also needed a better car. Knuckle couplers, air brakes, and more powerful locomotives had resulted in longer, heavier, and faster trains, and wooden cars began to experience structural failure due to the stresses generated. A steel-reinforced boxcar was the answer and in 1908, the Dominion Car and Foundry Company produced three experimental designs.
The winning des ign, the Fowler, had a steel frame with structure made of Z-shaped and flat bar steel pieces hot riveted together. Once the frame was assembled, wood was bolted on to complete the floor, sides and roof.
The steel frame not only took the stress, but made the Fowler cheap and easy to build and repair. It also had a low tare or empty weight and with wood sheathing applied on the inside, it was easy to clean and reduced damage when manufactured goods were being hauled. The Z-shape design and use of flat steel bars with no specialized castings also made repairs easy, and more importantly, they could be done anywhere in North America as no special equipment was required.
With a 2,450-cubic-foot capacity, Fowler cars were not large by today’s standards, but they had “apps.” Take out every second board of the sheathing and put in slatted doors, and you had a stock car. In the late 1950s, the planks were replaced by heavy cardboard sheets reinforced with steel strapping. When unloading, the cardboard sheets were pushed in so the grain could run out.
All this made the Fowlers a hit. CP purchased 33,000 Fowler boxcars built between 1909 and 1915, CN owned an equal number, and many more were sold to U.S. railroads. They were the backbone of CP’s grain fleet until the 1950s and a few made it to the late 1970s.
Boxcar 119462 is now on display at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum, near Austin, Man.
