Patent ID: 7546808

Claim:
A railroad freight car, comprising: an elongate body having upstanding transverse bulkheads located at opposite ends of said body and including a vertical center beam extending longitudinally of the car between said bulkheads, the center beam including: (a) a center sill extending over the length of said body; (b) a top chord extending parallel with and spaced upwardly apart from the center sill; (c) a plurality of upright columns extending from said center sill to said top chord and spaced apart from one another by a longitudinal distance along said body; and (d) an elongate diagonal structural member having a first, lower, end interconnected with said center sill and a second, upper, end interconnected with said top chord at a location spaced apart from said first, lower, end longitudinally along said body by a distance greater than twice as great as said longitudinal distance between adjacent ones of said upright columns; (e) wherein said center beam is free from any said elongate diagonal structural member in a center space between a longitudinally consecutive pair of said upright columns of said center beam that are located on respective longitudinally opposite sides of a mid-length of said center and (f) wherein each of said upright columns of said center beam between said transverse bulkheads is of formed plate in a “C” shaped sectional configuration including a pair of longitudinally-directed inwardly inclined flanges and an upright transversely-extending web portion.