Gentlemen:
Helium cars were loaded at, I believe, Hugoton, Kansas, on the Cimarron
Valley District. I do remember seeing empty cars at Boise City waiting to go
back for loading in 1977-78 when I was working on the Colorado Division.

Cordially,

John Hodson

 

John, they were also loaded at Amarillo (Rock Island) and Excel (AT&SF), TX.  Probably a number of other places where helium was abundant.  Jerry Michels

Don Valentine asked:



"Speaking of the NYC boxcar fleet, does anyone know if any of the NYC USRA single or double sheathed boxcars make it into the post war era in their original construction or were all either rebuilt with steel sides or destroyed in service beforehand?"

Yes for both, though the numbers take a big hit as NYC took delivery of large numbers of postwar AAR boxcars after WWII.  Cars of both types remained in service into the mid-1950s.  With the exception of PMcK&Y's USRA SS boxcars (lot 384-B) and a single lot 394-B USRA DS boxcar, the NYCS did not rebuild these cars into all-steel boxcars. 

USRA SS boxcar lots:
376-B
380-B
382-B
384-B (rebuilt to lots 630-B and 638-B, prototype for Tichy rebuilt USRA boxcar)
405-B
406-B

USRA DS boxcar lots:
386-B
394-B
395-B
402-B
404-B

For specific information, go to http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/NYC-MODELS-FREIGHT2.htm and use CTRL-F to search using the lot number.


Ben Hom

Clark Propst wrote:
"As a causal NYC modeler, meaning I may have three cars. I could give a rats
rear about lots."

Three cars?  You should have as many NYC boxcars as PRR boxcars!  NYC boxcars are one of the most under-represented models on any steam-era layout - as Jeff English pointed out, they had over 50,000 boxcars.

"I wish someone would take all that great info on that Canadian website and transfer it to excel so one could filter to find what one’s looking for in a few clicks."

A previous poster noted that you could use the Ctrl-F function of your browser to search for text, which is how I've been pulling information.


Ben Hom

Earl Tuson wrote:
"Hmm, I have a very distinct impression of having a just such a handout from Jeff English that offered that precise information.  I think the appropriate model list was limited to S scale models though…"
You mean this handout?
http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/frtcars/nycsboxmain.html

Any work on this subject should use Jeff's research as a starting point - it does contain overall numbers, but is missing an important component - the population of cars over time.


Ben Hom



Ben Hom says:

�Can anyone point to ANY source that shows proportions of cars that a modeler can use to build a fleet? �How many

USRA-design steel boxcars? �How many prewar AAR boxcars? �How many postwar AAR boxcars? �Sadly, the answer is a
resounding no.�

Hmm, I have a very distinct impression of having a just such a handout from Jeff English that offered that precise
information. I think the appropriate model list was limited to S scale models though�

Either that, or my memory is going at a rather young age.

Earl Tuson

I recieved the grim news several days ago, but only now am I sufficiently over the shock to put fingers to keyboard.  I probably first met Richard in the mid-80s, when we started having RPM as a side show to NMRA national conventions; outside of freight cars, our mutual interest was
sports cars about which we shared many stories over drinks.  Dennis Storzek mentioned the old FCPN round-robin newsletter, which we at the RPI club joined as a result of being invited in by Richard.

 

Later in the 90s, when I started to realize that nobody was giving presentations on NYC box cars and that perhaps it was up to me to tackle the subject, my initial research was giving me the realization that there are really very few phtoos of such a prosaic subject.  There were lots of gaping holes, with questions to be answered.  So I asked Richard if I could review his photo collection to see what he had.  Now mind you, this was asking for him to lug several thick binders from the west coast to Naperville, but he happily did it and we spent several hours in his hotel room discussing NYC box cars.  Among other things I learned were several new (to me) photo sources; Tom Martorano is one that comes to mind.

 

The last couple of years in a row at Naperville/Lisle, Richard said to me something like, "It's really good to see you again", with a genuineness that made me feel that he really meant it.  It impressed me enough that it has stuck with me, and it had already crossed my mind this summer that perhaps this giant of our hobby would bestow his personal endorsement on me once again this fall, but now it is not to be.

 

I forget who originally said that we stand on the shoulders of giants, but it could not be more true in the case of Richard Hendrickson.

 

One final anecdote to illustrate the breadth of impact he had: my wife had only met Richard a handful of times, but one of those was the Friends of the Freight Car dinner at the 1996 NMRA convention in Long Beach.  This event was organized by Richard (and Tony) at a restaurant that served up a meal family style, and the whole event was a delight for Lorraine (who otherwise finds model railroad conventions uninteresting).  She raves about it to this day, and when I shared the sad news she remembered Richard clearly and what a gracious host he was, even 18 years after the fact.

 

Jeff English

Troy, New York

I dunno, NYCS always seemed fairly straightforward to me, once you get past the subsidiary renumberings. Plenty of oddball groups in rather low numbers, plus a few primary designs in large quantities.

Lots of 36' ds boxes with large straight side sills in the early-mid Teens, then the 40' ds and steel auto boxes late in the decade, a relative handful of USRA ds and ss boxes, the tidal wave of USRA steel boxes and auto car derivatives in the '20s, a breather in the '30s with a few steel-sided rebuilds, then launching into large purchases on 50-foot auto boxes and the 10' IH 40-foot boxes in the '40s.

Hoppers are even simpler: piles of the NYC-version of the 1905CD twins before 1920, then more piles of USRA twins and some triples in the '20s, with a few offset-side orders later in the decade. then NYC's shorty version of the AAR offset-side twin in the '40s, and their bazillion-rib 70-ton triples in the '50s.

David Thompson

Folks,

 

You don't hear from me very often (partly because I can't keep up with the bandwidth on this list), but I've been made aware that the topic is NYC box cars.  If anyone has a question about this particular topic, please feel free to contact me <off list> and I'll be happy to help as best I can.

 

Seth Lakin mentions "tow lugs"; as far as I know, the correct term for these is "roping staples".

 

Ben Hom is thinking about ways to parse NYC System's 50,000-car box car fleet; Ben I'd like to discuss what your ideas are.  I have a pretty good familiarity with all the groupings, but I think one of the primary organizational tools would be the NYC's "Spec"s; I have not yet gotten a hold of a document that lays out all the Specs (something I've been meaning to do for a long time, assuming NYCSHS has such an animal).

 

Jeff English

Troy, New York

also a member of the NYCSHS Modelers Committee

     Speaking of the NYC boxcar fleet, does anyone know if any of the NYC USRA single or double sheathed boxcars make it into the post war era in their original construction or were all either rebuilt with steel sides or destroyed in service beforehand?

 

Cordially, Don Valentine ..... hoping to find a few of each survived in their original form.

    And NERS has prints for two or three versions of  helium cars form ACF. Not sure whether\all were built or not.

 

Cordially, Don Valentine