Wouldn't it be quicker to cut out the middleman ;-) and contact the scrapper directly?

http://www.hub-scrap.com/id4.html

Walt L.

The guy mentioned by Pincus is first in the queue--and, as stated, "his checks don't bounce."

The trucks are rather unusual animals, home-built by the B&O. There's LIKELY not much use for the "average" PV or dinner-train operator. He doesn't need the WHOLE trucks; if there's someone who by some miracle does, they would still do best to talk to me, as I have other parties "on the line" and could conceivably "engineer" a multi-party swap that mutually benefits all.

Of course, if some idiot wants to swagger in and say "I'll give you $50,000 for that truck," more power to him. That purchase will probably show up favorably in the next quarterly national U.S. economic analysis figures......

I am no longer current on this stuff, but I think the only difference between the two is one is set up for 5 x 9 journals and the other for 5 1/2 x 10. When I was actively working on private cars, I actually did know the difference. The trucks share a lot of parts, I think the main difference is pedestals with a 1/2 inch offset in their mounting.

Steve

Was this Tommy Gilbert's hobby shop?

No, Tommy Gilbert's was (and still is) in nearby Gettysburg, Pa.:

http://www.gilbertshobbies.com/

The former shop in question was in New Oxford, Pa., and has been closed for many years now. I still have a refrigerator magnet or something similar from there. When it was still a hobby shop, most of the interiors were still intact, other than that most of the seats were gone; this included the luggage racks, if my memory is correct, and there were at least a couple of seats still in the cars at the ends for the staff to take it easy on now and then. There was also a large metal building in back that held most of the inventory and a very large HO model railroad depicting Horseshoe Curve.

This same fellow also had a second shop just a few doors away called Amro, Ltd., which specialized in European models (i.e., Marklin, Trix., and LGB). This was in a house that burned down some years after closure.

Sorry to see these cars go; someone should have told the owner and/or the scrapper there are equipment brokers like D. F. Barnhart around.

The luggage racks were used for displays. As soon as you went in, the owner was on the right behind the counter and behind him on the luggage racks were several PRR passengers sets. Three if I remember correctly. each has a different loco conist on it. The cars were Athearn. I bought my first PRR passeneger set there. He told me where the passenger cars were, in kit form, and I selected a nice consist. Then it came time to buy the diesels. So he asked me how accurate I wanted to be. He had the short diesels and the longer ones that would have been correct with the additional length being attributed to the steam generator for the heat and kitchen. I still have those trains, assembled but never put on the track.

Great memories!

Later!
Mr. Ed

Oh and he had a G layout right out front than ran between the two cars.

I was in one of the cars when it was an ice cream shop several times - after they were a hobby shop and most of the luggage racks were removed. Still had the seat # tags above the windows and I remember the bathrooms still in it but used for storage.

UPDATED/CORRECTED:

I am pleased to report that a deal has been struck between a private party and Hub Scrap for at least two of the B&O heavyweight trucks in New Oxford, Pa (the aforementioned 19F trucks). They are destined for the restoration of a B&O office car PV in New England.

The purchaser of the 19F trucks reports "I believe the other two are going somewhere else."

So THAT'S why I couldn't find it. I was beginning to wonder if I had dreamed the whole thing, including the models and books I bought.



This is actually an important point.

One of the problems our "hobby"/maddening passion has is that there's really no coordinated way to find out how to preserve historic railroad stuff bigger than, say, something you can pick up and carry. A steam whistle, lantern, oil can, number plate, or the like? There's always "Antiques Roadshow" or eBay. But the town railroad station, or that caboose?

Seriously. Suppose I somehow saddled you with a surprise boat, or light buoy, or bulldozer, or airplane. You're stuck with it, because someone died and left it to you, or fled town and left it behind, or you bought the storage locker. How do you find out whether it's worth anything, or where the best home for it may be (be it the scrap bin or the Smithsonian)?

Do an Internet search for "how do I sell an old railroad car?" or the like. You'll come up with Ozark Mountain, Sterling Rail, and D.F. Barnhardt soon enough. No knock against them, but can we as an avocation do better? NRHS, AAPRRCO, R&LHS, etc. don't even show up in the first few pages.

SHOULD we be doing better? I mean, we lucked out in that this very forum, and Brother Pincus' off-the-cuff remark, prompted my maddening run to New Oxford in 100-degree weather in a car with no AC, AND that the buyer was ready and able to act with no stalling or lingering balderdash and haggling. That's luck. The 2-8-2T, on the other hand.....

That's some good news! They can't all be saved but it's good to get parts to keep the survivors going.

CD

Where is this B&O office car located?

While curiosity is a natural human trait sometimes people don't want to let all the details out for several reasons, could be others interested in the same trucks or just the fact the private owner of the car wants to remain private.

I'm a little more judicious about discussing privately-owned equipment than most people. Let's just say that the owner(s) can choose to come out and discuss the car further. But I'll cite/copy-and-paste what is already pretty fairly well known and posted online. The owner has given me permission to at least reveal the basics:

The car in question is ex-Baltimore and Ohio R.R. office car No. 907, now named the "Sherry Lynette Brannon". The 907 was built by the B&O in its Baltimore, Md. Mt. Clare shops as the "Ohio" in 1897. Originally numbered 707, it was built for Mr. Harvey Middleton, B&O General Superintendent-Motive Power. It was later transferred to the B&O Southwestern Railway Co, lost its name and was renumbered 907. It returned to the parent company in 1906 and was rebuilt for President Oscar G. Murray. In 1910, the new President, Daniel Willard renumbered it 99. It was again renumbered 907 in 1913 and kept this number except when the car was controlled by the United States Railroad Administration (1919-1920) and numbered 63. It remained in B&O service until retirement in 1961 and served the Engineer-Maintenance of Way at Pittsburgh. The first private owner, Richard Snyder, named it "Housatonuc" (the Indian spelling of the Connecticut River). The next owners purchased the car in 1981. The 907 was originally all wood but was modernized in 1915 with steel. The interior is mahogany and contains an observation lounge, two state rooms with baths, dining room, galley and crew's quarters. Currently it can sleep 9. It is 79' 9" long and weighs 97 tons. It is outfitted with Type E automatic couplers, Westinghouse AB brakes, baseboard hot water heat and household electric lighting system. Originally it had steam heat and Pintsch gas lighting.

The car formerly operated on the Valley RR in Connecticut. Photo of her in service there in 1985:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20030 ... 818274.jpg

1996: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=530134

Another photo, 2003: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=248782

Current owner reports: "With the truck rebuild and reworking the air conditioning and generator system, she will again grace the rails of [a different railroad]. Although she is presently in Olive (Pullman) green with B&O markings, I suspect in the future, she will get an exterior rework that will include repainting to the blue and gray."

A bit of "putting two and two together" from information on this thread might lead an astute reader to the probable (hey, I haven't seen it myself, I dunno) current "base of operations" of this car, and even if one lurks far and hard enough in the right places, the owner's name. In a sense, like Bennett Levin and the PRR 120 and E-units, it may not be our business who he is, but it's pretty well known in the "right" circles.

Mr. Mitchell;

Reading back thru several different topics it appears that you have been very successful at saving various pieces of railroad history this past year.

My hat is off to you sir for your part in saving these trucks and you past victories in preservation.

Just a little THANK YOU for your efforts.

T. Wilson

Incidentally, for those attempting to keep track, I was FINALLY able to identify the heritage of those two cars:

The trucks purchased by the PV owner came from the car along the RR tracks, former B&O coach 3565.

The car further from the tracks, the one that was down to a frame and trucks in the photo above, was B&O 3583.