In Independence Iowa there is an old railroad car body sitting parallel to the railroad tracks. It has a round roof and double end doors, maybe an automobile car. It's across Hy 150 from the depot.
I saw it years ago, and I don't have a picture of it, but it's just above the arrow on this Google aerial photo. Has anyone else seen it or know what kind of car it was?
http://maps.google.com/?sll=42.67778,-91.91694&spn=0.05,0.05

Mike -

You say you have no photo of the car. But is it sitting on railroad trucks? Is it steel bodied, or wood? Any lettering on it at all? Independence, Iowa was served by both the Rock Island and the Illinois Central. Whose depot are you referring to; the IC's or the Rock's?

I believe that IRM has a Rock Island wood bodied double door box car that they have restored, but I don't recall if it has double end doors or not. Maybe someone from IRM can advise and perhaps even shoot us a photo.

Les

Photo of IRM's car showing the end doors:

http://www.irm.org/gallery/RI264070/aab

More photos can be found in the IRM Member Gallery under Bob Kutella's album of freight car photos.

The car sits along side the old I.C. It's sitting on some kind of a foundation,
and used for storage. The way it is it's hard to tell how much of the under body is intact. Yes the end doors are similiar to the Rock Island car but from the side it reminds one of a baggage car. I was fooling around on Google maps and just looked to see if it was still there. It just aways looked "odd" to me.

sounds like a horse car, if it represents a baggage car otherwise.

Well, IRM has a similar passenger car, CNW 8784. One end is very FLAT ENDED and has two hinged doors that open. Visitors often refer to it as a horse car (that was intended to load and convey thoroughbreds). But not here. The car was used in trains to northern Wisconsin for the welathy that could afford to summer up there in the cooler weather, and could also afford to take their tin lizzie along. Either the drive was too arduous, or the roads too poor to make the trip driving themselves up there, but even then America was in love with the auto. Pics of that also can be found in the IRM Gallery, probably in the Phil Stepek series of albums on all of IRM's passenger cars.

Bob Kutella

Hi,
I found I had pictures of the car body I had asked about. I've posted them for anyone that's curious.

I have a reply on this item from Andrew Klamka on February 19, 2008, who checked out the website but was unable to log on.
"That boxcar is a B-29 Fuselage Housing that was used with CB&Q Class FM-14 flatcars. There's a very well written article about those freight cars in Issue #15 of the Burlington Bulletin, the BRNHS's newsletter.
I compared the photo to the drawings and other photos. Its the same item."