NORM Collection
Detroit & Toledo Shore Line
Box Car # 419217

Car 419217 is a typical steam railroad boxcar from the first half of the 20th century. It is called an outside-braced boxcar because the zig-zag braces that make up the side structure are on the outside of the car, and the flat boards inside the braces are the side wall. By the late 1960s the last cars of this design were being withdrawn from interchange with other railroads. Some cars stayed on home rails in work train or company service. This car was used to store sand at an engine terminal. All locomotives, be they steam, diesel or trolley, use sand to prevent powered wheels from slipping by spraying it on the rails just ahead of the wheels.