A railroad tank car formed from steel alloy plates having improved toughness and puncture resistance. The steel alloy plates include a steel alloy including in wt. %: C: 0.1-0.15; Mn: 1.0-1.65; Si: 0.15-0.40; Al: 0.015-0.06; Mo: 0.1-0.3; Ni: 0.1-0.25; Nb: 0.015-0.045; Ti: up to 0.02; Cr: up to 0.22; V: up to 0.08; Cu: up to 0.35; P: max 0.025; S: max 0.015; and N: 0.004-0.01. The alloy plates may have been normalized for 30 minutes at 900 C. The alloy plates may have a tensile strength of at least 560 MPa; a yield strength of at least 345 MPa; a total elongation of at least 22%; a CVN impact toughness of at least 135.5J at 34.4 C.; a CVN impact toughness of at least 122J at 45.5 C. The alloy plates may have a ferrite-bainite microstructure, with 10% or less pearlite. The alloy plates of the inventive railroad tank car may have an absence of any banded ferrite-pearlite/martensite structure.

According to some embodiments, a fittings plate for attaching railcar fittings to a railcar comprises: a plate consisting of a non-metallic, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material. The plate comprises: a first set of one or more openings for attaching railcar fittings to the plate and a second set of one or more openings for attaching the plate to a railcar.

A treadplate for a floor of a gangway the treadplate having a basic body of a first material, and a plurality of bones of a second material, wherein the bones are encapsulated by the first material, wherein the second material has a higher elastic modulus than the first material and/or the stiffness of at least one bone of the several bones is higher than the stiffness of the basic body.

A treadplate for a floor of a gangway the treadplate having a basic body of a first material, and a plurality of bones of a second material, wherein the bones are encapsulated by the first material, wherein the second material has a higher elastic modulus than the first material and/or the stiffness of at least one bone of the several bones is higher than the stiffness of the basic body.

A method of manufacturing a normalized steel alloy plate for a railroad tank car is provided. The steel alloy plate includes a steel alloy including in wt. %: C: 0.1-0.15; Mn: 1.0-1.65; Si: 0.15-0.40; Al: 0.015-0.06; Mo: 0.1-0.3; Ni: 0.1-0.25; Nb: 0.015-0.045; Ti: up to 0.02; Cr: up to 0.22; V: up to 0.08; Cu: up to 0.35; P: max 0.025; S: max 0.015; and N: 0.004-0.01. The alloy plate is normalized for at least 30 minutes at 900 C. The normalized alloy plate may have a tensile strength of at least 560 MPa; a yield strength of at least 345 MPa; a total elongation of at least 22%; a CVN impact toughness of at least 135.5 J at 34.4 C.; a CVN impact toughness of at least 122 J at 45.5 C. The normalized alloy plate may have a ferrite-bainite microstructure, with 10% or less pearlite. The alloy normalized alloy plate may have an absence of any banded ferrite-pearlite/martensite structure.

A method of manufacturing a normalized steel alloy plate for a railroad tank car is provided. The steel alloy plate includes a steel alloy including in wt. %: C: 0.1-0.15; Mn: 1.0-1.65; Si: 0.15-0.40; Al: 0.015-0.06; Mo: 0.1-0.3; Ni: 0.1-0.25; Nb: 0.015-0.045; Ti: up to 0.02; Cr: up to 0.22; V: up to 0.08; Cu: up to 0.35; P: max 0.025; S: max 0.015; and N: 0.004-0.01. The alloy plate is normalized for at least 30 minutes at 900 C. The normalized alloy plate may have a tensile strength of at least 560 MPa; a yield strength of at least 345 MPa; a total elongation of at least 22%; a CVN impact toughness of at least 135.5 J at 34.4 C.; a CVN impact toughness of at least 122 J at 45.5 C. The normalized alloy plate may have a ferrite-bainite microstructure, with 10% or less pearlite. The alloy normalized alloy plate may have an absence of any banded ferrite-pearlite/martensite structure.

A gasket placed on a railroad tank car manway nozzle to extend the gasket's sealing integrity, durability and life. The gasket comprises an external gasket extension, a sealing surface contact portion, an internal gasket extension and a plurality of tabs on the external gasket extension. The sealing surface contact portion includes an enlarged mass portion which gets flattened under compression and extends linearly to provide an additional sealing force along the interior wall of the manway nozzle. The internal gasket extension includes a ring portion which serves as an internal splash guard. In use, the existing manway cover plate assembly is unbolted, the existing nozzle gasket removed and replaced by a new gasket as disclosed herein, and then the cover plate is bolted and torqued down to the nozzle.