Article #89: Southern Railway Boxcar #550555 North Carolina Transportation Museum (May 17, 2025)

 

In this new article we get a look at Southern Railway boxcar #550555 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC.

This boxcar was built in 1970 by the Pullman Standard Company in Bessemer, Alabama. It was part of a thousand car order. The multicolored paint scheme which features blue, green and yellow represents the celebration of the 200,000th freight car built by Pullman. 

One thing to point out is that it was built with a spring cushioned underframe. This was included to protect sensitive freight. 

Another thing to point out is that the original paint scheme was hidden under a coat of standard boxcar brown during the years it was operating. 

The boxcar operated for many years on Norfolk Southern. The railroad donated it to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in 2016.