It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:54 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Old Pullman Cars
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:25 pm 

Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 pm
Posts: 87
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
One would have to assume and agree that most of the massive heavyweight Pullman car fleet has been scrapped, and that there are but a few hundred cars that still exist, mostly in museum type settings or maybe sitting somewhere, forlorn.

I recently went looking to find out the final demise of a few KCS heavyweight Pullmans. If they weren't scrapped(probably were), and aren't in a museum somewhere(would probably not be a secret), then the third choice would be something akin to finding them in a cow pasture storing hay. You would think that the place to look in cow pastures would be somewhere in or near KCSland.

I learned from the experts all about how the government leased and stored thousands of cars over the years, especially in the late 50's until the early 60's, and sent them to various storage depots around the country. KCS sleeper CHAGRES went to the Toole Army(Ordinance) Depot in late '58. KCS sleeper ANCON went to the Louisville Medical Depot in early '59. Both were removed from government lease in 1962. For the most part, unless the railroads specifically asked for their return, they were disposed of at the place where they were stored....i.e.... I would have never thought of looking in cow pastures in Kentucky or Utah. One must never be surprised where an old car ends up.

I had once been told that the KCS sleeper BARKSDALE was spotted out at the Red River Army Depot, west of Texarkana. This didn't make any sense at the time, but perhaps it was true...... As an example, this is what happened at Red River: There were an even 100 heavyweight Pullmans placed in storage at Red River between February 24 and December 1, 1958. Eight of them were removed during 1960, one in 1961, and all the rest between March 13 and August 30, 1962. Nine of them were Pullman-owned, and those nine were sold to Midwest Steel for scrapping. The other 91 were RR-owned. Ten of those, all owned by the SP
or T&NO, were sold to Midwest Steel on the day they were removed from storage. One presumes the others met a similar fate. LAKE VIEW, in SOO colors, was stored there, along with five Frisco, three MP (plus four from MP subsidiary I-GN) and 36 Pennsy cars. During the base's "family days", they pulled some of the cars out for excursion rides. Pullman sent a carman out once and a while to inspect them, and to make minor repairs that would cause big problems during long term storage.

These places were once ripe places for old Pullman cars:

Anniston (Anniston Ordnance Depot, Alabama)
Chambersburg (Letterkenny Ordnance Depot, Pennsylvania)
Chemical (Army Chemical Center, Maryland)
Curtis Bay (Maryland) tourist cars 1949-1953
Denver (Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado) 90 cars then sent to various Pullman shops for disposition in 1951
Edgewood (Maryland)
Granite City (Granite City Army Depot, Illinois)
Huntsville (Redstone Arsenal, Alabama)
Jeffersonville (Indiana) all cars moved to Terre Haute(Indiana) in 1957
Lexington (Lexington Signal Depot, Kentucky)
Louisville (Louisville Medical Depot, Kentucky)
Marietta (Pennsylvania)
New Cumberland (New Cumberland Army Depot, Pennsylvania)
New Haven (Indiana)
Ogden (Utah General Depot, Utah)
Pueblo (Colorado)
Red River (Red River Arsenal, Texas)
Richmond (Richmond Quartermaster Depot, Virginia)
Romulus (Seneca Ordnance Depot, New York)
Schenectady (Schenectady General Depot, New York)
Sydney(Sioux Army Depot, Nebraska) 80 sent from Denver in 1952 until 1956
Terre Haute (Indiana)
Tobyhanna (Tobyhanna Signal Depot, Pennsylvania)
Tooele (Tooele Ordnance Depot, Utah) 195 non airconditioned tourist cars stored there 1949-50, then they were sent to Ogden(25) and Denver(170), then a second batch of various cars arrived starting in 1957

Some of these places are gone. I wonder if any of these places still have a boneyard on the property.....not that these places give ready access to the public.....if you've ever been around an army depot, there are lots of army surplus outlets, and lots of junk(maybe out in cow pastures serving as hay barns.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Old Pullman Cars
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:31 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:11 pm
Posts: 371
Quote:
Tobyhanna (Tobyhanna Signal Depot, Pennsylvania)


Ironically, a lot of stuff was stored from the Steamtown collection at Tobyhanna for a number of years. I am fairly certain there were no Pullmans left at the site beforehand.

_________________
SO


Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Dick_Morris, Google [Bot] and 136 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: