Patent ID: 7506591

Claim:
A freight-carrying railroad car having a body having a pair of opposite sides, a length, and a pair of opposite ends each supported on a wheeled truck, said body comprising: (a) a center sill extending longitudinally along said body; (b) a floor extending laterally from said center sill on each of said opposite sides of said car body; (c) wherein an intermediate portion of said center sill located between said opposite ends of said body includes a pair of upright side plates spaced laterally apart from each other by a first distance therebetween, a horizontal top plate spanning said first distance and interconnecting said upright side plates with each other, and a horizontal bottom plate interconnecting said upright side plates with each other and extending laterally outward beyond each of said upright side plates; (d) wherein said floor includes a floor sheet extending outboard laterally beyond said bottom plate, a portion of said bottom plate of said center sill being exposed to cargo and acting as an inboard portion of said floor, said portion exposed to cargo extending laterally outward beyond each of said upright side plates by a second distance that is at least half of said first distance; and (e) wherein said horizontal top plate is thicker than said horizontal bottom plate, whereby said bottom plate aids in providing stiffness of the center sill to resist lateral bending and said floor sheets need not extend to a respective one of said upright side plates and said car body is thereby reduced in weight.