And …. getting to more prototypical draft gear on models is a great concept! (Is a 2-56 screw really needed for HO couplers?)

Going back to the photo of Southern 115757. That group of Southern cars has quite a (steam era) history. Sou 115750-115774 are shown as “70-Ton Transformer Cars (Low Bulkhead) on freight car diagram book page* 33-F-77. The “CUF” was added by Evans Products as the cars were rebuilt (for the second time) from Sou  50-T wood racks Sou 122998-123499 (rblt Spencer ’55), Sou 120998-122997 and Sou 250400-250599 (rblt Coster ’56 & ’57) and Sou 301300-301343 (rblt Coster 1957) (Sou diag book page 31-F-97).

The wood racks were Coster Shop (Knoxville) rebuilds from 50-T DDB (double drop bottom) gondola series 175000-176344 and Sou 315700-315949. (Southern gons of the period were typically called “coal cars”.)

Virtually all of the original drawings, as-built and re-built, are in the SRHA archives but not every drawing was redrawn for the rebuilds so all of the versions of the cars need to be researched to model the transformer cars. With some research, we could go back and see what the original underframe/center sill drawings show.

Ike

PS Is there any interest in SRHA publishing an earlier version of the Southern freight car diagram book than we have available now?