Patent ID: 8333001

Claim:
A method of shortening an end of a well car, said well car having at least four inside corner, the method comprising: removing a plurality of container guides, corner posts, and corner post reinforcements from the inside corners of the well car; cutting a set of top tubes at a location on a well side of an end assembly; cutting a shear plate and a set of side sill angles at said location on the well side of the end assembly; detaching the end assembly from a main body of the well car; on each side of the main body: cutting the top tube at a location above a monument plate that is just beyond a reinforcement plate attached to the monument plate; cutting through a weld between the monument and reinforcement plates and a side sheet; cutting through the side sheet generally at the attachment location of the monument and reinforcement plates; and cutting the shear plate of the main body with a contoured cut such that the remaining shear plate has a contoured pattern substantially matching the cut shear plate under the removed end assembly.