Revolution in Plywood

At a gaily decorated siding under Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, railroad men saw something new in freight cars this week. It was the "Unicel," a gleaming white freight car made almost entirely of plywood. "This," said John I. Snyder, 40, chairman-president of the Pressed Steel Car Co., "is the first really new freight car built in the U.S. in half a century."

It is not quite that long. But Snyder's car is the most radical change in design since steel boxcars were first introduced in 1914. Though it is 30% lighter than a steel car, the plywood car has withstood...

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