Operating Era: 1902-1937. Western Maryland. Commodore and mechanical engineer. Vanderbilt designed many types of cars, including the Vanderbilt tender. The 50-ton capacity hopper car he designed in 1901 was built by Cambria Car Company of Johnstown, PA for Western Maryland's West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railway subsidiary. It was one of, if not the first steel car to be designed without supporting side sills. The 800 cars, series 5000-5799, were relettered to Western Maryland beginning in 1907. To meet the Safety Appliance Act requirements the cars were rebuilt with corner posts to support corner ladder grab irons. This proved unwieldy in practice as the grabs were all different lengths. One-piece ladders replaced the grabs on both the sides and ends. In 1929 the remaining cars were moved to a new series to allow room for new cars. A "6" was placed in front to the car number to create the new series. Only the best cars were kept; about 750 were scrapped. The last car, 65462, was not retired until 1939.