Hi, Folks....

Just can't resist one more note on SSW 17164 with the unusual ends. Being locked down in Chicagoland makes time to trace out interesting one-offs. This car was one of 120 built by AC&F, Lot 7515, ordered 8-1914, built 12-1914 as 11034<>21986 even numbers. The cars were replacements into SSW 11000-22078, even numbers, wood, of which there were 5624 active in 2-1908 ORER and 5801 active in 2-1916 ORER. After 1914, Note 31 in the ORER tabulates the serials of the ACF cars. Sure enough, SSW 17160 is listed (attached). These cars were renumbered to 27000-27116 over 1924-1925 and remained in service into 1936. There is a clear photo (#21902) of this end in an article on box car ends by Richard Bale in MRH Oct. 2014, p98,

http://mrhpub.com/2014-10-oct/land/

He notes that it was dubbed the "jail-house" end by John Nehrich. That photo is a reproduction of same in the 1916 CBD, p394. The Westerfield collection of AC&F builder photos contains two photos of #21902, Lot 7515, together showing many aspects of the entire car.

I've not seen evidence of these unusual ends on any other series. If you know of such, I would appreciate a note.

Stay safe everyone,

Eric L
Hunkered down in Chicagoland

Precision scale air hose brackets I think. 

Air hose brackets

Pierre Oliver
www.elgincarshops.com
www.yarmouthmodelworks.com

Photo: Early Santa Fe Boxcars At Eskridge Depot

A circa 1900 photo courtesy of the Wabaunsee County Historical Society & Museum:

https://wabaunseecomuseumdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/d04.jpg

Caption: "Merchants and residents of Eskridge, Kansas unload freight from an Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Freight train at the Eskridge depot in this view, circa 1900."

Pictured are boxcars ATSF 41137 (Bx-U) and ATSF 18058 (Bx-C), plus two unidentified boxcars.

The Bx-U class of forty-foot cars first appeared in 1890 and were re-designated from the FE-D class furniture cars in 1906-08. The cars were built by the Wells & French Company. None of these cars were on the live list by 1922.

The Bx-C class of thirty-four foot cars appeared in 1892-93 and were the products of several car builders. The Bx-C designation was applied in 1902. A small number of these cars lasted into the early 1930s.

Bob Chaparro

Hemet, CA

I am looking at Delaware, Lackawanna & Western auto double door rebuilt steel box, series 11300 to 11599, rebuilt 1935 to 1937   The Yarmouth Model Works kit #115 comes with K brakes.   Upon looking at the Jan. 1953 ORER I see 199 cars still in service.  My question did the cars in service receive AB brakes or did they not run in Interchange service?

Thank You in advance for your time and effort to answer.
Lester Breuer

On 3/28/20 6:42 PM, Charlie Vlk wrote:

Please excuse the off-topic post but I need help on research:

I think that's mostly what we do here.

A couple of years ago I ran across an online detailed catalog
description of each of the 45 or so CB&Q microfilm rolls and an
additional 15 or so on C.E. Perkins papers 1863-1907 with call
numbers in some online catalog of a library or college library.
AFAIK it was a simple Google search. I somehow lost the link and
cannot find it again after trying every conceivable search term and
variation thereof that I can think of. ...
Any ideas on finding this website beyond the normal Google, Bing,
etc. search engines???

Try <http://www.worldcat.org/>. It's a union catalog of hundreds of large libraries, with an emphasis on university and research libraries. I've found it an invaluable for seeing who has what.

Cheers,
/ Bruce /

Photo: PRR Wreck Train

Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia:

http://eshore.iath.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/ph.cchs_.318.rrwrecktrain_1924.jpg

Caption: "Pennsylvania Railroad Wreck Train, April 24, 1924."

That automobile boxcar (C&NW?) in the background has and interesting end.

Bob Chaparro

Hemet, CA

Also there were special cars for transporting oysters when people would pay a steep premium for the legless "livestock". The cars had salt water tanks for the valuable mollusks. Here is an example of an oyster car:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Stillwell_Oyster_Car_1897.jpg

And here is an article about Arthur E. Stilwell, inventor of the famed Stilwell Oyster Car

http://www.pullman-museum.org/theCompany/stillwell.html

Bob Chaparro

Hemet, CA

The reason for the one day event is that was the only date available at NIU for 2020. In 2021 the RPM could be one, two or three days. And the reason for holding the event at NIU is the cost which is less than half of what a hotel charges per day. The attendance fee will drop to something like $50. Also there's no risk with booking with NIU as they have a 15 day cancellation period with a 100% refund.

Frank