As I was looking through the passenger car diagrams, I noticed four different types of roofs listed. Monitor and Turtleback I am familiar with, but what are Round and Radial roofs?
Radial Roof: (Images removed) Round Roof: (Images removed) (Images removed) (Images removed) (Images removed)
The Frisco cars with American Car and Foundry (AC&F) factory roofs from 1926, 1928 and 1930 are usually referred to as "round or "radial". The Frisco cars with the remodeled roofs of the 1930s and 1940s with the "fatter" profile are referred to as "turtleback" roofs. The Athearn Santa Fe car pictured has a similar roof to, but not exactly like, the Frisco "turtleback" roof. I believe the roofs of the cars in the black and white photograph posted are something different altogether. Some Frisco examples would be the Frisco business cars and the heavyweight Kansas City-Florida Special named diners, "Kansas City", "Memphis" and "Birmingham" had "turtleback" roofs. The "deluxe" coaches SLSF 1203, 1207, 1208-1213, and the 1928 and 1930 baggage-RPO cars SLSF 201-225 had the AC&F factory "round" or "radial" roofs. Tom
Wow, I just found this thread while looking for information on a diner. This information is very enlightening to me because I had the "turtle back" and "round" roofs reversed in my head. I am certainly glad I found this because it helps me with several Frisco passenger car projects I am working on. I will start a new thread if I do not find what I need. Terry