Kind of an interesting photo story on the Ahead of the Torch (AOTT) website submitted by a guy who lived with his Mom, Dad and older brother in an old wood boxcar when he was younger. The badly deteriorated car is still in existence in French Lick, Indiana. Surprisingly, the old Southern lettering is still visible along with the last two figures of the road number (77). There is also a very small portion of the number in front of those two numerals and it almost looks like it could be a third 7, making the last three numbers of the car; 777. Anyway, the story and photos got me to wondering if any 40' double sheathed wood boxcars from the Southern are preserved anywhere?


Les

I’m intrigued, but I did some searching but could not come up with the post. Care to share?

SR6900 -

I've never been able to figure out how to transfer a photo or article from AOTT over here to RyPN. But, I just looked for the thread on the old SR wood boxcar and I too, couldn't find it. Was I having a seizure? Maybe it was never there. My apologies if that was the case.

Les

I did a general search on Facebook and came up with nothing, perhaps it’s in your browser history or on a different group?

SR6900 -

I checked with one of the moderators of the AOTT website and he didn't see the post. He says that there were no moderator deletions made recently, so the original poster apparently deleted the thread. I don't remember the posters name. So apparently no way to track any information down.

Also, no answer to my question about possible Southern Railway wood boxcars preserved somewhere, so apparently none were.

Les

SR6900 -

Thread popped up again on the AOTT website today. Check it out to see if you can find it now.

Les

Hey Les,

Not sure I see what you are talking about on the Ahead of the Torch facebook page. Am I looking the right place, or is there something else out there with the same initials?

Just as curious as you to know if Southern wood sheathed cars survive.

Still turning up nothing. Are you sure where you are seeing it, can you send a screenshot?

Stuart -

Tried to find some info on the internet. The Southern Railway Historical Association has a website that lists 29 Southern freight cars as being preserved in various states of the Union. Unfortunately, they don't always show a lot of details about those cars. There are two 40' cars listed at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, one of which is Southern #14569 built in 1940 and another one with no number and no built date. The second car MIGHT be a wood car, but who knows? There is also a boxcar at the North Carolina Transportation Museum listed as Southern # 262914, with absolutely no info. Also, a possibility. I tried to find some additional info on the two boxcars on the TVRM and NCTM websites but had no luck.

Les

UPDATE - Found a photo of Southern boxcar # 262914 on another website. It's a modern 50' double door car. So, not a wood car!

Les