Railway cars with combined material structures and method

Abstract

Railway cars are provided with sidewalls having an optimum number of support posts formed from a first material such as, but not limited to, steel and an optimum number of support posts formed from a second material such as, but not limited to, aluminum to optimize empty car weight and service of life of each railway car. The sidewalls may also be formed from materials such as, but not limited to, steel side sheets and aluminum side sheets.

1 . A railway car having a railway car underframe and at least one sidewall assembly comprising: 
 the railway car underframe having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge with at least one sidewall assembly disposed along one of the longitudinal edges of the railway car underframe;    the sidewall assembly formed in part from a plurality of side sheets and a plurality of support posts;    one end of the support posts disposed along and attached to the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    the side sheets formed from a first material selected from the group consisting of aluminum and steel;    the support posts formed from materials selected from the group consisting of aluminum and steel; and    at least one support post formed from a material different from the material used to form the other support post.    
     
     
         2 . The railway car of  claim 1  selected from the group consisting of gondola cars, open hopper cars, closed hopper cars, and rotary dump coal cars and the number of steel support posts and the number of aluminum support posts optimized to reduce empty weight of the railway car and increase service life of the railway car.  
     
     
         3 . The railway car of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a first sidewall assembly disposed on the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe and a second sidewall assembly disposed on the second longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    each sidewall assembly formed from a plurality of aluminum side sheets;    at least one support post formed from aluminum and attached with each sidewall assembly; and    at least one support post formed from steel attached with each sidewall assembly..    
     
     
         4 . The railway car of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a first sidewall assembly disposed on the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    a second sidewall assembly disposed on the second longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    each sidewall assembly formed from a plurality of steel side sheets;    the side sheets having an exterior surface and an interior surface;    a plurality of support posts attached with respective exterior surfaces of the side sheets;    at least one of the support posts formed from steel; and    at least one of the support posts formed from aluminum.    
     
     
         5 . The railway car of  claim 1  wherein the sidewall assembly further comprises: 
 a plurality of interior side sheets and exterior side sheets with the interior side sheets spaced from and extending generally parallel with the exterior side sheets;    each support post having a first surface and a second surface;    the interior side sheets attached to the first surface of the support posts; and    the exterior side sheets attached to the second surface of the support posts.    
     
     
         6 . The railway car of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a plurality of support posts attached with each side sheet;    the support posts spaced from each other along the associated sidewall assembly; and    approximately an equal number of the support posts formed from steel alloy materials and approximately an equal number of support posts formed from aluminum alloy materials.    
     
     
         7 . The railway car of  claim 6  further comprising the steel support posts and the aluminum support posts arranged in an alternating pattern extending along the associated sidewall assembly.  
     
     
         8 . The railway car of  claim 1  further comprising the support posts having cross sections selected from the group consisting of hat-shaped, square, rectangular, oval, circular, U-shaped or C-shaped.  
     
     
         9 . The railway car of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a car body defined in part by a first sidewall assembly, a second sidewall assembly and a pair of tubs;    the first sidewall assembly disposed on the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe and the second-sidewall assembly disposed on the second longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    the tubs attached to the railway car underframe and extending therefrom;    each sidewall assembly formed from a plurality of aluminum side sheets;    at least one support post formed from aluminum and attached with each sidewall assembly; and    at least one support post formed from steel and attached with each sidewall assembly.    
     
     
         10 . The railway car of  claim 9  further comprising the tubs formed from stainless steel.  
     
     
         11 . A railway car having a railway car underframe and a car body defined in part by a first sidewall and a second sidewall disposed on the underframe comprising: 
 the railway car underframe having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge;    the first sidewall disposed on the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe and the second sidewall disposed on the second longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    each sidewall formed in part from a plurality of side sheets and a plurality of side stakes;    one end of the side stakes disposed along and attached to the respective longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    the side sheets formed from a first material selected from the group consisting of aluminum and steel;    the side stakes formed from materials selected from the group consisting of aluminum and steel; and    at least one side stake formed from a material different from the material used to form the other side stakes.    
     
     
         12 . The railway car of  claim 11  selected from the group consisting of gondola cars, open hopper cars, closed hopper cars, and rotary dump coal cars.  
     
     
         13 . The railway car of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 each sidewall formed from a plurality of aluminum side sheets;    at least one of the side stakes formed from aluminum and attached with each sidewall; and    at least one of the side stakes formed from steel and attached with each sidewall.    
     
     
         14 . The railway car of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 each sidewall formed from a plurality of steel side sheets;    at least one of the side stakes formed from steel and attached with each sidewall; and    at least one of the side stakes formed from aluminum and attached with each sidewall.    
     
     
         15 . The railway car of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 the side stakes spaced laterally from each other along the length of the associated sidewall;    approximately an equal number of the side stakes formed form steel alloys and approximately an equal number of side stakes formed from aluminum alloy material; and    the steel side stakes and the aluminum side stakes arranged in an alternating pattern extending along each respective sidewall.    
     
     
         16 . A method of forming a railway car having a car body defined in part by at least one sidewall assembly attached to an associated railway car underframe comprising; 
 forming the sidewall assembly from a plurality of side sheets;    forming a plurality of support posts from steel based alloy materials;    forming a plurality of support posts from aluminum based alloy materials; and    determining the optimum number of steel support posts and the optimum number of aluminum support posts to attach to the associated side sheets to minimize empty weight of the railway car and extend service life of the railway car.    
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising forming the side sheets from material selected from the group consisting of steel based alloy materials and aluminum base alloy materials.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising: 
 determining critical locations on the car body associated with increased stress during operation of the associated railway car; and    optimizing empty weight of the railway car and extended service life of the railway car by installing steel support posts at selected critical locations.    
     
     
         19 . A railway car having a railway car underframe and at least one sidewall assembly comprising: 
 the railway car underframe having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge with at least one sidewall assembly disposed along one of the longitudinal edges of the railway car underframe;    the sidewall assembly formed in part from a plurality of side sheets and a plurality of support posts;    one end of the support post disposed along and attached to the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    the side sheets formed from aluminum alloy materials; and    the support posts formed from steel alloy materials.    
     
     
         20 . A railway car having a railway car underframe and at least one sidewall assembly comprising: 
 the railway car underframe having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge with at least one sidewall assembly disposed along one of the longitudinal edges of the railway car underframe;    the sidewall assembly formed in part from a plurality of side sheets and a plurality of support posts;    one end of the support post disposed along and attached to the first longitudinal edge of the railway car underframe;    the side sheets formed from steel alloy materials; and    the support posts formed from aluminum alloy materials.