Contractor's (40,000 lbs.) Flat Car #453, built A.O. Shops, Yale c. 1883
BCA Photograph No. 74934
BCA Call No. I-30842
Photo in Onderdonk Album, #5, 8.

The flat car was the most versatile car used in railroad construction. It could be easily adapted to the transportation of various materials and personnel, and was probably one of the staple items of production of Onderdonk's Shops in Yale. The Inland Sentinel of May 3, 1883, mentions that "At the machine shop they are turning out a flat car per day."

Certainly, the photograph of the construction train approaching Tunnel #22 shows a great number of flat cars, as compared to box cars. The first locomotive brought to Emory was named the "Yale" and reference is made to some cars being brought to Yale along with the locomotive. But Onderdonk had most of the rolling stock he needed built at his Yale shops.