American Car & Foundry (ACF) Lot Number List
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Richard Wilkens
Has anyone seen the attached list before for the lot numbers of American Car & Foundry cars? The lots from 500 to 690 are incomplete but lot 691 dated 1899 onward appear to all be here. This is about a 2" stack of paper.
Richard Wilkens |
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Dave Parker
The ACF lot list has been available from Westerfield for quite some time. It is part of the their AC&F photo DVD, which currently retails for $99.
So I think the answer is yes, quite a few of us have seen that list. -- Dave Parker Swall Meadows, CA |
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Ray Breyer
500 is where the lot numbering system started, picked up from Peninsular's numbering system. And I don't believe that this is a "real" ACF document. It was obviously transcribed from real ACF documents, but it looks to me a 1960s-era research effort. The fact that 1899-1940 was obviously typed on the same typewriter, with the same sort of justification and errors, is a dead giveaway (sort of like the Pullman lot list online. Some of it is original, some of it is a transcription as a research effort). Ray Breyer Elgin, IL
On Monday, March 13, 2023 at 04:31:52 PM CDT, Richard Wilkens <railsnw123@...> wrote:
Has anyone seen the attached list before for the lot numbers of American Car & Foundry cars? The lots from 500 to 690 are incomplete but lot 691 dated 1899 onward appear to all be here. This is about a 2" stack of paper. Richard Wilkens |
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Richard Wilkens
OK, Thanks Dave. This was part of a collection we have at our archives.
Richard Wilkens Director of Collections, Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive |
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ALLEN STANLEY
Hi Richard,
There is a list available for download on the ACF website. It is slightly different from the one you showed and both cover some missing numbers the other doesnt have. I have been told that the missing 1-500 numbers were for things other than freight cars early on and they later changed up their numbering system. Blessings! Allen Stanley |
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Dave Parker
Not sure what the "ACF website" is, but with a little digging I was able to find a lot list here:
https://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/collections/barriger-library-special-collections/collections/b-003-acf.html The link to the PDF is near the bottom. This version seems to have a lot of "skips" -- lots that are in the Westerfield-supplied list, but not here. Also, very few dates here except for the occasional date of a builder's photo. And for some reason, this version ends in October of 1923, so it is a very partial list of ACF's production. On the plus side, this typewritten list was scanned with OCR, so it is possible to search it for a railroad or private line name. This could be a time saver if used in conjunction with the other, more complete lot list. -- Dave Parker Swall Meadows, CA |
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Ray Breyer
That's a very poorly done list of available photographs, Dave, and not a full lot list. And yeah; the image DATE field being mostly empty is inexcusable. In virtually all cases after 1900 a date can be pulled off the car itself (and with only slightly more work, information on which plant the photo was taken at). Before 1900-1905 you can just cross-index to the Westerfield list (which while probably not an official ACF document, is the best we currently have). Don't bother with OCR for this list; I should have passed my Excel version of the Westerfield ACF list to you a while ago. If not, let me know and I'll send it again. Ray Breyer Elgin, IL
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:15:56 PM CDT, Dave Parker via groups.io <spottab@...> wrote:
Not sure what the "ACF website" is, but with a little digging I was able to find a lot list here: https://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/collections/barriger-library-special-collections/collections/b-003-acf.html The link to the PDF is near the bottom. This version seems to have a lot of "skips" -- lots that are in the Westerfield-supplied list, but not here. Also, very few dates here except for the occasional date of a builder's photo. And for some reason, this version ends in October of 1923, so it is a very partial list of ACF's production. On the plus side, this typewritten list was scanned with OCR, so it is possible to search it for a railroad or private line name. This could be a time saver if used in conjunction with the other, more complete lot list. -- Dave Parker Swall Meadows, CA |
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I saw this typed list years ago at the Barriger Library, so it is not recently done.
However, on my Adobe, it is searchable by word or phrase, already.
So it is useful, too, alongside the Westerfield list that has to be searched by eyeball where the quality of the text and reproduction varies from page to page.
Steve Hile
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of Ray Breyer via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 12:24 PM To: main@realstmfc.groups.io; main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] American Car & Foundry (ACF) Lot Number List
That's a very poorly done list of available photographs, Dave, and not a full lot list. And yeah; the image DATE field being mostly empty is inexcusable. In virtually all cases after 1900 a date can be pulled off the car itself (and with only slightly more work, information on which plant the photo was taken at). Before 1900-1905 you can just cross-index to the Westerfield list (which while probably not an official ACF document, is the best we currently have).
Don't bother with OCR for this list; I should have passed my Excel version of the Westerfield ACF list to you a while ago. If not, let me know and I'll send it again.
Ray Breyer
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:15:56 PM CDT, Dave Parker via groups.io <spottab@...> wrote:
Not sure what the "ACF website" is, but with a little digging I was able to find a lot list here: |
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