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

The backbone of the Reading's box car fleet of the 1920's and 1930's was its version of the USRA type steel box car that was so popular with the New York Central. The Reading deviated some in its application of details and car size, but the basic car side remained unchanged. With deliveries in 1925 and 1930, the Reading added 3,000 cars of this design that would be its largest single type of box car well into the Diesel Era. Many cars received replacement doors in the 1940's and 1950's and, unfortunately, the changes have not been well documented. In addition, some cars rode on the Taylor truck (see photo of car 102751 above), seemingly popular only with the Reading. The table below identifies the car buildings.

Class	Builder	Build Date	Series Start	Series End	No. Cars	Notes
XMt	SSC	1/1925	100500	100999	500	8'7" IH; Riveted ("X29") steel ends
XMt	ACF	3/1925	100000	100499	500	8'7" IH; Murphy ends
XMu	PSC	4-5/1930	101000	101399	400	9'3" IH; Riveted ("X29") steel ends; Standard Pressed Steel roofs
XMu	SCC	4-5/1930	101400	101799	400	9'3" IH; Riveted ("X29") steel ends; Standard Pressed Steel roofs
XMu	ACF	4-6/1930	101800	102399	600	9'3" IH; Riveted ("X29") steel ends; Standard Pressed Steel roofs
XMu	BSC	5-6/1930	102400	102999	600	9'3" IH; Riveted ("X29") steel ends; Standard Pressed Steel roofs

The information presented in the table was gathered from "USRA Derivative Steel Boxcars," Eric Neubauer, Railroad Model Craftsman, January 1995, pp. 73-6.