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Rail equipment to help tell a story
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27262		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Les Beckman [ Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Rail equipment to help tell a story
Although we often think of preserved rail equipment ending up in railroad museums, it can, on occassion, help tell another story. In Atlanta, Illinois, the good folks decided that, rather than let their old wooden J. H. Hawes grain elevator be used as a trainning exercise for the local fire department, it was worth saving. They renovated it and turned it into a museum. And to help tell the story, they then went out and purchased an old single sheathed Wabash boxcar from ITM, renovated it, and placed it on a short section of track next to the elevator. The boxcar tells its little bit of the story of how grain was shipped in days gone by. Tom Troike took these nice photos of the museum. Atlanta was once served by both the Pennsylvania Railroad and the GM&O. I'm not sure which line served the Hawes elevator.

Les

Attachments:
Hawes IL elevator and Wabash box # 47194 6-22-08.jpg
Hawes IL elevator and Wabash box # 47194 6-22-08.jpg [ 189.78 KiB | Viewed 13207 times ]
Hawes IL elevator and Wabash boxcar 6-22-08.jpg
Hawes IL elevator and Wabash boxcar 6-22-08.jpg [ 135.28 KiB | Viewed 13191 times ]
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
This exhibit is inducing flashbacks of a similar exhibit--I think it was a smaller mill/warehouse and a boxcar and/or caboose--that I remember seeing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula sometime around my wedding a couple years back (instead of a bachelor party, I was turned loose with a full tank of gas to go railfanning and brewpub-crawling). Looking at the map, I'm thinking Hermansville or Powers? Any ideas?
Author:  Alan Maples [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Two other examples come to mind; the City of Chicamauga, Georgia, has preserved the ruins of a coke oven and has added a couple of open top hoppers to the site to enhance interpretive efforts; and in Kentucky, the Blue Heron mine site (destination of the Big South Fork Scenic excursions) has several hopper cars positioned under the mine tipple.

Alan Maples
Author:  PCook [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
The City of New Bedford Massachusetts would need a string of authentic New Haven Railroad boxcars with leaking containers of PCB laden capacitor oil to provide a proper historical interpretive presentation that demonstrates the need to dig up the top ten feet of dirt in the city's railroad yard and have it incinerated.

PC
Author:  Les Beckman [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Alan Maples wrote:
Two other examples come to mind; the City of Chicamauga, Georgia, has preserved the ruins of a coke oven and has added a couple of open top hoppers to the site to enhance interpretive efforts; and in Kentucky, the Blue Heron mine site (destination of the Big South Fork Scenic excursions) has several hopper cars positioned under the mine tipple.

Alan Maples


Anybody got any idea as to the type and the heritage of the coal hoppers at the Chickamauga coke oven and/or the Blue Heron mine site?

Les
Author:  kbarnett [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
The hoppers at Blue Heron on the Big South Fork are former C&O (70 ton?) hoppers painted black and lettered Southern.Their website shows the tipple with cars but it is hard to make out the cars underneath it.
Author:  Les Beckman [ Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Stumbled across this thread from 2009 showing the preserved J.H. Hawes elevator in Atlanta, Illinois and a Wabash single sheathed boxcar parked next to the structure. Realizing that I had recently run across a similar display, thought I would add it to this thread:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3809578

This is the circa 1902 Milwaukee Elevator Company structure in Preston, Minnesota. The box car parked next to the elevator is MILW 34588, built in 1939. Nice touch here is that 1951 built Milwaukee Road caboose #992095 was added on a second track. Not sure if this is the way the tracks were originally arranged in Preston, but if the caboose was on the former main line track, the street light must have been added later. Preston was about 6 miles from the start of a 50 mile CMStP&P branch to Caledonia, Minnesota. Wonder if there are any other existing vintage elevators that use an old box car as part of their interpretive story?

Les
Author:  Dennis Storzek [ Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Well, the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis includes this 1880's boxcar:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/millcitymuseum/14944869820/in/album-72157646476368960/
Author:  DJSullivan [ Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
The Mill City Museum looks great. Wonderful old boxcar. I wonder how many 19th century freight cars still exist. Nice to see them!
Author:  Brian Norden [ Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Dennis Storzek wrote:
Well, the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis includes this 1880's boxcar:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/millcitymuseum/14944869820/in/album-72157646476368960/
There is a conservation report about the box car available on line:
THE CONSERVATION OF AN 1879 HASKELL AND BARKER WOODEN BOX CAR
Author:  Brian Norden [ Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Across the river in St. Paul is the Minnesota History Center also operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. It has a steel Soo Line box car inside the building as part of a display about Minnesota history. The box car has been in the Museum for probably a couple of decades.

Here is a write-up about the exhibit with a photo of the car. This newspaper article tells about the concept of engaging school age children with the local history.
Making history go 'Wow'
Author:  robertjohndavis [ Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
Les,

The Georgia cars are on the list. I believe they are ex Reading.

Rob

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... o/htmlview
Author:  John T [ Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
The Issaquah, WA depot museum has a steel Great Northern flat loaded with a steam donkey.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... key_01.jpg
Author:  Tom Davidson [ Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
How does one submit corrections to that list?

Tom
Author:  John T [ Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Rail equipment to help tell a story
DJSullivan wrote:
The Mill City Museum looks great. Wonderful old boxcar. I wonder how many 19th century freight cars still exist. Nice to see them!


Camp Elkanah is located near Starkey, OR about 17 miles southwest of Hilgard on Highway 244. Donated to the Blue Mountain Conservative Baptist Assn. in 1956 by Herbert Tempelton president, Mt. Emily Lbr. Co. The main buildings at the camp are ten Mount Emily Lbr. Co. bunk cars built on Great Northern box car frames. All of the frames were built in the 1890s.
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