Of course the tender body would be filled with something for added weight, such as ballast or sand, sometimes mixed with scrap iron for more weight. The Rock Island had a bunch of "haystack" tenders c

Both the IC and the Milwaukee Road had numerous tenders converted to sand cars. The Milwaukee also converted their old tenders to snowplows and flangers. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs, FL

In 1912 Western Union began a program of reconstructing their lines that lasted until the 1930s. This could be one of the first of the "line forces" that did the work. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Sprin

There was a comprehensive book in two volumes about weed spray cars:. Volume one was titled "Railroad Weed Spray Contractors and Their Equipment". Volume two was "Railroad Owned and Operated Weed Spra

The Rock Island had a very similar car, 95270. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs, FL

Some of the earliest weed burners were built by the McKean Motor Car Company around 1906, I believe. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs, FL

Small four-wheeled cranes dated back to 1883 in the US (1859 in England) and were always a part of the Industrial Works line, but these were all steam cranes. Cullen-Friestedt introduced the Burro Cra

Locomotive cranes were found on the C&O, though apparently not in the numbers seen on some other railroads. In contrast to the meticulous listing of C&O's wreckers, data on smaller cranes is very scat

I lived in Sewell, NJ, on the P-RSL in the 1950s and saw exactly the same thing.; sand in long gondolas. I don't remember any Reading hoppers. Sewell was on the line that passed through Vineland to Mi

No railroad was more dedicated then the C&O in using old tenders for coal & water in the camp trains. A roster published by the C&O Historical Society shows numbers in the "T" series going as high as

Some of the first troop sleepers acquired by the C&O were used as cabooses before being converted to camp cars. These can be easily distinguished by the presence of a radial caboose handrail next to t

All too familiar a situation, in spite of more people thinking that anything having to do with railroads is worth a fortune. I have two brothers; the younger knows to a penny what an old snare drum is

Some railroads always identified the type of camp car on the side, some railroads identified them by prefixes or suffixes in the number, and some did not bother at all,,,the C&O was in the latter grou

As noted previously, the ballast cars could be used for other loads, though their ballast doors, designed for unloading ballast in measured amounts, may not have been the quickest for unloading in bul

He told me that the files were a mess. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs, FL

Interesting photos and I scanned them for my files. I am always interested in photos of old MOW equipment, even though I have over 15,000 negatives of them myself. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs,

There was considerable variation in "Hart Convertible gondolas" as they were also called. A big selling point was that they could be used in revenue service as well as non-revenue service, which is wh

PGE 6072 (the crane in the film) was a 35-ton Ohio locomotive crane. Such cranes have been pressed into service to help clear wrecks when nothing else was available. And a few wreck cranes in that par

I guess I should step in here and mention the issue #7 of my newsletter WORK EXTRA is all about the Lidgerwood Rapid Unloader, including all the photos I have of them and plans. Those interested in pu

It's been converted to a company service supply car via a "patch job". Both the number and the "MWM" at the bottom of the second panel show this. John C. La Rue, Jr. Bonita Springs, FL