"Barn finds" are becoming more and more rare.

Most are urban myths. Hudson in a barn, PRR loco in a quarry, wood boxcar in a field near Great Falls, Montana.

Oh, wait, the last one is true. What you see is what I saw. I have no info, and any faded markings that might still exist weren't visible from the highway.

Boxcars are everywhere, so no urban myth there, however some are utter treasures waiting to be recovered, i have my eyes on one here in Cheyenne from 1881.

Mike Pannell

Largely intact, too! This deserves a bit more archaeology, yes?

Of course, the other question is "What's inside?" Could be run of the mill stuff or could be gems in the rough.

Bales of hay.

dave

With GPS trackers in them probably. There's an old wooden Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway caboose behind one commercial building in Chattanooga, complete with couplers and trucks.

A couple years ago, my wife and I took a road trip out West. On our way between Walsenburg and Durango, Co I remember that there was a few towns that seemed every other house had a narrow gauge boxcar body as a shed. I could not believe how many we saw. They were as common as barns in farm country. No doubt they were ex-D&RGW as the mainline followed highway 160 fairly close. If I remember correctly, the largest concentration was between Alamosa and Del Norte.

Mike,

You have it good in the arid west. Many of these kinds of beasts back east have been done in by the elements. Old boxcars are not as endangered as tank cars and hoppers, but every year their numbers decline. I have a long list of cars in e east that were "always there" which aren't, anymore...

It may still be a hunter's sport in the west, but in other areas of the country finding barn-fresh cars is more of a detective's game.

Rob

I just traveled US 287 from the Dallas area to Amarillo, TX. today and spotted at least 5 outside braced box cars between Chillicothe and Clarendon ( and I was sleeping for the area prior to Chillicothe) plus 2 steel boxes on the edge of Amarillo in a junk yard. Not sure how many I missed that were off the highway but a lot of ranchers have them.

I'm going to guess there's either nothing inside, or some random farm implements or tools, irrigation pipe, barbed wire, whatever. It didn't seem to have any purpose. There were no vehicle ruts or tracks to it. It may have been used a shelter for horses or other livestock at one time? Or possibly feed storage back then. For now, I'm guessing it's simply an empty wood shed.

Another Great Falls find. I've mentioned this one before, but this fellow's choice of fencing material is sure to make any railfan do a double take. I don't know how many there are, but it's quite the collection!

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5174395 ... P1Fecw!2e0

Just noticed that the combination of "typing" on an ipad and speel check messed this up. Will one of the mods please change "there" to "they're". Thanks!

I linked to your photo over on the Steam Era Freightcars Yahoo list, using it to illustrate the longevity of some of these carbodies, and asked if anyone could provide a clue to the origin. One of the members felt the long corner straps on the upper girt were indicative of the truss rod cars on the Great Northern.

I'm not sure if this can be classified as a "Barn Find" but a friend showed me this a little while ago. He spotted a steam locomotive and some other miscellaneous equipment on the side of the road while driving in southern Cali. I Haven't been able to identify any of it, but I think the steamer could possibly be the one from BGRM.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.7333816 ... !2e0?hl=en

Aaron -

Number 717 certainly fits as to being the engine from Bluegrass. The tank car is neat too. Wonder what is going on with these three pieces?

Les