Was googling up freight car images while snacking on a bowl of Rice Chex® this evening and ran across photos of freight cars at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Wow, they've got some nice ones. I have to say, it is always heartwarming to find a nice collection of freight cars. Many railfans claim to have "steam in their blood", but I think I have red lead (Pb3O4) in mine, because nothing gets me more excited in this rail preservation business than a nicely restored box car or hopper.

A few photos for the NC museum:


N&W 59159 Hopper by rmccallay, on Flickr


SOUTHERN 72043 Hopper by rmccallay, on Flickr


SOU 599000 Autoguard Service Vintage Auto-Rack by rmccallay, on Flickr


PC Covered Hopper. by ROSBORN68, on Flickr

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And since no RyPN™ discussion is complete without an off-topic comment, I will also mention that I like their C&NW coach. Is it a commuter coach? (Not my photo. Source is linked below).
EDIT: Oops, I just found out it's really a CN coach painted this way for a movie!

http://www.jeffstrainsite.com/railfan_p ... h_4953.jpg

I hope you're a live steamer! One of the things I have found in the live steam hobby is the need to have appropriate rolling stock for your train. While plenty of equipment is built for the purpose of pulling passengers, many 1/8th scalers build period cars for trains of their memories. It isn't uncommon to go to a steam up and see a heavy Mikado drawing a train of hoppers or perhaps thirty refrigerator cars, all to scale, all just about perfect.

One of the things we get blistered over in this forum is rusty cars at museums. You're quite correct. Classic freight cars that have escaped scrapping and are neatly maintained, conjure the visitors interest. I think it might have something to do with the Lionel experience many of us enjoyed as children.

Nice photos!

Thanks for the reply, Richard.
Nope, not a live steamer, but YES I have noticed the cars those guys build (either from scratch or from kits). Looks like too much fun.

Just linking some threads of parallel interest:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26269

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31588&p=160018

Oh, how I wish more of those steam-era hoppers were around to look good behind the 1218 or (dream mode) a restored Allegheny. . .

Thank you for the kind words in regards to NCTM. In addition to the two hoppers, we restored a N&W combine that is used for the on-site train ride. We added a wheelchair lift in the baggage section for ADA compliance. We recently completed a Southern flatcar and are currently working on a Southern "Big John" covered hopper.

Happy holidays to all!

Jerry Shepardson
NCTM Trainmaster

The Southern hopper 72043 (pictured above) is intriguing. I notice it is lettered "clay loading" and also has a ratchet and pawl mechanism for each bay. Looks like I have some enjoyable research ahead of me to see what I can learn about this car.

Anyway, very glad museums like NCTM make the effort to preserve freight cars like this one!

"Big John" and the five year fight with the ICC to allow lower rates was a big deal to the railroad industry in the early 1960s. It paved the way for unit trains and other bulk commodity cars. At the time, it was the longest rate regulation case that the ICC had handled, including two trips to the Supreme Court. The trucking industry, the barge industry and the TVA all fought Brosnan and lost. I'm glad a Big John car is preserved. The battle over Big John would make a good exhibit.

Jerry Shepardson wrote of the North Carolina Transportation Museum, "We recently completed a Southern flatcar and are currently working on a Southern "Big John" covered hopper."

Since it's rare to see a restored flat car I thought I'd show you a picture. The deck is all new wood. It's a nice piece of work. To the right is the "Big John" Jerry mentioned and the weather was so nice today that volunteers worked on it. The cars are sitting between the turntable and the roundhouse. The "stalls" behind the cars are actually a large open, climate controlled, pie-shaped room with museum displays including an N-gauge layout of how Spencer Shops looked circa 1950 and a to-scale model of the Wright brothers plane. Orville and Wilbur are there too!

You mean like this :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHoYIJzxKpc

I'm uncertain of the scale in that short video, but I doubt it's a riding live steam size. The idea is similar.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=401438&nseq=61
Heres a nice little local freight with some of said cars.

Michael

Richard, yes the video shows a 7.5" gauge train of about 35 cars climbing a 2% grade

TH

Michael -

Nice photo! One that could possibly have been taken during the "steam era"! I wonder if anyone has a list of the cars in this freight? Obviously the first one is N&W 59159, the two-bay coal hopper that started this thread and which is obviously a genuine freight car from the "steam era".

Les