Charles Wales Photo, William Hopkins Collection, early 1948, Washington, DC

Between 1924 and 1934, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased or built over 30,000 of the X29 class of box cars and an additional 5,000 of the auto car variant, the X28. The X29 became the most ubiquitous freight car of the late Steam/Transition Era. These cars appeared in every corner of the US and Canada. The car pictured above was built to the earliest of the three Pennsy X29 designs, the "1924" design. For more information about these cars, visit the X29/1923 ARA Box Car page (coming soon).

Collection of Ted Culotta

The photo above shows X29 569356 circa 1955 in the Shadow Keystone paint scheme. Take note of the 'patch panels' applied along the lower protion of the sides. The X29/1923 USRA design (as well as the USRA Steel design that the New York central favored) trapped water inside the car at the bottom of the sides, causing them to rust through.