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Unusual Railcars
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4222		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Hume Kading [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 1:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Unusual Railcars
A Flimsies entry got me to thinking about unusual dedicated railcars. The one in question was used to transport fish, which I guess they do by truck now?

Regardless, when I was at the Air Force museum in Dayton, I was surprised to see a mobile missile launcher car on display.

Another example is the cars used to transport helium from the source near Amarillo (and by the way, contrary to intuition, these cars were very heavy).

What other oddities are out there, preserved or otherwise?

Flimsies
hkading@rypn.org
Author:  dave [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 2:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
I've always been partial to funeral cars and trollies. And, my old Lionel set had a car that shot off a plastic propeller but I think there was no prototype for it.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars *PIC*
In addition to the Missile Launcher car you saw at Dayton (which I believe was a prototype for the never-completed MX missile system, if I'm remembering my cars right), the US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland features a German K-5 Leopold 280mm (11 inches)rail-mounted cannon, capable of firing a round 31 miles. See link below.

The Museum and base are currently closed to the public for the time being due to security concerns.

The Leopold Gun or "Anzio Annie"
Image
lner4472@bcpl.net
Author:  L Beckman [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 3:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
> In addition to the Missile Launcher car you
> saw at Dayton (which I believe was a
> prototype for the never-completed MX missile
> system, if I'm remembering my cars right),
> the US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen
> Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland
> features a German K-5 Leopold 280mm (11
> inches)rail-mounted cannon, capable of
> firing a round 31 miles. See link below.

> The Museum and base are currently closed to
> the public for the time being due to
> security concerns.

ADM4: Thanks for the comments and especially the photo! I seem to recall that, during World War I, the Germans used a rail mounted gun to lob shells at the French in Paris. I believe the gun was nicknamed "Big Bertha." I wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me or if I did indeed read about such a weapon. If it did exist, is it the same gun you furnished a photograph of, or if not, what size of gun was that one?

A side question, how did they get the German 11" gun in the photograph from shipside to Aberdeen? My guess is that it went by rail. If so, over what railroads and do any photographs of the journey exist?

Les Beckman (HVRM)

midlandblb@cs.com
Author:  ge13031 [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 4:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
Yes there was a german gun named Big Bertha ...someplace I have a (purported) chunk of the breech mechanism that was salvaged (pocketed) by one of those in attendance at its destruction.

Back to business ... not very old but how about the last Hersheys Chocolate cocoa bean car ? A relatively late model steel boxcar painted brown (probably chocolate brown ?) roller bearing trucks insulated with plywood interior and bulkhead cranes.



lamontdc@adelphia.net
Author:  Wesley Paulson [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 4:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars Capital Transit Co.
I nominate DC Transit 0509 as an unusal car. This 1899 product of American Car started out as a center-aisle open, was later enclosed. In the 1920s it was reassigned as a MofW car. At some point the car received the re-gauged Peckham trucks from the ex-Baltimore parlor car "Maryland". And a sliding door was installed in the side of the car. Then ca. 1946, the company removed the back platform and installed an LST-type door that enabled the car to load and carry PCC trucks across town. The car survives at National Capital Trolley Museum in that condition, and is operable. Sorry, but I don't have a photo.

National Capital Trolley Museum
Author:  Keith Albrandt [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
In 1946, the Army converted many of their “hospital cars” (ward cars and ward-dressing cars) to serve as mortuary cars. Windows were covered with sheet steel, special locks installed in all doors, and they were fitted with racks for caskets and a full-length overhead I-beam with a rolling chain hoist.

One such car was the “Cyprus II”, originally the private varnish of Daniel C. Jackling, father of the open-pit method of mining.


kalbrandt@rypn.org
Author:  Michael Seitz [ Tue Oct 22, 2002 10:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
Another nifty military special is a B-52 training train, complete with cockpit/nose section. This four car train is currently resident at Fairchild Air Force Base outside of Spokane, Washington. There was a museum there with other Air Force rail equipment, but I believe it is no longer open (9/11) and may need to be relocated.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

mikefrommontana@juno.com
Author:  Ted Miles [ Wed Oct 23, 2002 11:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
Hume,

The funeral car was mentioned. The only street car that I know of is the Descanso at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. The St Paul is a chapel car and it was sold recently; I have not heard who or where it went.

At the Western Railway Museum we have an open car from the Salt Lake and Garfield. Very rare in the West the cars were used to carry crowds to and from the "Big Band" concerts at the Saltair Amusement Park out in Salt Lake.

Also in the traction area, two or more of the Eastern museums, Shoreline for sure has a cable car that was converted to electric traction.

And here in San Francisco we have the Cable Car system, Last of its kind in the world. At one time there were more than two dozen cable car cities in the United States.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@nps.gov
Author:  Boyd "Allan& [ Wed Oct 23, 2002 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars *PIC*
An unusual passenger car exists at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum. It's a business car with an automobile garage in one end. It was built for Great Northern Railway's president James J. Hill in 1905 by Great Northern's St. Paul, MN shops. It was built as a wood car, and at a later date had steel sheeting applied to it's frame and exterior. It's currently awaiting funds for restoration, and has been stabilized to prevent further deterioration (the steel sheets had started coming off of the sides).

Allan

Great Northern A22
Image
ddg14@attbi.com
Author:  Rob Davis [ Wed Oct 23, 2002 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Milk, Coal and wires
Ann Arbor, MI once had an interuban milk trolley. On a similar note, Pennsylvania's Northern Electric had hopper motors to serve the on line mines.

Rob

Ahead of the Torch
trains@robertjohndavis.com
Author:  Frank Hicks [ Wed Oct 23, 2002 8:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars *PIC*
> At the Western Railway Museum we have an
> open car from the Salt Lake and Garfield.

WRM has the free world's supply of open-platform interurban obs cars. I think there are only five in North America, of which three are at Rio Vista!

> Also in the traction area, two or more of
> the Eastern museums, Shoreline for sure has
> a cable car that was converted to electric
> traction.

There are a number of electric cars around that were converted from non-electrics, mainly from horsecars or 1800's steam-road coaches. There are some truly odd electrics out there, from the St. Louis sprinkler car at MoT, to the half-open/half-closed freight motor stored in Ohio, to the subway parlor car at Branford, to the weird wire greaser at OERM. The self-propelled dump car pictured below isn't something you see everyday.

Frank Hicks

Image
fullparallel@wideopenwest.com
Author:  David Ackerman [ Thu Oct 24, 2002 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
Another class of car that comes to my mind is the logging cars you occassionaly see out west. There's the standard "let's just put trucks on the tree tunk" sort of thing that you can find a few of, but I also saw a really odd contraption at the North West Railway Musuem in Snoqualmie Washington. I was a complete car intended to carry a log and roll it off at its destination. (sort of a side dump flat car contraption.) Couldn't carry the biggest timber, but nonetheless an interesting car. (They've got an oversize stump off some rather large mountain tree on it that's really way to big, which their sign admits. It's propped up on iron poles on one side.) Addiotionaly, MOT has a recent odity, in the form of a center spine intermodal car. And a few other beasties of one sort or another. (The Whale comes to mind, but I don't recall what it's for. This is a monster eight axle tank car, (ACF I think) for the currious.) Does anyone have a depressed center flat in preservation? I saw one recently in Iowa, out in a yard.

Sincerely,
David Ackerman

david_ackerman@yahoo.com
Author:  Boyd "Allan& [ Thu Oct 24, 2002 2:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars *PIC*
Another unusual car also exists at Mid-Continent. It was built for Great Northern as an RPO, and later converted to a mail storage car, and then finally a steam generator heater car. The car's usage is not what is unique about it though. I don't know the exact length, but compared to other heavyweight cars, it is very short. In a consist of "standard" length cars, it looks very odd.

Allan

Great Northern #90
Image
ddg14@attbi.com
Author:  L Beckman [ Thu Oct 24, 2002 2:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual Railcars
> Another unusual car also exists at
> Mid-Continent. It was built for Great
> Northern as an RPO, and later converted to a
> mail storage car, and then finally a steam
> generator heater car. The car's usage is not
> what is unique about it though. I don't know
> the exact length, but compared to other
> heavyweight cars, it is very short. In a
> consist of "standard" length cars,
> it looks very odd.

> Allan

Allan: Interesting. Wonder what its length is? The Burlington had a similar "shorty" heavyweight that used to run on the mixed train between Aurora and Oregon, Illinois. The car as I recall, was a RPO/baggage/coach. I can't recall the number but perhaps someone from the Burlington Historical Society can furnish it (and the cars length.) I often thought it would have made a perfect museum car. Unfortunately, unlike GN #90, it was not preserved.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, IN)

midlandblb@cs.com
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