This Pennsy combine is said to be on the Washington & Old Dominion R.R.

This is the outside image. The interior shots are linked off the blow up of the outside image.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/5868

Thoughts?

The W&OD was electrified at the alleged time of the photo. There's no evidence of trolley wire in the photo. Something doesn't add up.

Also, note the apparent headlight housing on the roof of the car at the far end.

Definitely curious.

There was un-wired track in the yard at Bluemont Junction. There are some photos of this car and the yard in the Harwood and Ames Williams books about W&OD.

Wesley

David,

Not sure if that is a headlight looks more like a ventilator intake. Notice the car is still setup for gas lights (6 pairs of chimneys on roof and long tank under car).

If that was a headlight housing then there would be a chimney on it for a gas headlight or the tank would have been replaced with a battery box and you would see signs of an axle driven generator.

Just noticed that the combine was set-up to be end of train in street running service, you can see the dog & pedestrian catcher under the far end. Wouldn't need one if it only crossed streets. Wonder if it was installed when built, after it was relegated to branchline service, or when it arrived on the W&OD?

What is the 3rd hose under the coupler for? The large one would be for steam heat, and the medium sized one for the air brakes. Was there some type of train signaling system for the car conductor to contact the engineer?

Rich C.

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/RO ... _Coach.jpg

same picture but labeled BG&G from http://passcarphotos.info

Could this car be #13 http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/RO ... ownOPT.jpg

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/RO ... rCars.html
more info and pictures

Not even close. Longer car with six-wheel trucks versus shorter car with four-wheel trucks.

I am just about 100% certain that this car was photographed on the northern leg of the WYE at Bluemont Junction in Arlington, Va. Even more so, the car was likely positioned very close to where Southern Railway bay window caboose X441 sits today. The W&OD was fully electrified between the 1912 and 1944. Although, It is also interesting to note that passenger service ceased in 1941, but resumed in 1943 due to fuel rationing during WWII. As for the date of the photo, I cannot confirm this but it seems entirely possible that the wye may not have been electrified, seeing that it was built to turn steam locomotives. Although... Bluemont Junction was the location of their main electric substation (a second one was located in Hendon) so... I don't know.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1l9Z ... sp=sharing

I don't have much trouble believing that this combine was owned by the W&OD, as the majority of their roster was either home built, or second hand equipment. I've been studying all of the rosters I have, and none of the cars under the passenger equipment seem to match up with this one. If the manufacturer of the car could be identified, then that could certainly open up some possibilities. Please see the attached document below (you can enlarge the image by clicking the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4PFDI ... sp=sharing

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/RO ... _Coach.jpg

Unfortunately I wasn't able to provide a terrible amount of information in regards to the identification of this car, but hopefully I was able to provide a little background on the Wobbly & Old Dilapidated Railroad.

Best,
-Andrew

I looked in Herbert Harwood's book Rails to the Blue Ridge and Ames Williams' W&OD book and there is no mention of a PRR car on the roster. The only non-powered passenger cars listed are some ex-Metropolitan RR (NYC) coaches. Two of those were later adapted as work equipment. As Dave Hamley notes, the line was electrified at the time of this photo and before the electrification the line was leased by the Southern. These facts make the presence of a PRR coach of this size a mystery at the time period of the photo if indeed it was at Bluemont Junction or anywhere else on the Washington & Old Dominion. Also the landscape in the background does not look like the landscape in other photos at Bluemont Junction. The PRR photo seems too hilly.

There are few photos in either book of steam operations in the Southern Railroad era and no scenes of any coaches during the pre-electric era.

Wesley

The mystery W&OD car is likely a BC&G car. See the following link.

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/ROLLINGSTOCK/Passenger/PassengerCars.html

Wesley

May I discretely point out that Brother Pierson reposted the Shorpy photo at the beginning of this thread simply as an illustrative example of a PRR type OD combine, NOT as a view of the car actually ON the BC&G. There are minor differences visible between the car in the Shorpy photo and the one in the photo behind the BC&G loco--missing air reservoir, added chimney at rear, etc. Certainly these could be modifications made during the car's BC&G career, but to a professional historian/skeptic, this has to go down as "possible but not proven"--just as with any allegations about this Shorpy photo being on the W&OD.

Deal with enough miscaptioned photos for long enough, and you'll take any and every caption/photo labelling with several grains of salt, no matter how obvious and convincing.