A request from Leo Ames on the Trains Magazine forums:



(He already knows about how cars are named in series -- he just wants to know if there is anything 'local' about the choice of the name 'Sandy Creek')

There is an actual creek named "Sandy Creek" in Monroe County in Western NY. It empties into Lake Ontario at Hamlin NY.

I suspect there are other "Sandy Creeks" in the areas served by the NYC. Without any documents from the folks coming up with the names we may never know what the car was named for.

Other observation car names like Manhattan Island are more definitive.

Cheers, Kevin.

According to this database;

http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=136:1:15609949581657

There are three Sandy Creeks (classified as streams) in New York State

One Village of Sandy Creek in NY

Three streams in PA, at least one in Ohio, IL and IN.

About 290 places (towns or streams) called Sandy Creek in the US.

It looks like anybody's guess which one that NYCRR car is named after.

The town of Sandy Creek, NY should be a familiar place to many on RYPN as it was the home of Rail City, which claimed to be the first operating steam train museum in the USA.

Rob

Also, there are several "Hickory Creeks" in IL and IN. None in NY.

Maybe the persons naming those cars just made up "Sandy Creek" and "Hickory Creek" without any reference to a real location ? I believe it was the Pullman folks that made up those names, maybe they just needed a few credible "creek" names for a distinct set of cars (only two, Sandy and Hickory).

Didn't the NP name some sleepers after "Lochs", even thought there are no "Lochs" in their territory ?

Maybe it was just marketing, have you noticed all the "new" drug names that are not real words or places or things ?

Cheers, Kevin.