I noticed a listing earlier today on Ebay for a supposed PRR outhouse/outside shed. Did the PRR have a standard design for a outhouse? Have any of you fellow RPN'ers seen one like this before? This one is listed as being in Laurel, Delaware. The seller has a $400.00 or make offer for it. It looks to have a bit of character with a roof cupola and wood spires at each end of the roof. It doesn't look like it would be hard to move with a little jacking and winching and would probably fit on a car hauler type trailer. If it is indeed a PRR outhouse maybe some RR museum or tourist RR in the area would be interested? I have no connection with the seller or listing and i just noticed the listing
today and if i lived closer i would probably go after it myself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pa-Rail ... 1755575570?[url][/url]

Another interesting Ebay item i noticed wich ends in about 7 hrs. wich has no bids and a starting price of just 99 cents is a huge 12 ft. long beautiful oak double sided railroad station bench in Saratoga Springs, NY. Would look nice in a railroad station museum. I think the overall size of these larger items and driving distance often keeps some people from bidding. A few years ago i was the only bidder on a similar oak RR station bench wich happened to be only a 45 min. drive away. I got that one for $100 The seller was not overly happy about letting that go so cheap, i told him well you should have put a reserve on it! Again if i lived closer to NY i would go after this bench as it looks like a nice one.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/111580791225?[url][/url]

Wow, Elbe could have bought that and saved over $3 million!

That is actually quite a neat little structure. I'm not sure just how easy it would be to move, what little bottom foundation there is (a couple of boards) would seem to be in poor shape. Of course it's small enough that some judicious bracing and blocking would work well.

I checked my PRR standard plans reprint, but it doesn't have any drawings for outhouses. I do see some resemblance to other small structures and sheds, board and batten siding, roofline etc, but nothing with end finials like that.

Then again, this doesn't look to be a replica, at least not a new one, and if he's trying to scam PRR fans, his "buy it now" price of $400 would seem to indicate he doesn't have hopes of turning a large profit on the deal. (Guessing roughly $395 more than what it would sell for as firewood?)

If the hardwood pallet leaning against it is included I'll bid $7.50......

Any info on the lead-free condition of the paint ???

PRR outhouse, sure it is......

Har har har. KevinK.

How would you even begin to authenticate this? Old photos of the supposed location I gues... Could be a real challenge.

Lead free paint? Heavens no! Only originally PRR lead paint, part of the patina that makes this a historic artifact. You're paying extra for that!

Seems like it would fit in well on the Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern, looks like it would compliment the depot nicely. Wonder if they know about it?

Well, it COULD be a PRR outhouse, but it could be just a plain old outhouse sitting in somebody's yard. It could have been moved from it's original location to become a garden shed. Who knows ? Without photo's of original PRR buildings in that location it's anybody's guess really.

It is a neat structure and might be work $100 for somebody looking for something like that to add "interest" to a historic setting.

Does it come with official historic PRR "droppings" ? (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

Buyer beware.

KevinK.

The cynic in me points out that "Pennsylvania Railroad" is implied, not stated outright. The ad literally says "Pa Railroad".

Could it be from a different railroad in Pennsylvania? Could it be an outhouse from the Ma & Pa Railroad after a divorce? Could the seller think "railroad outhouse" is a name for a four-holer type?

Incidentally, the Laurel, Del. ex-PRR depot is still standing and in use by the local historical society as a museum, but looking at the setting today on Google Street View I would not advocate them reclaiming and restoring this thing.....

I sent the Ebay seller a message asking if they could provide some history on the outhouse as to where it may have come from and if it was from the Pennsylvania RR or from some other RR in the state of Pa. Maybe the darn thing isn't even RR related at all? Who knows?

I realize that it isn't some fancy RR building and it surely doesn't have a keystone #4 number plate on the front designating it as a PRR 0-four-holer type! If it was a actual RR outhouse how many of these are actually preserved at RR museums, restored depots ect.? Lets face it people had to use these things while at depots waiting for the train to arrive!

It would be a fairly easy restoration and could be used as a garden, tool, or storage shed.

Some railroads did have standard designs for outhouses. The B&O for one. Their early 20th Century standard MoW plan book has the design for one. A late friend of mine built one for use by visitors to his live steam railroad. I concur with the posters who note that the description for the structure does not claim that it is a PRR building, just that it is a "Pa. outhouse", which to me only says it is an outhouse that came from Pennsylvania. The railfan way of thinking adds the "PRR" to the description.

BTW, there were no takers for the station waiting room bench.

The Ebay lisiting title clearly said "Vintage Pa. Railroad Outhouse Outside Shed" I wouldn't have even bothered posting this if it had said Vintage Pa. Outhouse. Having the word railroad in the title is what caught my attention and this wasn't even listed in the railroadiana catagory to begin with and was listed under antiques and primitives. How many railfans actually bother scrolling thru antiques and primitives on Ebay? Maybe i'm one of those not so typical railfans that happens to be a class 1 RR engineer, who also has dismantled and preserved a 1890's depot and has a caboose and 40ft. box car out back. I just like old RR stuff and preserving it.


After looking at the Ebay listing pictures it didn't really look like the typical one door outhouses one usually sees and i thought it had a bit of character, and maybe i had that railfan way of thinking when i read Vintage Pa. railroad outhouse! I was mainly curious if maybe it really was a PRR railroad outhouse and if they had a standard plan or design for them.

The RR station waiting room bench was also not listed under the Ebay railroadiana catagory and was listed under antiques and furniture. I wonder if the seller would have actually let it go for 99 cents if a person had bid on it since there was no reserve. It would have been quite the bargain!

Well stayed out of this until now. The folks down Laurel have something to talk about for the past few days!
The "unit" has been sold to a person from Annapolis MD. they are coming down in the AM to pic the Item up.

It is an old PRR two hole job that was moved ( dragged) from the old freight house / station area to a location about 4 houses off the tracks on 7th street west of the railroad. It is empty inside, was used as a garden shed for many years.

Good luck to the new owner

RDGRAILFAN, thank for getting us the straight poop on that story. I feel relieved.