Texas Zepher Dave-the-TrainBack against the buildings there is a weird GN car. I can't make out the writing... but I suspect that it is one of the varieties of "combination" cars I was going on about part way through my "woodchip hoppers" thread a week or so ago. The car is interesting as it has cattle car type sides for part of the sides but relatively small side doors. It also has a door arrangement in the visible end... plus the weird roof. I was guessing a horse car. The doors in the ends make easy acess from the caboose to the horses. The funny rectangles down near the door would make for easier mucking of the stables. But why would it or any livestock related car that be spotted at this industry? I was wondering what the with splotches at the upper left side of several of the cars was for? In some instances it is slapped right over the road name.
Dave-the-TrainBack against the buildings there is a weird GN car. I can't make out the writing... but I suspect that it is one of the varieties of "combination" cars I was going on about part way through my "woodchip hoppers" thread a week or so ago. The car is interesting as it has cattle car type sides for part of the sides but relatively small side doors. It also has a door arrangement in the visible end... plus the weird roof.
I was guessing a horse car. The doors in the ends make easy acess from the caboose to the horses. The funny rectangles down near the door would make for easier mucking of the stables. But why would it or any livestock related car that be spotted at this industry?
I was wondering what the with splotches at the upper left side of several of the cars was for? In some instances it is slapped right over the road name.
I don't think that it's a horse car... AFAIK cars for expensive horses were more varnish style - some were combined carriage and horse cars- and "ornary" 'orses went in cattle cars, combination cars or "farm(ers) cars" I also noted the cars it was spotted near and the industry... which is why I was thinking of a cobination car working as a ventilated car.
Looking at this pic and some others from the site of the same location I think that the "blotches" are one of the following (depending on the car)
This is only theory but in soe pics that show the more clearly that sees to be a reasonable idea.
It's really worth hunting through the other pics on the site.
Those pictures are actually in the Library of Congress. There are links in Shorpy to 4 or 5 from Duluth, all of which have a lot of detail.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Thanks for the great picture. Can use it a lot...... really good example to use for modeling weathering, train yards, buildings, signs, litter, traffic, etc.
Hal
this is AWESOME. I'm modeling a yard and couldn't quite envision it in my head. This is it. Perfect. Thanks for the inspiration!!
I've held up the work on my layout becuase of it. thanks for curing my Modelers Block
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Being from a glass negative means that the photo can be enlarged to your heart's content and the details won't blur. Those old photos of that type are great to use to make scale drawings and see fine details.
Gerry S.
Dave-the-TrainBack against the buildings there is a weird GN car. I can't make out the writing... but I suspect that it is one of the varieties of "combination" cars I was going on about part way through my "woodchip hoppers" thread a week or so ago. The car is interesting as it has cattle car type sides for part of the sides but relatively small side doors. It also has a door arrangeent in the visible end... plus the weird roof. I think that there are two options for what is going on... it could be a cobination car that can be box car, ventilated box car, ?cattle car?, or top loading covered hopper car. (If the last there would be internal panels that would cover the side openings.... these might be placed vertically when the car was a boxcar and,possibly, set at angles when the car was acting as a hopper. They would be of a size that would mean that they could be stacked out of the way at one end when the car was being used with the sides open. The other thing that comes to mind - because of the end door - is that it might be a poultry car... although the "open" panels in the side look a bit big for this
Back against the buildings there is a weird GN car. I can't make out the writing... but I suspect that it is one of the varieties of "combination" cars I was going on about part way through my "woodchip hoppers" thread a week or so ago. The car is interesting as it has cattle car type sides for part of the sides but relatively small side doors. It also has a door arrangeent in the visible end... plus the weird roof. I think that there are two options for what is going on...
One good hint might be the buildings where these cars are spotted - they both are produce or fruit dealers. Ventilated box cars would be my guess. The roof hatches are for more ventilation in fair weather...
Neat site...
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
Wow, them are some great photos
Love the picture. Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy
Paul
hi
CB&Q,
thx and in the story about the incline I found a link to some more
http://www.funimag.com/photoblog/
Have fun
Dave-the-TrainBack against the buildings there is a weird GN car. I can't make out the writing... but I suspect that it is one of the varieties of "combination" cars I was going on about part way through my "woodchip hoppers" thread a week or so ago. The car is interesting as it has cattle car type sides for part of the sides but relatively small side doors. It also has a door arrangeent in the visible end... plus the weird roof.
Oh! The turn of THAT century.
Paul ... Here is a photo from the same website, and it says "Incline Railway".
http://www.shorpy.com/Duluth-Incline-Railway
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
wonderfull pictures, I loved them but
in the background is some structure going uphill, seems a track to a mine? TMHO way to steep for a railroad, can some one tell what it was?
Amazing to see how high the buildings were, while a few yards down the road all the space you needed could be found. How important it was to be close to the tracks in a time when every thing went on hoof; Henry Fords model T changed a lot.
That long car in the foreground is a furniture and automobile car (it says so on it )... both "commodities" that are (relatively) high volume and low density. The nature of the load would mean that the wood frame and truss bars could cope with the length. Given that this car has pretty small side doors one end almost certainly has full doors. I don't know if I have a CNW example but I' pretty sure that I have drawings for this variety of car... somewhere.
Then there's another pic http://www.shorpy.com/node/6990?size=_original which has two cars marked "ventilated & refrigerated"in the middle and at the back right. These were cars that could carry ice for chilled loads - like meat - or have various panels or air scoops opened to provide a "cool"/ventilated load for things like vegetables... the era being before everything in sight was frozen and transported frozen.
Looking again there is what looks like a cattle car in the middle of this line of cars... once more the open sides of a cattle car could double as a ventilated car... one would hope that cars were thoroughly cleaned out between uses!
This is a great site Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
... taking another look at the second pic... what on earth are the men doing on the cars at the righthand end? ...another look ... and they're not looking at the bandsmen, that's right, bandsmen sneaking down the track in front of NP14343... That is some pic!
and 3rd track behind the against the building is another (or the sae car) with the weird roof and part open side...
... one of those gons is in a pretty bad way...
GN33776 has lumber doors in the non-brake end... I don't recall if they would have been in the brake end as well.... all the ones I've noticed are top and botto doors like this and not full height doors - I suspect that this was to do with strength in the car end.
Yes there is a ton of wonderful stuff on that Shorpy site. Check out this great industrial shot taken in Joliet IL
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6945?size=_original
That Duluth photo is the best possible advertisement for modeling the 1900 to 1920 era. By the way Shorpy has other shots seemingly taken at the same time.
Can anyone from Duluth tell us which, if any, structures in this photograph remain standing? Duluth/Superior is a fascinating destination for the railfan, even apart from the excellent museum and tourist railroad there.
Dave Nelson
Tom .. thanks for sharing. I noticed the site has oages and pages of vintage railroad photos. It is a gold mine of ideas for modelers of old time railroading.
That is something. It reminds me immediately of George Selios, except there isn't enough litter...
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
WOW!!!
What a gold mine of architectural and railroad data, and not just for a century ago. How long were some of those buildings kept in use?
Note the 'Hard Sell' on Owl cigars. OTOH, how much does a 1904 nickle equate to in 2007 money? I seem to remember reading that a nickle would buy a loaf of bread...
If anyone thinks that long boxcars are a recent phenomenon, just check that one in the foreground - bottom right corner.
Thanks. I think a bunch of people needed that.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
For you turn of the century urban modelers. WARNING! Picture is huge! From the Shorpy Historic Photo site.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6924?size=_original
Tom