Hi,

I have the excellent book on PM freight cars which has plenty of photos of
the 85000-85999 series boxcars.

I would have two questions about these cars.

According to the book, by 1943 all of them were converted to single-door
cars by either rebuilding to single 6-foot doors, or by sealing the
auxiliary doors. Further, it says that by 1945 some were renumbered and
assigned to specific services, and that all of the 2500 cars were gone by
1957. Does anyone know when these cars were first started to be taken off
the lists, and what was done with them?

My second question: does anyone have any photos of these cars or of the
86000-87499 series cars after rebuilding to single six foot doors, that
they would be willing to share and permit to be published? If yes, please
let me know off-list, and I will share the details then.

Thanks,

Frank Valoczy
Vancouver, BC

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On Mar 15, 2008, at 9:44 PM, destron@... wrote:

I have the excellent book on PM freight cars which has plenty of
photos of
the 85000-85999 series boxcars.

I would have two questions about these cars.

According to the book, by 1943 all of them were converted to
single-door
cars by either rebuilding to single 6-foot doors, or by sealing the
auxiliary doors. Further, it says that by 1945 some were renumbered
and
assigned to specific services, and that all of the 2500 cars were
gone by
1957. Does anyone know when these cars were first started to be taken
off
the lists, and what was done with them?

My second question: does anyone have any photos of these cars or of
the
86000-87499 series cars after rebuilding to single six foot doors,
that
they would be willing to share and permit to be published? If yes,
please
let me know off-list, and I will share the details then.

Frank, I have a print from Bob's Photo Service of PM 84521, renumbered
after it got six foot corrugated steel single doors. The photo was
taken at Ft. Bragg, NC in Jan., 1952 by Col. Chet McCoid. I also have
a print of the photo of PM 85908 which appeared in the PM box car book.
Having been photographed at Los Angeles in 1941 by a 14-year-old Bob
McVay with a Brownie box camera, it's not a superb photo but could be
improved with some fiddling in Photoshop. I'll be happy to scan both
of these for you if you wish.

Richard Hendrickson

Richard,

Thanks for that offer - it would be immensely appreciated.

I'm also sending you a message off-list, though from my university account
- I've been having issues with people not getting my mail from this
address.

Thanks,
Frank Valoczy
Vancouver, BC

Frank, I have a print from Bob's Photo Service of PM 84521, renumbered
after it got six foot corrugated steel single doors. The photo was
taken at Ft. Bragg, NC in Jan., 1952 by Col. Chet McCoid. I also have
a print of the photo of PM 85908 which appeared in the PM box car book.
Having been photographed at Los Angeles in 1941 by a 14-year-old Bob
McVay with a Brownie box camera, it's not a superb photo but could be
improved with some fiddling in Photoshop. I'll be happy to scan both
of these for you if you wish.

Richard Hendrickson





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Folks,

It becomes more complicated because of the 1947 merger into the C&O. First many of the 85000-series cars became 55XXX-series PM single-door box cars. Then for some reason these cars didn't appear to get C&O reporting marks. Other series seems to have picked up the C&O 255XXX series numbers.

Al Kresse

On Mar 19, 2008, at 2:42 PM, water.kresse@... wrote:

It becomes more complicated because of the 1947 merger into the C&O.
First many of the 85000-series cars became 55XXX-series PM single-door
box cars. Then for some reason these cars didn't appear to get C&O
reporting marks. Other series seems to have picked up the C&O 255XXX
series numbers.

Al, it's my impression that the C&O didn't bother to renumber ex-PM
cars or restencil them with C&O reporting marks if they were slated for
early retirement, as these wood-bodied cars doubtless were at the time
the PM freight car fleet was transferred to the C&O. I've noticed that
some other older PM cars also were never integrated into the C&O
roster.

Richard Hendrickson