YesterYear Models - YYM202 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, AAR 1944 - Maine Central - 6198

Prototype History: The Association of American Railroads had been establishing design standards for freight cars since the early part of the century. Each new design standard meant higher capacity, lighter, more durable cars. The 1937 standard 40' box car featured an interior height of 10'. Just prior to America's entry into the war, there was a push for an even larger interior height for the AAR standard. The first cars that would eventually be termed 1944 AAR, were actually built in 1941 but the war delayed its declaration as the standard. The new taller cars required a new design of end. Corrugated metal ends had been used since the days when wood side cars dominated for a very good reason, shifting loads would burst through wooden ends during sudden starts and stops! These corrugated panels were stamped in two sections, split horizontally down the middle. The 1937 standard had 5 ribs on one half and 4 ribs on the other -- creating what is called a 5-4 Dreadnaught end. The slightly taller 1944 model required something a little different. The lower panel has 4 ribs while the upper panel has 3 then a space and a final rectangular rib at the top. Called a 4-3-1 (or R-3-4) Improved Dreadnaught end, this design would dominate new box car construction for years.

Road Name History: The Maine Central Railroad Company (reporting mark MEC) was a former U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to 1,358 miles (2,185 km) when the United States Railroad Administration assumed control in 1917. The main line extended from South Portland, Maine, east to the Canada?United States border with New Brunswick, and a Mountain Division extended west from Portland to Vermont and north into Quebec. The main line was double track from South Portland to Royal Junction, where it split into a "lower road" through Brunswick and Augusta and a "back road" through Lewiston which converged at Waterville into single track to Bangor and points east. Branch lines served the industrial center of Rumford, a resort hotel on Moosehead Lake, and coastal communities from Bath to Eastport.

At the end of 1970 it operated 921 miles (1,482 km) of road on 1,183 miles (1,904 km) of track; that year it reported 950 million ton-miles of revenue freight. The Maine Central remained independent until 1981, when it became part of what is now the Pan Am Railways network in 1981.

From Wikipedia