I was viewing a YouTube video this afternoon (ca. 2017) of a 1/3 scale Aerotrain in Ellis, KS. In the video, on the backside of the giant loop of track, you see two VERY long boxcars between time-marks 7:54-8:07.
Does anyone know what these were used for? They look like two 50' boxcars welded together with REA trucks on each end. Were these used in mail service? The minimum turning radius for these has to be quite huge.
Tom
FYI: The Aerotrain in the video was lovingly restored and looks great compared to its condition in 2017:
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Short video
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I recall seeing cars like that in Chicago, once back in the '70s. They were "modern-day" replacements for mail storage cars that were used on the Missouri Pacific.
The PRR also had similar cars used for mail storage. The doors were aligned to the same distance used on their baggage mail B60b cars so they could be loaded side-by-side.
Here's my model of the PRR version:
PRR_X-42fini by Edmund, on Flickr
I recall riding on a 3" scale Aerotrain in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, at Mack Lowry's "Railways of Yesteryear" museum and O scale layout.
Good Luck, Ed
Actually the MP versions were pretty common on the MP after being kicked out of mail servies and before the UP merger, they were used as tool and gang cars on work gangs.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I was familiar with the Pennsy long cars but not the MoPac's. I have seen some long former GN cars in BN work train/MOW service but I do not think they were this long. The MoPac photo comes out a bit distorted perhaps and thus the length might be exaggerated, but still .... wow.
Wayner's book The Cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad shows some interesting examples of unusual PRR boxcars. As early as 1919 the PRR had a boxcar-baggage hybrid # 10001 which looks like a blend of an X29, an armored car, and a WW2 Troop Train car on four wheel passenger car trucks, normal length however. Class B50 and it was not repeated to my knowledge.
A long double door boxcar for storage mail (passenger car trucks) is # 2542. It has side ladders and grab irons and a running board up top. Class X42 was 62' 6 3/4" over strikers in length.
PRR also had a huge automobile car (double door, center doors) No. 59861 and oddly it did not say "Pennsylvania" above the reporting marks but "Experimental." Built during the Depression the caption said it was photographed 18 years later and it still said "Experimental." I assume that is the class X30 which had a length over strikers of 72' 3"! Capacity 6176 cubic feet. Normal height.
A Wayner PRR diagram book also shows a Pennsy X40A boxcar with 7 foot doors and length over strikers of 64' 6 3/4".
All this reminds me that modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad is actually quite a challenge because there is so much to know, they had so much stuff and that the commercial availability of accurate Pennsy models, while large, hardly scratches the surface.
Dave Nelson
gmpullmanHere's my model of the PRR version: PRR_X-42fini by Edmund, on Flickr
Ed,
Did you kit-bash that mail storage car yourself? How does it look navigating around your layout? IIRC, the curves on the backside of your layout were R24".
Hi, Tom
That's actually a brass import from The P Company. It doesn't give me any troubles in the curves. I've got one of the end-door X30 models as well.
PRR_X30-a by Edmund, on Flickr
It was built primarily for hauling fire equipment from the American LaFrance plant in Elmira, N.Y.This car actually lasted in to the Penn central era, IIRC.
Some neat info here:
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2019/08/carrying-vehicles-in-boxcars.html
and here:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/576-x30-box-car-information-for-modelers
dknelsonAll this reminds me that modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad is actually quite a challenge because there is so much to know, they had so much stuff and that the commercial availability of accurate Pennsy models, while large, hardly scratches the surface.
No truer words were spoken!
Regards, Ed
note that these look longer than some contemporary passenger cars because the three-piece trucks aren't located near the quarter points to minimize bending moments ... they are near the ends to minimize coupler issues. Might be some potentially inward interference at the center of the car on curves...
You're correct, the experimental auto car was X30. Here is a diagram and photo
http://prr.railfan.net/freight/freightphotos.html?photo=BuildersPhotos/X30_59861_A34_BillLane.jpg&fr=diag
There was a series of X40 sub-classes X40 to X40c
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=x40.gif&sel=box&sz=sm&fr=ge
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=x40a.gif&sel=box&sz=sm&fr=ge
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=x40b.gif&sel=box&sz=sm&fr=ge
http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=x40c.gif&sel=box&sz=sm&fr=ge
The MOPAC car is classed as an AAR Type "MR" mail storage car with an inside length of 70' 0" and, a length of 73' 9" over the buffers, according to the Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment. The low inside height makes it seem much longer than it really is.