cattle cars - Model Railroader Magazine

I assume you are talking 1880s and 1890s, and not earlier.  Earlier than 1880 would see much more variety in car design.

Car capacities were generally limited to 20-25 tons in that era, which includes the car weight.  Net load would be half that figure because of the weight of the bare car.  I don't know what cattle weigh, but the load gives you a starting point.

From a space perspective, the longest stock cars of the day would be 36ft.  More typical would be 28ft or 32ft, although size grew as time went on.  The art of car design would be to arrive at size and weight limitations at the same time.  Of course, the size vs weight carried would vary with the animal.

Watering, feeding, and resting of livestock was not regulated until after 1900, IIRC.  The initial regs were set at 28 hours between stops, so this was probably an outside guideline maximum with some railroads before regulation was imposed.  Shippers were required to provide "drovers" to handle the livestock at the stops and load/unload points.  These men could be carried in a passenger car or in the caboose, depending on numbers.

A great place to begin learning about 19th Century railroading are the Yahoo Early Rail and Civil War RRs Groups ( and ).  Both are highly worth joining.  White's book on freight cars is another outstanding resource.

my thoughts, your choices

Fred W