PACIFIC CAR and FOUNDRY

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December 1958

RBL Insulated Boxcar

4153 cubic ft

50 tons

70 900 lbs

50 ft  0 in

9 ft  1-3/4 in

9 ft  1 in

52 ft  2-3/4 in

10 ft  8 in

14 ft  9-5/16 in

8 ft  2-1/4 in wide  X  8 ft  7-5/8 in high

PC&F plug doors

Barber S-2-C 50 ton roller bearing trucks

PC&F PC loaders

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Soon after delivery of the 601-610 class RBL boxcars, it was decided to add additional cars to the Tidewater fleet.  Since the TS had a good cash position, it allowed the WP system to expand the car fleet without tapping into the parent road funds and it gave the TS enhanced revenue through car hire charges.

TS 611-620, were built in December 1958, concurrent with TS 801-840.  Like the previous 601 class, they were lettered in the "Rides Like A Feather" scheme with Tidewater name and reporting marks.  As with the previous class, they were built  with Pacific Car and Foundry's Car-Pac damage free loader system and wore a script "CP" on their plug doors, denoting the load system.  The 801 class were equipped with the Evans Damage-Free loaders.

In October and November 1972, the remaining members of the TS RBL fleet, along with WP's 55951 and 56001 class PC&F RBLs were sent back to their maker for remanufacturing. The cars were reclassified as XMI (code for insulated general service) boxcars with no loaders or cushioning devices. They received wider, 10'6" plugs doors during the rebuilding and were renumbered to WP series 61101-61296, losing their TS identity in exchange for the large WP initial scheme that was applied in the 1970's. They went on to serve through the UP merger, but all appear to have been stricken from the roster before 2000.

background information from WP-TS internal communications courtesy of the California State Railroad Museum Library, Western Pacific President's Papers Collection

611-620 series RBL Boxcars

Tidewater Southern Railway