Well...I thought...at least I don't have to read messages about the Outlander RR...never heard of it anyhow. Oh...what the hell, might as well see why so many messages about this particular shortline.
> Hmmm. Perhaps there WERE N&W coal hoppers over Sherman Hill, afterall!
Huh?
>
Blair,
Don't lose any sleep over it, but there were N&W Hoppers proceeding over
Sherman Hill according to a couple of wheel reports which I have.
1) On September 16th, 1941, N&W hopper #76519 was carrying coal
westbound for Pocatello ID between Green River WY and Montpelier ID.
2) On November 20th, 1947, between Rawlins & Laramie WY, N&W hopper
#6481 was carrying Company Coal eastbound for Pine Bluff on the
Nebraska/Wyoming state line.
And Richard's:
"I'd be elated if I never saw another word
on this list about N&W hoppers on Sherman Hill. In fact, it would be fine
with me if I never saw another word about N&W hoppers, period. Uh, oh.
Now I'm in trouble with David Thompson and (no doubt) others on the list."
Yep. Particularly with the immanent arrival of N&W H2a hoppers from BLI. Believing that Richard would agree with my notion that I never met a steam engine that I didn't like, I can almost envision good friend Richard going to a local bar some place up in the Oregon woods and having a drink with a visitor. I can almost imagine the guy telling Richard about a time machine he had developed up at his place in the woods. I can almost imagine Richard going there and drooling over the prospects of going back into the early 40s to his beloved Santa Fe and strange looking single engine aircraft. I can almost imagine the look on his face when he emerged to find himself in 1942 Roanoke, VA, amidst the dust, smoke and clamor of a nearby N&W coal train starting out for the Blue Ridge grade, headed by 2 Y6 2-8-8-2s. I CAN imagine the grin on his face as a westbound, headed by a class "A" rolls by at the same time.
Anyhow...the point of all this is, of course, well founded. Eastern hoppers in the west were very rare....as were western hoppers in the east. This is, IMO, not bad. Different is good. The rare did happen, though, SP GS gons in Wyoming [ perhaps not that unusual ], the long string of ATSF reefers on a UP frt that Stagner mentions. Old hands on this subject know that modeling the rare is to misslead. Freight conductor books are very useful tools in studying all this and...OMG [ oh my gosh ], I haven't copied mine for Tim Gilbert yet....
Mike Brock
