Date
1 - 20 of 28
Mystery to me box car
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Mark Heiden
Hello everyone,
I was looking at photos on the Steam Era Freight Cars website and I spotted a box car I'd like to know more about. The photo shows the Southern 37th Street Yard in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 1940s (the October 2002 Shot of the Month). The photo is available at: http://www.steamfreightcars.com/gallery/shot%20of%20mo/shotofmooct02.html The car that caught my eye is in the lower left corner. It is a T&NO double sheathed box car, maybe 36ft long, with what appears to be a wooden roof. I can't make out the ends, but they appear to be reinforced with a pair of vertical beams. The car number looks to be five digits long, and the last four digits may be 7217. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark Heiden |
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
On Feb 25, 2011, at 10:15 AM, Mark Heiden wrote:
The car that caught my eye is in the lower left corner. It is a T&NO double sheathed box car, maybe 36ft long, with what appears to be a wooden roof. I can't make out the ends, but they appear to be reinforced with a pair of vertical beams. The car number looks to be five digits long, and the last four digits may be 7217.The board roof is noteworthy, as the Harriman and later cars all had outside metal roofs. There were board roofs on the pre- Harriman CS-20 and other box cars, but those were very old by the time of the photo and one might doubt the survival of such cars (though T&NO did take good car of their rolling stock). It might be an inherited car from an absorbed railroad, but I can't identify it from what little is available in the image. If anyone knows the source of the image, maybe better detail of the end and car number can be discerned. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Jack Burgess <jack@...>
By downloading the photo and opening it in Photoshop and then adjusting the
levels, one can clearly see the two vertical reinforcing boards or angles on the end. Mark is correct about the number 7217...the first digit appears to be either a "1" or more likely a "4" but I could be wrong... Jack Burgess www.yosemitevalleyrr.com < < <On Feb 25, 2011, at 10:15 AM, Mark Heiden wrote: <> The car that caught my eye is in the lower left corner. It is a <> T&NO double sheathed box car, maybe 36ft long, with what appears to <> be a wooden roof. I can't make out the ends, but they appear to be <> reinforced with a pair of vertical beams. The car number looks to be <> five digits long, and the last four digits may be 7217. < < The board roof is noteworthy, as the Harriman and later cars <all had outside metal roofs. There were board roofs on the pre- <Harriman CS-20 and other box cars, but those were very old by the time <of the photo and one might doubt the survival of such cars (though <T&NO did take good car of their rolling stock). It might be an <inherited car from an absorbed railroad, but I can't identify it from <what little is available in the image. If anyone knows the source of <the image, maybe better detail of the end and car number can be <discerned. < <Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA <2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com <(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... <Publishers of books on railroad history < < < <------------------------------------ < <Yahoo! Groups Links < < < |
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Dave Nelson
The last 4 digits are 7217. The first digit might be a 1, or a 3, or a
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smudge. Pin me down... I'd say a 3. Dave Nelson -----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of Mark Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 10:15 AM To: STMFC@... Subject: [STMFC] Mystery to me box car Hello everyone, I was looking at photos on the Steam Era Freight Cars website and I spotted a box car I'd like to know more about. The photo shows the Southern 37th Street Yard in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 1940s (the October 2002 Shot of the Month). The photo is available at: http://www.steamfreightcars.com/gallery/shot%20of%20mo/shotofmooct02.html The car that caught my eye is in the lower left corner. It is a T&NO double sheathed box car, maybe 36ft long, with what appears to be a wooden roof. I can't make out the ends, but they appear to be reinforced with a pair of vertical beams. The car number looks to be five digits long, and the last four digits may be 7217. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark Heiden ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links |
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
Jack Burgess wrote:
By downloading the photo and opening it in Photoshop and then adjusting the levels, one can clearly see the two vertical reinforcing boards or angles on the end. Mark is correct about the number 7217...the first digit appears to be either a "1" or more likely a "4" but I could be wrong...If the number were 17217, it's a T&NO tank car. If the number were 37217 (Dave Nelson's suggestion) it would be a Class B-50-6 box car (of which 7 remained in service in 1950), but those cars did not have end bracing nor board roofs in any records or photos I can find. If the number were 47217, it's a T&NO steel gondola. I'm still unable to pin it down. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Mark, Thanks for asking as I have wondered about this car as well. It has
no lateral roof walks. I believe this photo is from 1948 but I'm not sure. That seems to be a late date for no lateral roof walks. Does anyone know when they were mandated. I'm a Southern fan and this photo is my screen saver so I look at it a lot. I lived in Birmingham and was 6 years old when this was taken....if the 1948 date is correct. I do see F units in the background. We used drive by here every morning to take my dad to work at the Sears store, when it was downtown. Regards, Fenton Wells On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 1:15 PM, Mark <mark_heiden@...> wrote:
-- Fenton Wells 3047 Creek Run Sanford NC 27332 919-499-5545 srrfan1401@... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] |
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
Fenton Wells wrote:
Mark, Thanks for asking as I have wondered about this car as well. It has no lateral roof walks. I believe this photo is from 1948 but I'm not sure. That seems to be a late date for no lateral roof walks. Does anyone know when they were mandated.I don't know that they were ever mandated for board roofs. SP stock cars with those roofs ran into the 1960s. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Thanks Tony, I can't believe the unions would let that happen that late.
On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 3:46 PM, Anthony Thompson < thompson@...> wrote:
-- Fenton Wells 3047 Creek Run Sanford NC 27332 919-499-5545 srrfan1401@... |
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S hed <shed999@...>
Has anyone noticed that overloaded Southern gondola on the right side of the picture? That would make a pretty cool looking load to run around on a layout.
- Steve Hedlund, Silver Lake, WA To: STMFC@... From: thompson@... Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:46:15 -0800 Subject: Re: [STMFC] Mystery to me box car Fenton Wells wrote: Mark, Thanks for asking as I have wondered about this car as well. It has no lateral roof walks. I believe this photo is from 1948 but I'm not sure. That seems to be a late date for no lateral roof walks. Does anyone know when they were mandated. I don't know that they were ever mandated for board roofs. SP stock cars with those roofs ran into the 1960s. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... Publishers of books on railroad history [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] |
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Bill Kelly
To me it looks like 37217 or more likely 37247.
Either way a B-50-6 with single sheathed ends. The 37247 is listed in a group of 18 cars with single sheathed ends in the January 1949 ORER. Later, Bill Kelly ____________________________________________________________ Mortgage Rates Hit 2.99% If you owe under $729k you probably qualify for Gov't Refi Programs http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4d682eb290fb86f9d8m02vuc |
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And the B-50-6 is not a 36' box car either. I don't see any
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T&NO 36' box cars in the 1950 ORER. Tim O'Connor By downloading the photo and opening it in Photoshop and thenIf the number were 17217, it's a T&NO tank car. |
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Steve
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I did; I had the exact same thought -- and I have a very similar car, a Southern War Emergency gondola made with the F&C kit. And it needs a load! :-) Tim O'Connor At 2/25/2011 04:58 PM Friday, you wrote:
Has anyone noticed that overloaded Southern gondola on the right side of the picture? That would make a pretty cool looking load to run around on a layout. |
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Yes, I did notice that gon. I believe from where it is sitting with the
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other gons and caboose it may be company scrap from perhaps the RIP track. I'm just guessing. Fenton On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 4:58 PM, S hed <shed999@...> wrote:
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Fenton Wells 3047 Creek Run Sanford NC 27332 919-499-5545 srrfan1401@... |
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
Tim O'Connor wrote:
I did; I had the exact same thought -- and I have a very similar car, a Southern War Emergency gondola made with the F&C kit. And it needs a load! :-)This gondola, of course, appears to be a USRA car, by its side sills and center panel with no diagonal brace. One might wonder if the load is intended for track movement or is only a storage method. Certainly it looks like it could spew scrap all over the right of way. Tony Thompson 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail: thompson@... |
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Bob's photos has a great picture of one of these cars with a scrap load and
the re-weigh date is 1951, I think. They rebuilt the sides with sheet steel but still had the bottom door operators on them at this date. At least some of them did. I'm still trying to find out which cars received solid bottoms and when. Thanks to, the late Dean Freytag, who taught me how to make great scrap loads out of scrap plastic. I still have 4 or 5 of the loads he gave me when he was teaching me. He will be missed. Regards, Fenton On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 8:49 PM, Anthony Thompson < thompson@...> wrote:
-- Fenton Wells 3047 Creek Run Sanford NC 27332 919-499-5545 srrfan1401@... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] |
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Frank Greene
Sure wouldn't have wanted to go far loaded like that. From that location, a scrap melting steel mill was about 10 city blocks east, left and behind the photographer.
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On 2/25/2011 7:49 PM, Anthony Thompson wrote:
This gondola, of course, appears to be a USRA car, by its side --
Frank Greene Memphis, TN |
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golden1014
Mark,
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That's my photo and I just went downstairs to check if there was a date on it. There's no date, unfortunately. John Golden O'Fallon, IL --- In STMFC@..., "Mark" <mark_heiden@...> wrote:
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Bud Rindfleisch
--- In STMFC@..., S hed <shed999@...> wrote:
Yes, that is quite a load, but more likely its just for yard service scrap only. There were/are rules governing open top loads with restrictions on overhangs,unsecured lading, etc. Myself, I had noticed how closely spaced the ties were on the track the T&NO boxcar is on. I've never seen ties so close together, except maybe on a bridge. This is one of those photos that the more you look, the more you see! Bud Rindfleisch |
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Schuyler Larrabee
Indeed it is, Bud.
I've been wondering if anyone can explain the intent of providing the two tracks between the yard ladders. They're covered with cars, but a mixmaster assortment. What are these tracks for? http://www.steamfreightcars.com/gallery/shot%20of%20mo/shotofmooct02.html SGL --- In STMFC@... <mailto:STMFC%40yahoogroups.com> , S hed <shed999@...> wrote: the picture? That would make a pretty cool looking load to run around on a layout. Yes, that is quite a load, but more likely its just for yard service scrap only. There were/are rules governing open top loads with restrictions on overhangs,unsecured lading, etc. Myself, I had noticed how closely spaced the ties were on the track the T&NO boxcar is on. I've never seen ties so close together, except maybe on a bridge. This is one of those photos that the more you look, the more you see! Bud Rindfleisch ======= Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.16990) http://www.pctools.com <http://www.pctools.com/?cclick=EmailFooterClean_51> ======= ======= Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.16990) http://www.pctools.com/ ======= |
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Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
Schuyler Larrabee wrote:
I've been wondering if anyone can explain the intent of providing the two tracks between the yard ladders. They're covered with cars, but a mixmaster assortment. What are these tracks for?They could be "slough" tracks, for the convenience of crews working either ladder. That's a place you stuff cars that you need to get out of the way for a little while. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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