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The description says PB&NE. I seriously doubt a Bethlehem Steel plant railroad had tourist cars. Did the Quakertown & Eastern have something like this stored in Bethlehem?

Rob

It could have been used either for a public plant tour or for moving workers about the plant.

Based strictly upon appearances, I'm inclined to offer a guess:

This MIGHT instead be the two "chicken cars" that the Wilmington & Western had in the mid-1960s. One of them lasted into the mid-1980s, at least. Now, I JUST THIS WEEK discarded or sent off elsewhere that issue of the W&W newsletter "The Lantern" with an article by Dick Hall on these cars. Tom, help me out here--late 1999, early 2000 issues...........

Actually, I believe they did. I don't have any reference material handy, but I believe these cars later went to the Wawa & Concordville tourist railroad. Kurt Bell at the Railroad Museum of PA would know for sure.

Alan Maples

Yes, that was a Beth Plant tour car. Don't know how many they had but several made it to Wawa and Concordville and one to Wilmington and Western. The year is about right from when Bethlehem Steel would have sold them off to the tourist pikes.

Wow, just when I think that mill has no surprises left for me!

Thanks guys!

Rob

The W&W also had two "chicken cars" that Sandy mentioned. I am not sure if they were from the Bethlehem plant, I am thinking they were from somewhere else. Those were gondolas that were fitted with benches similar to what many tourist railroads were running in the 1960's. The Bethlehem car at W&W was #17107 and has been cut down to a flat car in recent years. I remember seeing the PBNE markings after they ripped off the plywood added for tourist service. It was a regular fixture on W&W trains until the late 1980's. I worked it many times as a trainman in my early years at W&W starting around 1980 ( wow has it really been almost 30 years!).

I kind of recall that these cars were built at the PB&NE shops from old CNJ boxcars for use in tours of the Bethelehem Steel works. I remember seeing a couple of the them at the Wawa & Concordville, and on one, the CNJ lettering was showing through the gray paint.

Yes, I forgot to mention that the story was they were of CNJ heritage. It's too bad none were ever restored back to boxcars because that type of boxcar is not well represented in preservation.

RMNE traded a CNJ car of this type to Steamtown NHS about 15 years ago. We obtained a Central Vermont single-sheathed composite end boxcar as the trade. We also have a CV "door and a half" end-door 40-foot automobile boxcar (also outside braced construction), as well as three B&M 1930-built examples of this type.

Howard P.
Freight Cars R Us, CT

This image shows one of the B&M cars being made ready for movement by highway from Valley RR at Chester, CT to NAUG at Waterbury, CT in 2006.

Howard P.