Since 1926 (I looked it up) the city of Milwaukee has sold dried sewage sludge under the brand name Milorganite. Once a year, a golf course north of Grand Rapids, MI would receive a 40' boxcar of bagg

The man is a grain inspector. Note the small empty bags tucked in his belt. The tool he is holding is a cylindrical grain probe. Several feet long. the tool consists of two nested tubes with several m

Railroad related stock yards ranged from loading pens where cattle arrived on their hooves, to intermediate feed and water stops, mandated by Federal regulation for how many hours stock could be in ca

In 1985 I was asked by a hardware store owner whether it was still possible to receive bagged coal in boxcars. The market was home heating. I didn't know and made calls to find out. The answer was, "N

The BR&P gon has what I think are "safety chains" on the end sill. Three links are to the right of the coupler, two links and a hook are to the left. Was this "system" ever an industry requirement? If

Mr. Paulsen Spence. Search Railway Preservation News, then search The (Once) Paulsen Spence Collection. The final entry is my post dated 2013. I recall what I was told by Mr. Spence's last Master Mech

Isn't this car the sole survivor of its type? Was this car set aside/retired in Paris, Illinois for years? Alex Huff

Curious about a billboard boxcar rather than a reefer, I did a little research. Note there are no reporting marks. I searched a 1927 and a 1944 Equipment Register. No reporting marks listed for the Pr

Doug, I should have been more clear when I wrote "Chicago was another gateway". Chicago was another gateway between the Eastern and Western Territories. Divisions were an arcane example of the importa

Confirming what Fred Crissey said, divisions of revenue between railroads were not governed by the ICC (at the time), they were privately negotiated between carriers. When Michigan Northern Railway to

One of the Chief Wawatam's many claims to fame is that it was the last hand-fired coal burning vessel in US commercial service. Normally, as Dan posted above, the forward pair of boilers which supplie

Hammond, LA, on the IC main line, was another loading station for strawberries. The reefers were pre-cooled, having been iced at the division point and shops at McComb, MS. Destined mostly for the Chi

Look up Milorganite. It is a processed product of the City of Milwaukee's sewage treatment system. Sold since 1925. Popular use is as a bagged fertilizer for lawns and golf courses. Michigan Northern

The REA commission revenue a local railroad freight agent received was a consideration when bidding to hold a particular station. A PRR agent, who never had the seniority to hold the job, told me abou

Raw sugar (brown) from southern Louisiana sugar mills was shipped in tired 40' boxcars to refineries in New Orleans to be reprocessed into white sugar. Loaded in both ends, the doors were often left o

In the series of photos, an overexposed image shows the interior end of the car and the roof. Some roof supports (purlins) show damage from having been struck from below. My speculation is that due to

It is my understanding that the X on boxcar doors on at least the CNW meant the cars were in restricted service. Called "trap cars" on the CNW, one of the assignments was transporting display goods to

The bagasse that wasn't used as boiler fuel was shipped by rail after being baled into cubes roughly three feet on a side. In Louisiana, the destination was a Johns-Manville plant in Harvey, LA, a sub

As a student, I worked part time in the school's butcher shop. Beef was never frozen. My recollection is that the old rule of thumb was that beef carcasses were hung for 21 days to improve the tendern