Have I been drawing the wrong coal cars?
This is a question that has been bothering me for some time. Basically, ever since I couldn’t get the side stakes to match the varying spacing on the lone photo I have of Canada Atlantic coal cars.
This spacing could indicate the presence of slope sheets, meaning the cars were more like modern hoppers than like gondolas. My first inclination was to base the CA cars on a Norfolk and Western for which we have drawings thanks to John H White and Trainshed Cyclopedia. However, at the time, I couldn’t figure out how the brakes would work, as there are none shown on the N&W drawing.
However, now that I’ve spent a year and a half thinking about these cars, and drawing an alternative based on a drawing of a NYLE&W car in the Trainshed Cyclopedia, I have a much better idea. Then when I was looking at the trucks, and deciding their brakes would be between the wheels, I noticed some blobs beneath the side sills on some of the cars. Bingo! That is almost certainly the brake cylinder.
So now, I must choose. The NYLE&W car is all but ready to print. Should I start over, or claim it’s good enough? After all, until now, I am likely the only person in the world who knows about the discrepancy.
Pembroke:87 
Intereseting observations Rene. You don’t mention the year of the photo or what yera you’re looking at these cars being built. The Westinghouse Air Brake didn’t come into use until the turn of the last century, and given the number of railcars in existence, I’m sure it took a few years before they werefully operational systemwide. Same thing for the Janey (?) or knuckle coupler. Looking at your picture, I can only see a couple of cars with air hoses, so I’m wondering were the brakes maybe just hand powereed?
The date of the photo is unknown, but there are CA cars there certainly, so around my time of 1905. The CA added air brakes and automatic couplers to all their cars in (IIRC) 1893 because there was a shortage of timbers for sills.