ATSF 49131

Built: 1912 by the Pullman Company    Construction: Wood  Length: 37 feet

The box car is an all-purpose freight car. It was most commonly used for shipping general freight- everything from lumber to canned goods, anything that needed protection from the weather, or against theft and breakage. Box cars like this one were also used to ship commodities like wheat and grain; special barriers were placed around the doorways to prevent the load from spilling out when the door was opened. 

This car was one of 3,250 boxcars of this particular type purchased by the Santa Fe Railway in 1912. It was retired in the late 1930s and sold to M-G-M studios for use as a movie prop. It came to the Museum in 1969 along with Santa Fe refrigerator car 8875. After being stored outside at the Museum for 40 years, in 2009 the car finally received an indoor home in the Ron Ruffulo Carhouse.

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