Thought I would offer some information given to me last night from a local railroad offical.... Of note, is the future scrapping of an ex IC heavyweight baggage car located in Gulfport MS. The car is located off live rail, but is right next to live rail... Car has UC valves, bolted pedestal 6 wheel trucks with timken oil bearings...and has been reasonably well maintained... Car is adjacent to KCS ( live track is right next to it ) ....Thought I would pass this along, as perhaps someone might be interested in saving this car...

Property was apparently sold where the car is located, and I suspect if arrangements were made to take the car, a reasonable amount of time could be offered to prep and move the car...

This would be an easy crane move ( one track to another ) , COT&S, etc and it would be good to go...

If anyone has an interest, I can provide additional information...

I include a few recent photographs of the car and offer this information, thinking that perhaps it could be saved, if someone knew it was available.


Dean Levin

I would have thought that this car would be of interest to the guys up at the Montecello Railroad Muuseum. They are putting together an authentic IC passenger car set. Is there anybody from there on this forum? Or does anyone know someone there to pass the info on?

Wes

Would this have been the chocolate brown and orange scheme originally or was this car too early for that?

This is a "Harriman" design car, possibly from as far back as 1910 or so. It would have worn Pullman green or something similar when new. It very likely also wore the chocolate and brown later on (that color scheme was introduced in the 1940s); in fact, it's more likely the car wore that color scheme than didn't in later years.

This car was Illinois Central 818 and arrived in the IC Gulfport yard right after Hurricane Camille in 1969. On a side note IC 793 is also positioned close by ( without its trucks ) ...

I attach a photograph taken by Michael Palmieri showing the car in the chocolate and orange paint scheme.

If anyone is interested in this car, there is about a 2 week window to show intent, and then hope will begin to rapidly diminish..

Contact me should you want additional information.


Dean Levin

Wes -

I believe that MRM already has an IC heavyweight baggage car on the property, or soon to be, on the property. Very similar to this car in that it also has the turtleback type roof.

Les

Speaking of the roof, wouldn't a car of that vintage been built with a clerestory roof? The change was usually made to passenger cars to accommodate air conditioning. Did they change baggage cars (which were not air conditioned) the same way just to match the other cars?

Steve

No, one of the distinctive features of the 1905-design Harriman Standard passenger cars was the round roof. A number of the cars operating at Niles Canyon-PLA are Harriman cars. The SP commute cars of newer (1923-25) vintage that are somewhat commonly seen are not Harriman cars. If the letterboard extends over the vestibule door opening, it's a "real" Harriman.

Howard P.

Most passenger cars of this period did have clerestory roofs, but not all. The cars of the Harriman roads--Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and at this time, Illinois Central--all got cars new that looked like this. The types included assorted head-end cars and coaches.

http://cencalrails.railfan.net/yvrpo.jpg

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=1117164

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=457106

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=497885

http://www.air-and-space.com/20110507%2 ... ar%20m.jpg

http://lariverrailroads.com/burbank/bbmtch1240.jpg

http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/passe ... _jun78.jpg

You might like this site:

http://passcarphotos.info/

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Harriman

Thought a few members of the forum wouldn't mind seeing the ex Illinois Central 793 that also sits in Gulfport... This car is close by the 818, and also arrived sometime around 1969 when the terminal was operated by the IC... This property later was owned by the MidSouth RR and today is owned by the Kansas City Southern...

I also include a photograph taken by Michael Palmieri in 1969 showing the car 42 years ago....still in the IC paint scheme...


Dean Levin