From the number, it appears to be part of a series of Mather Car Co. cars, the same series of which there are five at Mid-Continent:

http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/wo ... y3011.html

These are a very late iteration of the design, much taller than the classic Mather car. In addition, the only thing that was patented on a "Mather Patent" car was the roof, which these cars lack, having simple roofs of flat steel sheet welded together.

Why is it that everyone wants to save the oddballs?

I am still awaiting any kind of response from the National Railroad Museum regarding the (confirmed) scrapping of the Manatee River and what other equipment they plan to dispose of.

I fully understand the idea of "its our stuff and we can do what we bloody well want to do with it", but there just might be something in the group that another museum could use or may really desire if only they knew it was available. It can be a pain to try and get something into another group's hands, and maybe that is what was decided by the museum, but when you are talking about over a dozen pieces of equipment there might just be someone out there that would be interested in working a deal. To my knowledge, and to the knowledge of anyone who has posted here or communicated with me thorough back channels, there has been no attempt to notify the railroad museum community about anything they desire to get off the property. It is very likely I would have traveled north to check out the Rice Bird had I known it was going to be either cut up or made available to another group. Is the ACL diner Valdosta next?

CSRM has donated equipment. MOT had gifted equipment. SERM has offered equipment. TVRM has made equipment available to others. Heck, even little ol' Thronateeska has offered to salvage parts from the AC&F boxcar body we are scrapping. Many other groups have done the same by posting on open forums such as RYPN. The precedent has been set. Should we not expect the same from one of the largest and oldest railroad museums in the country?

Sorry guys. Its just that the seemingly clandestine nature of the actions of NRM bother me, especially since what outwardly appeared to be a good car that I could have been interested in is gone. (With all deference to mincy21 who says it was too rusted to move.) Honestly, it probably bothers me because it was a southern road car that was cut up. Would the same thing have happened to a similar car in similar condition from one of the mid-western lines?

Would or could we (or anyone) have acquired the car? I don't know, but the opportunity is certainly "history", and will be for every other piece they plan on getting rid of unless they will make the list public.

Still awaiting an official response...time's a-waistin'.

I'll be quiet now.

They are also Scrapping the Green Bay & Western Reefer. Another group I belong to offered to purchase and remove the car off of their property. We were told we could not purchase the car.

Mike Slater