Depot destruction and Equipment scrapping.

ConnorDoesTrainStuff · **Posted:** Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:27 pm

This last bit of March has not been nice to railroad preservation..

On Sunday, March 24. a man in black clothes broke into and started a fire in the Smithville Railroad Museum in Smithville, Texas. The replica depot and all of the artifacts inside are deemed "Too far gone".

Pictures and more detailed information of the depot arson can be found at this link here

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local ... 7e314b28b9

Also, this past Monday (March 25th) in Belmont, North Carolina, the Milltowne Railway passenger car was scrapped after having no buyer. I have not found any information on the passenger car, so if anyone knows... The Passenger car was on display with a NKP caboose and Milltowne Railay 70 tonner No. 1895. The 70 tonner was scrapped recently as well, although I do not know when.

It's a real shame.

The following link is to a photo of the car being scrapped, I do not know who to credit for this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2P ... jB5w4q/pub

ATK · **Posted:** Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:18 pm

Oh no! That was the New Haven "Keystone State"!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4887887
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1534252

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:42 pm

A different article on Smothville says this:

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190324 ... d-by-blaze

Quote:

With assistance from the Heart of the Pines Volunteer Fire Department, firefighters extinguished the flames in about 20 minutes, Saunders said, all while attempting to carry as many of the museum’s artifacts out of the building as possible.

“We were careful to try and save what we could,” Saunders said. “We were actually fighting the fire on one side of the building and had firefighters on the other end taking everything out that we could.”

Smithville’s Chamber of Commerce director, April Daniels, said those efforts miraculously saved about 85 percent of the museum’s artifacts, although many suffered smoke and water damage. The items that were lost, however, probably are irreplaceable — lanterns, file cabinets, old photographs and a large antique desk that survived a fire that destroyed Smithville’s original railroad depot in 1967.

Emphasis added.

Dave · **Posted:** Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:47 pm

The Belmont NC 70 tonner was an empty hulk, and the car had been stripped as a donor car for the Pine Tree State. I'm not surprised nobody found them worth the cost of removing whole.

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Wed Mar 27, 2019 9:50 pm

Keystone State was one of four 6 Double Bedroom-Buffet Lounge cars built by Pullman-Standard for the Hew Haven in 1955. They were Pullman Plan 4193 and were named Bay State, Keystone State, Nutmeg State and Pine Tree State. The buffet was intended to serve light meals including breakfast in lieu of a dining car.

Two were assigned to the BOS-WAS Federal and I believe the other two were intended for the NY-Portland State of Maine. Instead, they found themselves in NY (Penn Sta) - Montreal (Central Sta) service with the Montrealer/Washingtonian.

Phil Mulligan