Hmm...

It would appear there are two different histories listed for the car owned by the Hoffman Construction Company in Black River Falls:

Either the car was built as the NC&StL #715 Autumn Air, as listed by Dean, or...

It was built as the NC&StL #708, later renumbered/named #716 Indian Summer, then converted to business car #98 (1948), which was renumbered to #97 (2nd) (1953), to L&N #350 (1957), which is what's listed for the car on Jerry's website.

Looking at pictures of the Duane P. Hoffman, it would appear to be of the same/similar construction as the #714 Sea Breeze at KRM, so the #715 history would make sense in that case...

If the Duane P. Hoffman is the #708/#716 Indian Summer, could this car have been built in the same Lot by AC&F as the #714 and #715?

Pictures of the Duane P. Hoffman for comparison:

June 23rd, 2005: http://abpr.railfan.net/july05/07-14-05/Hoffman_2005_06_23_BlackRiverFalls_WI_g.jpg (Vlad Kedrovsky photo) (click once to enlarge)

June 23rd, 2005: http://abpr2.railfan.net/january12/01-19-12/Hoffman_2005-06-23_BlackRiverFalls_WI_c.jpg (Vlad Kedrovsky photo) (click once to enlarge)

November 12th, 2009, the photographer also notes the #708/#716 history: https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2495/4151422689_481d18fdce_o.jpg (Earl C. Leatherberry photo) (click once to enlarge)

June 1st, 2012: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3047621 (Dennis Weber photo)

This thread from April 2004 mentions that the Duane P. Hoffman was formerly in Baraboo, WI: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9451

Before we get too far off base.

The coach obs car mentioned in the post above was a one of a kind heavyweight conversion built for the City of Memphis. It is owned by Vintage Locos and is at TVRM.

From the TVRM all time roster:
Pullman "Indian Summer" 1917
NC&StL Office car (no number listed on the TVRM roster)
L&N office car 350
Glentex Corp "Nine Times" (I understand there is quite a story behind the name)
donated to TVRM
Sold during bankruptcy and sent to Baraboo WI

I don't know where the 98 came from but that was the number of Gordon Street's private car which was stored at Terminal Station with the Glentex car. The 98 is now at TVRM.

Tim Andrews
TVRM

TVRM 98 Eden Isle is the business car formerly known as B&O 98.

As for the Black River & Northern car I use to list it as NC&StL 715 Autumn Air but was contacted several years ago by someone with the Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Preservation Society who said that the car was actually ex-L&N 350, exx-NC&StL 97, exxx-98, exxxx-716 Indian Summer, nee-708. It has been listed as such ever since.

Thanks, Tim and Jerry, for all the info!

NC&STL 714 Sea Breeze is still at KRM. One of the younger members led an effort to use plywood to seal up the window openings. The car is now fairly secure, or at least that is the last I heard. At one time, in the recent past, the museum in Union City, TN (the ones that acquired the 4-6-0 and coaches that were originalloy from Sweden) expressed interest in the car, but a deal was never consumated.

As a side note, both 714 and 715 (Autumn Air were numbed at the end of the NC&STL's first order of steel coaches from ACF. I believe even the railroad's equipment profile diagram book makes no distinction between these two cars and coaches. If you look at the end railing setup on either car, you will notice that the end platform is rather "narrow" for an open platform. Also, the railing doesn't appear to match anything made by the car builders. The railing also incorporates the corner posts and collision posts. It looks to me like both cars were created by the NC&STL at their own shops using two coaches in the series. The homebuilt quality of the end railing seems to bolster that belief.

Les, the Monon "home built" caboose they are talking of is the steel wide-vision one. It was fairly complete, but was the subject of an arson fire several years ago. I believe one end of the interior is toast as a result.

David -

Thanks for the clarification. I knew that KRM had offered the Monon wood cupola caboose to the MRHTS, but hadn't realized that they had also offered the fire damaged steel bay windowed cupola caboose to the Society.

Les

Les, I don't know if they had offered the steel caboose to the MT&HS, but that was the caboose referenced by the original poster.

David -

This was the comment made much earlier in this thread on which I based my comments about the Monon caboose. I knew that the wood cupola caboose had once been offered to MRHTS and I assumed that it was this caboose that Mr. Mathews was talking about. I will see what I can find out about the Monon steel cupola caboose.

Les

Thanks, David, for the info on #714 and #715!

David -

Received some comments from MRHTS members and this is their take on Monon steel cupola caboose 81525:

1. At one time, the Society offered to purchase the caboose but KRM not interested.

2. After the caboose fire, still interested (or willing to help in its restoration), but KRM "waiting for insurance settlement". Not sure that a settlement ever received.

3. The 81525 was never offered to MRHTS.

Hope this sets the record straight. BTW, MRHTS did contribute to the restoration of Monon BL2 #32 at KRM.

Les

I'm not sure why KRM won't turn her loose, last I heard, they were doing nothing with it. It was always in a state of suspending restoration. Back when I started going to KRM, volunteers had removed the L&N-installed oil tanks (which blocked the windows at one end), and had done some other work. The car was painted, but never lettered, the windows were never reinstalled in the openings, and generally nothing was done to the car until the fire. It's a neat car, with a neat story, and deserves better. It also rode well, as we used it a few times, great view from the coupola.

Yes, the Monon society did contribute to the BL2 work, I seem to recall even some members came down and helped. A lot of work was done on that locomotive, including repairing the collision posts at both ends, which had corroded and dropped the nose on each end.

Thanks for the clarification, Les.

The last time I saw the Sea Breeze car it appeared there was no evidence of windows being boarded up or anything. Also I know the MRS-1 was removed by it's owned, and the FM H-12-44 was sold for scrap, along with an early 44 Ton switcher NEO #1025. Does anyone know if the yard goat and S-1 were scrapped or not?

Swade:

When I was at KRM last week I checked out the Sea Breeze. Some attempt had been made to board up the windows and the doors. The door on the end of the car hooked up to the flatcar holding Louisville Cement #11 was still secured but the one on the platform end had been kicked back in again. Some of the windows still had their plywood fillers but many had been pulled back out by either weather or vandals.

Also noted that the steps to the platform (on the woods side) had rotted all the way through and the steps have fallen off the car in a big chunk.

I think the S-1 got scrapped unless its on the short spur towards New Hope which I didn't check out because I found the 0-6-0T sitting out the main out that way and that was what I was looking for. Otherwise it's not to be found anywhere in the New Haven yard.

Sea Breeze as of last week 8/2/15:

http://boilerwash.deviantart.com/art/Se ... -552431354

It seems I stand corrected. Thanks for the pic; I'm just glad to see something was done to it. The S-1 must've been scrapped then because I don't think it's any further back in the yard. There was some talk a while back that someone bought it from the scrapper but I've never seen any pictures of it later than 2011.