Description
The Half-Bay Window was a design championed by the New York Central and their successors and was adopted by a handful of other roads. When researching railroads, the "what" happened is often easy to find. The "why" it happened is more often then not an educated guess that is repeated until it becomes common wisdom. The guess for the existence of the Half-Bay Window design was to give the railroad the visibility of the bay window while still clearing low and tight obstructions such as through girder bridges and depot platforms.
Chicago & North Western received this group of 50 International Car phase 3 bay window cabooses in 1967. By this time, C&NW had shifted to yellow lettering and the “Chicago and North Western Railway” version of the logo as they were not yet Employee Owned. It’s unclear if the roofs were galvanized or painted silver but the crews would have appreciated it either way.
