I was working on my boxcars, deciding the type of roof to put on. Bachmann advertises their new boxcar as having a Murphy Roof.

Now, I am by no means an expert on rolling stock. BUT, I do have the Car Builders’ Cyclopedia 1922 edition. It shows the Murphy roof as looking like this:

To me, this looks NOTHING like what Bachmann is calling their Murphy roof. Looking through the section on roofs, I find something that looks closer. It’s from National Flexible

The Hutchins roof is similar, but appears to have a bolt.

I modeled something like that with my ventilated boxcar.

I’m interested in finding out more about the Murphy roof - and why this one from the 1922 book looks so much different than what Bachmann says is a Murphy roof. Any ideas?

Maybe you got the wrong Murphy.

Here is a link to a good shot of a Murphy roof. General description of a Murphy roof was panels with some kind of slat (either wood or metal) over the seams of each panel. http://people.virginia.edu/~ggg9y/nebox.html

That’s not what the book says about the Murphy roof. “The flanged U-shaped piece placed over the flanged roof sheet edges, forms a strong, efficient carline. The design avoids all inside projections, rivets are outside the car body so that they may be easily inspected, and are arranged to resist in direct shear any weaving tendency of the car superstructure.” Here’s a shot of the carline from the 1922 Cyclopedia:

(http://jbrr.com/Pics/RollingStock/Boxcars/Roof/MurphyCarline.jpg)

This is the patent for Murphy from 1889: www.jbrr.com/Pics/RollingStock/Boxcars/Roof/MurphyRoofPatent.pdf

According to Kalmbach’s ‘The model railroader’s guide to freight cars’ (http://books.google.com/books?id=_8qQS0ZNCTIC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=boxcar+murphy+roof&source=bl&ots=8ZInoYo9uw&sig=behVF5Tiv_xka28RIhWUF37Yq0I&hl=en&ei=2CDETO3wFcSblgfW0Zj2CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false) “The roof that would become the most common was the Murphy panel roof. Introduced in 1932, it was used through the 1940’s. It is characterized by raised seams joining the panels and raised sections in each panel.”

I can find no other evidence that these came into play that late. The patent if from 1889, and it’s also shown in the 1922 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia.

Yea, I bet “Murphy Roof” is like Xerox or Kleenex. The original patent was for the one patented in the late 1800’s, but its become generic.

I like the tapered carlines and all the rivets in the first picture. Bet we could make those from some styrene tee and a bit of sanding.

You could be right, Bob. I sure can’t find much information. I have White’s “American Railroad Freight Car”, but it really doesn’t talk about the different types of roofs - at least not in the detail that the Car Builder’s Cyclopedia does.

I guess roof leaks were a huge problem; and there were certainly lots of attempts at a good solution.

Bob McCown said:
Yea, I bet "Murphy Roof" is like Xerox or Kleenex. The original patent was for the one patented in the late 1800's, but its become generic.

Prolly true. The D&RGW built a lot of their own rolling stock, and installed a "Murphy" roof on them. (Except the stock cars). If you look at your set of Accucraft stocks, you can see the difference.

Bruce try this link
http://books.google.com/books?id=DTYOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA493&lpg=PA493&dq=Murphy+radial+roof+for+railroad+cars&source=bl&ots=_aIhteUHxb&sig=kDIW24fYRgvo5AcYFoB4uyLQuvY&hl=en&ei=XGTETNmOO8KAlAeTxPEE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

OOh, neat. I like the Murphy Radial Roof…

Thanks, Dave. Neat book, and it reconfirms my thoughts.

I would still like to see the reason that that other look gets called a Murphy roof…

Hmm

(http://dti.railfan.net/Pototype_Images/rs/DTI11500roofDetTerry.jpg)

Considering the "Murphy Roof " wasn’t just one style by the Murphy Roof Company, but a few differant styles by the same company, I would tend to agree with Bob in that all roofs built with a panel/batten configuration was miscalled a Murphy Roof by those unfamiliar with the differant companies.

Bruce,
I found the following and thought they might help
http://www.wwvrailway.com/NP42290.htm Roofs shown toward bottom of page
http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/article.php?article=1616 An interesting read and roofs are found 3/4 of the way down the page

Dave Marconi said:
Bruce try this link http://books.google.com/books?id=DTYOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA493&lpg=PA493&dq=Murphy+radial+roof+for+railroad+cars&source=bl&ots=_aIhteUHxb&sig=kDIW24fYRgvo5AcYFoB4uyLQuvY&hl=en&ei=XGTETNmOO8KAlAeTxPEE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

May people who are not Bruce try it too? ;) :D

Neat ventilated box car, Bruce.
Tell us more.
Was that originally an Accucraft?

Forrest for you I’ll make an exception

John Bouck said:
Neat ventilated box car, Bruce. Tell us more. Was that originally an Accucraft?

It was originally an Accucraft - or AMS, if you will, flat car. The siding is from Ozark. Grab irons from Phil Dippel. I’ve built two so far. The first one was for me, and lettered for a friend’s RR - Mike Oates, who operates on my layout with me.

(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/RollingStock/Boxcars/Ventilated/IMG_5872.JPG)

Details here: http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=10727 The 2nd one I built for Mike and lettered it for my own RR. I guess we have “interchange” traffic.

(http://jbrr.com/Pics/RollingStock/Boxcars/Ventilated/IMG_7563.JPG)

Details: http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=12675 Thanks for the update, David. I guess I have lots of versions of different Murphy Roofs.