This recent thread on the CGW boxcar jogged my memory. A number of years ago, I remember reading somewhere about CGW tank cars in company service. I recall that they were painted in different colors. I think that the jist of the article was that someone was trying to preserve them. Anyone know the story? Did some actually get saved? Or was it just a "colorful" dream I had?

Les

I can recall seeing CGW tankers in trains in southwestern PA. Always thought that odd since most tankers are not railroad owned.

Those I saw around here were all painted brown.

Great thread, Les!

I found a 2002 thread about a CGW tank car. It says:

<< The Boone & Scenic Valley RR located in Boone, Iowa is in the process of trying to purchase the last remaining CGW 200 series tank car. Four out of five have already been scrapped and this is possibly the last one left still in full CGW livery complete with the CGW "Lucky Strike" logo. >>

Full thread is here: CGW 285 Tank Car Preservation

Searching the web I also noticed photos taken in the last year or so of another surviving CGW tank car, #259, at the Union Pacific, Larry S. Provo Training Center in West Chicago (map: http://binged.it/AbO30z). What a nice surprise to see that!


Chicago Great Western by andys0519, on Flickr

Another picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelkirchn ... otostream/

I can't (yet) confirm this, but there may be another one of these cars sitting here in Albuquerque, of all places. It's painted a very weathered black instead of the colors CGW used on these cars, but it does otherwise look exactly like the car pictured above, even down to having "CGW" and the car number (which I believe is a 200 series number; I'll have to check) spray-painted in the same location. I have no idea what it's doing out here or who currently owns it, but it's been sitting in the Albuquerque yard just SE of the turntable for at least four years now. I don't know if Clem's still hanging around here, but he may know what the story is with this car; I may ask him next time I see him (if I remember to).

Mike -

Thanks for the reply. That IS interesting! Let us know what you find out (if anything) about the Albuquerque car. Now if we could just find out about CGW 285, the car that the B&SV was trying to save. I checked their website but no general rolling stock info. I once tried to find out about a couple of coal hoppers that they apparently had, but again, no info. I guess no one from B&SV reads RyPN.

Les

This car had been sitting in the dirt near Morgan Street at the west end up the UP Global One facility. When the TTX car repair facility opened that car needed to be disposed of, so it was rerailed for movement as far as the West Chicago Training Center. There were a couple more near the M-19 diesel shop that we couldn't find a home for, so they became scrap.

Well, I guess I'm a bit confused about this. MSPetersen seems to be reporting that this car at Albuquerque was sent to the "West Chicago Training Center". There is a photo early in this thread sent in by FLO of a CGW tank car there numbered 259. BUT, the 259 is painted red. Mike Swanson in his early report says that the car in Albuquerque was painted black. Why would the U.P. remove the black paint on 259? IF this is the same car that MSPetersen seems to be indicating was sent there. Like I said, I'm confused. Not hard for me these days!

Les

The B&SVRR has the tank car 285. However there are no current plans to do anything with it.

Dan

Les,

I believe he's referring to the car at UP's training facility, not the car that's still sitting here in Albuquerque and is indeed painted a rather weathered and graffiti covered black. That car is currently sitting just SW of the turntable and is visible from Second Street. There appears to be a car number stenciled on the street side of the car frame, but it's too far away to make out without binoculars or a camera with a better optical zoom than the (4x) one on my Canon pocket camera. I'll see if I can get a better look later; in the meantime I'm going to upload the photo(s) I've taken to help confirm whether this could be a CGW tank car (it could very well be one that was built by the same manufacturer for someone else; that doesn't explain why it's been sitting out here in roughly the same spot all this time, though).

Mike - Thanks for the clarification. Hope you can eventually get a car number and reporting marks on the car still sitting there at Albuquerque. And Dan Hetzel, thanks for the confirmation that the B&SV actually WAS successful in acquiring CGW #285.

Les

Sorry for the delay, guys. I finally did get a good look at the reporting marks on the frame (on both sides, as it turns out) and they are indeed CGW. The car number isn't quite so easy to read, though; it is three digits, and it starts and ends with "2", but I can't clearly make out the middle numeral. It looks like either a "6" or an "8" on the street side, but it looks like a "1" or a "7" on the other side; the latter could be due to lighting or just something on the frame or a walkway support getting in the way. Anyway, that should help a little (I hope); now if someone could, using that information, figure out which car this is and why it wound up here...

(I didn't post any pics due to uploading issues on my end; the car is almost the same as CGW 259, though, except for one less retaining strap on the ends. I may get a chance to ask about this car later next month if I'm not too busy; maybe I'll have more info to reprt then.)

Mike -

Thanks for the additional info. At least we now know that the car is CGW 2x2.

Les