I am starting to scan the Kansas City Southern negatives that I ended up with, lots of neat stuff buried in them.

This conveyance was photographed at Sandel, Louisiana sometime around 1925.

Does anyone know what it is?

Jason Midyette

Wow, there truly is a prototype for just about anything, huh? Looks like it was made by Jed Clampett's nephew Jethro.

A quick flip through Edmund Keilty's The Short Line Doodlebug proved fruitless, at least in an "a-ha!" discovery.

First, the "what"--this is quite obviously a road bus body adapted to rail use, hauling a similarly-built trailer. The distinguishing characteristics lead me to suggest White or Four Wheel Drive as the potential original builder.

With enough seats to warrant a trailer and no side doors, I would most strongly suggest that this is an employee shuttle for some enterprise such as a logging camp or construction project. Seeing as Sandel is now a "ghost town" or "wide spot on the road" along the former KCS and US171 in pine forests south of Shreveport (nearest RR location is Gandy), I'm going with the "logging camp" guess.

Thanks for the replies.

I would agree that a shuttle for a logging company or the like makes the most sense, it definitely does not look to be a railroad built contrivance, at least no one meant for mainline service on a relatively large railroad like the KCS.

I'm sure whatever report the photos were originally taken for would provide some explanation, but said report is most likely long gone at this point

Jason Midyette

Sorry that I did not see this sooner but was in the almost internet free world of Long Leaf, LA this weekend.
The conveyance is the passenger train of the Christie and Eastern Railroad which ran east from Christie, LA (later renamed Sandel) on the KCS to the lumber mill town of Peason (named for th PEAvy-wilSON Lumber company. The bus operated from 1917 until the railroad was abandoned in 1934. The railroad extended east from Peason to a connection with the Red River and Gulf RR at RR&G Jct. and operated freight trains over the RR&G as far east as Long Leaf and Lecompte, LA. This is only the third photo that I have ever seen of this car, and the only one from the right side.
It is a later photo from the mid 1920's as the car has been rebuilt by enlarging the original wheels (which were the new wheel centers)
I would love to be able to read the name on the radiator for a manufacturer as that is totally unknown.