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fallen flag cars.. what is the oldest most unusual you have seen recently

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Posted by Andrew Falconer on Saturday, May 10, 2008 10:35 PM

About 3 years ago on the CN in Michigan for a few months there were some B&M Exterior-Braced 50' Plugged Door Boxcars with Dreadnought Ends still in the complete 1973 B&M Blue & Black paint scheme. It was in great shape for a Boxcar series 25 years old at the time.

Add Boston & Maine to your list of freight cars to keep.

Andrew Falconer

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Posted by J. Edgar on Thursday, May 8, 2008 3:57 PM
well either way its still been a while since the SCL has been around....i know my 86 Dodge is almost an antique according to the State of Michigan  Big Smile [:D]
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Posted by locomutt on Thursday, May 8, 2008 3:30 PM
 J. Edgar wrote:
 locomutt wrote:

Not really rare or obscure, but caught these several days ago here in Louisville

on old PRR trackage going to Osborne Yard.(now L & I)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

well not to date myself or anyone here.....id call 'em rare or obscure...been 20 yrs since the "offical" merger that ended the Chessie and the SCL and almost 30 since the "corpate" merger......and since i was i've always known it as either the C&O\B&O or Chessie seeing something like this make me say "Look look !!!!!!!! weres the camera" Wink [;)]

Maybe I should have said: "rare and obscure" yet. 

Apparently they are not old enough to have qualified for the ARR retirement program.

I grew up basically knowing the "Old" C & O, not any of it's spin offs, or merger companions.

I think I just "dated" myself....makes me no nevermind, I'm very proud that I've lived this long.

Being Crazy,keeps you from going "INSANE" !! "The light at the end of the tunnel,has been turned off due to budget cuts" NOT AFRAID A Vet., and PROUD OF IT!!

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Posted by J. Edgar on Thursday, May 8, 2008 2:14 PM
 locomutt wrote:

Not really rare or obscure, but caught these several days ago here in Louisville

on old PRR trackage going to Osborne Yard.(now L & I)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

well not to date myself or anyone here.....id call 'em rare or obscure...been 20 yrs since the "offical" merger that ended the Chessie and the SCL and almost 30 since the "corpate" merger......and since i was i've always known it as either the C&O\B&O or Chessie seeing something like this make me say "Look look !!!!!!!! weres the camera" Wink [;)]

i love the smell of coal smoke in the morning Photobucket
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Posted by garyla on Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:36 PM

On my way to the NRHS convention in 2005, I saw an Northern Pacific gondola on an industrial spur near Eugene, Oregon.  It was in well-worn condition (surprise!), with the carrier name barely legible. 

Far as I recall, it did not have updated reporting marks--BNSF is probably at liberty to go on using the ones from predecessor lines for as long as it's convenient.

If I ever met a train I didn't like, I can't remember when it happened!
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Posted by Ster1 on Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:31 AM

up until Ohio Central took over operation from CSX over the Central Ohio Sub. CSX use to run a C&O cabosse from Newark to Cambridge and back with the original no# 3287, my buddy modeled it.

I don't know what ever happen to it.

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Posted by spokyone on Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:37 AM
 peterjenkinson1956 wrote:
i have repainted 8 x   B & O / C & O     COVERED HOPPERS  I AM WEATHERING THEM FROM USED TO DERELICT   THANKS TO THE FORUM I FOUND A USE FOR THEM OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE DITCHED THEM,,  sorry for the caps   peter
Would you post the pictures over here when you get them finished?
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Posted by locomutt on Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:29 AM

Not really rare or obscure, but caught these several days ago here in Louisville

on old PRR trackage going to Osborne Yard.(now L & I)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being Crazy,keeps you from going "INSANE" !! "The light at the end of the tunnel,has been turned off due to budget cuts" NOT AFRAID A Vet., and PROUD OF IT!!

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 5:35 PM
Just saw a MILW hopper, unpatched, etc.

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Posted by NKP guy on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 4:19 PM

In Kent, Ohio one can see grain cars on the Akron Barberton Belt Ry division of the Wheeling & Lake Erie at our mill; they frequently carry the colors of the former NYC, PC, E-L, and C & NW.  But I was taken aback the other day to see a W & LE train with a unit on the head end in complete D & RGW colors; what a treat, here in Ohio! 

Kent also has a bridge still painted "Nickel Plate Road" and in Akron there is at least one clearly painted "Erie" with the requisite diamond heralds. 

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Posted by SALfan on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 10:56 AM
 transitrapid wrote:

Saint Lawrence Railway..... Who Knows were they are....

On Friday 5/5, behind the O. Winston Link Museum (former N&W passenger station) in Roanoke, VA, I saw a former St. Lawrence boxcar in a NS train.  New owner must have sanded or sandblasted the former name off the car, because you could read the name in the very rusted areas of the boxcar, which otherwise was in reasonably good condition.

In 1997 or before, you could still read the "Western Maryland" on the girders of an unused former RR bridge right next to I-70 between Hancock, MD and Baltimore.

There is a bridge that still carries a very readable black ACL RR label (bridge is silver) visible from U.S. 84 between Valdosta and Waycross, GA.

Maybe 10 years ago, also on U.S. 84 in south GA, saw a NYC boxcar still in its eye-popping jade green.  The lettering and logo were still in good shape.  

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 17, 2008 8:27 PM
 J. Edgar wrote:

its not a car but its a fallen flag....Howell MI circa 1995

 

nice photo

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:23 AM

I think the St Lawrence Railroad/Railway was a Pickens property - they were part of the huge boxcar leasing boom some years back.  The actual railroad was in St Lawrence County in NY.

Saw an SP autorack the other day, installed on an SP flatcar - unusual in that most that I see are installed on TTX flats...

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Posted by peterjenkinson1956 on Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:30 AM
i have repainted 8 x   B & O / C & O     COVERED HOPPERS  I AM WEATHERING THEM FROM USED TO DERELICT   THANKS TO THE FORUM I FOUND A USE FOR THEM OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE DITCHED THEM,,  sorry for the caps   peter
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:15 PM
In 1998, while I was snapping a few photos of the Burlington Junction Rwy. in Mt. Pleasant, IA, there was a Big Sky Blue scheme GN box car that still bore the "GN" reporting marks coupled to the line's center-cab switcher.  I think it was a 40 ft. box (I'd have to dig-through my picture box at home).  They were located in an industrial park north of the former CB&Q main, just east of Hwy. 218.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 14, 2008 11:54 PM
There is a red GN 50ft flat still running around with a build date of 54. Its used for track panel loading. Working for the BNSF I have seen all kinds of GN stuff, even a tank for diesel fuel. The BNSF still has a lot of GN, NP CB&Q and SP&S cars, repainted of course. There was a Reading coil cover on a coil car that I used to see running North and South between Portland OR and California, havent seen it in a while though.
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Posted by Andrew Falconer on Monday, April 14, 2008 10:17 PM
 transitrapid wrote:

Saint Lawrence Railway..... Who Knows were they are....

Pittsburgh and Shawmut--- No clue were that is

St. Lawrence Railway is located in Canada. It is still in operation. Genesee & Wyoming operates that rail line.

http://www.gwrr.com/default.cfm?action=rail&section=3B6a

Genesee & Wyoming took over the Pittsburg & Shawmut, then was merged into the Buffalo & Pittsburg.

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Posted by J. Edgar on Monday, April 14, 2008 4:24 PM

its not a car but its a fallen flag....Howell MI circa 1995

 

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Posted by J. Edgar on Monday, April 14, 2008 4:12 PM

Hillsdale MI 1992ish....disconnected tracks but all appliances are there

 

i love the smell of coal smoke in the morning Photobucket
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 14, 2008 9:00 AM

Saint Lawrence Railway..... Who Knows were they are....

Pennsy Cars mostly gons but they are still out there

Erie-Laccawanna   reapaint mostly coal cars

Pittsburgh and Shamutt--- No clue were that is

Lake Erie and Clarion-  Railroad beens out of buisness for what? 20 years?

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Posted by BNSF_GP60M on Sunday, April 13, 2008 5:42 PM
Some I have seen recently were GN and NP woodchip gondolas, a NW covered hopper, SOU and NW boxcars, MILW boxcar, and a CBQ open hopper. Over the years I have seen a CPR tank car and a CS covered hopper. Living next to BNSF's Bakersfield Sub for 10 years I tend to see a lot.
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Posted by Sunnyland on Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:51 PM
Comment on bridges reminded me there's still a couple around in St. Louis area that still say Frisco or have the "coonskin" logo on them.  BNSF hasn't replaced them and I like seeing the old name when I ride around.
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Posted by MOPACnut on Monday, April 7, 2008 11:30 PM

 packrat wrote:
       I realize this isn't rolling stock but in Akron, Ohio there is a girder bridge (being used reguarly) that has a very nicely (original) "ERIE".  It has been there as long as I can remember, pretty good since there hasn't been an Erie RR since 1963.  Packrat

Had to pipe in on this one. Between Alma and McFarland, KS on UP's former SSW/RI line there's a rusted silver through girder bridge with "Rock Island Lines" still visible on it. Anybody can view it as the road between those two towns paralells the line here.

 I have a photo of it if i could figure out how to post it!Confused [%-)]

I preferr "Rail" over "trail".
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Posted by packrat on Monday, April 7, 2008 11:14 PM
       I realize this isn't rolling stock but in Akron, Ohio there is a girder bridge (being used reguarly) that has a very nicely (original) "ERIE".  It has been there as long as I can remember, pretty good since there hasn't been an Erie RR since 1963.  Packrat
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Posted by Sunnyland on Monday, April 7, 2008 3:54 PM

A couple of years ago I saw a Frisco hopper passing by as I waited for our local light rail.

My parents worked for Frisco, so I was very excited to see it and know there are still a few

"coonskins" still floating around.

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Posted by jcitron on Monday, April 7, 2008 3:31 PM
 ArtOfRuin wrote:

There are still some boxcars floating around where I live of Pan Am's predecessors in their last-before-Guilford paint schemes (B&M, MEC), though the B&M and MEC boxcars are slowly turning into Pan Am cars. Some of their MOW equipment and snowplows still wear McGinnis-era B&M and harvest gold MEC paint, although two of the MEC plows were recently repainted with a black dip job and small Pan Am globe logos.

I've also seen old N&W, BAR, D&H, ATSF, BN, SP, SCL, Chessie System, Rock Island (The Rock), and BC Rail boxcars in the past two or three years, some with new reporting marks. Most of them were in sorry shape, but the N&W cars were surprisingly clean.

We must be seeing the same trains. lol

I've also seen some EL gondolas, an SP&S boxcar, plenty of Pennsy gondolas (all pretty banged up), a NYC boxcar for the ACY, a Reading boxcar in pretty good shap, Lehigh Valley covered hoppers, and some really old CN boxcars with the Maple Leaf logo.

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 7, 2008 3:16 PM

 JA5559 wrote:
A very large percentage (probably 80-90%) of the covered hoppers seen on CSX thru Folkston GA are from predecessor roads, some even B&O and C&O.

On two occasions I've seen some former SCL covered hoppers of the type that SCL used for transporting phosphate rolling-through Dayotn's Bluff (until CP started banning rail fans from that great spot because some yo-yo's got too close to the tracks).  The hoppers still had the big black "SCL" very visible on the cream-colored cars.  Nice to see - never saw the SCL in action but I always liked their paint scheme.

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Posted by JA5559 on Monday, April 7, 2008 2:38 PM
A very large percentage (probably 80-90%) of the covered hoppers seen on CSX thru Folkston GA are from predecessor roads, some even B&O and C&O.
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Posted by Bob-Fryml on Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:39 PM

Late one afternoon during July 1995 I was driving south out of Rapid City, SD on a two lane highway.  As I approached the "Cowboy Line" a few miles west of Chadron, Nebr., the highway crossing signals came to life.  Looking down the track, I saw a westbound C.& N.W. way freight approaching.  I had just enough light and one exposure left in my camera, so I hopped out of my car and snapped-off a picture of the approaching train.  Well, bummer, that I didn't have an additional exposure left because a few cars behind the engine was the real find:  a two-bay, 77-ton capacity M.& St.L. covered hopper sporting its original paint scheme!  There it was 34 years after the CNW-"Louie" merger, and the car looked to be in pretty darn good shape.

Not so many years ago the BN was interchanging C.B.& Q. plus G.N. tank cars to the Union Pacific for loading company diesel fuel at the Cheyenne Frontier Oil refinery.  Some CGW tank cars with their "Lucky Strike" heralds intact may still be hauling diesel fuel to the U.P.'s terminal at South Morrill, Nebr.

Also Union Pacific is supposed to have decorated six open top hoppers stencilled for the D.& R.G.W. and each sports an ancient herald like the Curecanti Needle design, "Thru the Rockies," and so on.

I wonder if the Chicago Transit Authority still has any maintenance of way flats that were, at one time, on a first name basis with the late Samuel Insull?

Once in a great while I'll see a black-with-white-reporting-marks Northern Pacific wood chip gondola, but they're becoming rarer and rarer.      

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