Does the Strasburg Railroad operate any former PRR cars?

~Lance

Railfan USA
cr6358@hotmail.com

> Does the Strasburg Railroad operate any
> former PRR cars?

I will defer to [guy who doesn't want his name dropped about on this board] on this, but what I *do* remember is that, for a time in the 1960s and 1970s, the Strasburg leased PRR cars from what became the RR Museum of Pa. (just as they leased 4-4-0 1223 and later 4-4-2 "7002") for their operation. Coach 3556 was marketed as "the oldest standard-gauge coach running in America" during that time.

As for the current roster, I believe the largest component of the current fleet is Boston & Maine, with some Reading and Lackawanna thrown in, and Ma & Pa 20 thrown in for good measure. If there's a PRR car operating now, I'm surprised.

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

Yes there are PRR cars in operation on the SRC. In fact there are five plus a steam crane. Box car 96451, flatcar 04, gondola 120, 4-bay hopper 194798, and a wooden caboose 476087. The box car came with the property back in 1957 when it was saved. All the others have been picked-up through the years.

Andrew

In doing a google search for a photo of gondola 120, I came across this roster from a railfan.net forum that I found quite interesting. I think it would be worthwhile to try to fill it out with numbers of the cars under their prior owners, and if any of the cars have changed configurations over their lifetimes (especially the passenger cars)

Steam:
No 1 ,0-6-0T(Thomas,Former B.E.D.T. Porter 0-6-0T #15 blt 1917)
No. 4, Camelback (ex-RDG 1187,now outside the SRC's restoration shop)
No. 31, 0-6-0 (ex-CN 7312)
No. 89, 2-6-0 (ex-GMR 89,ex-CN 89)
No. 90, 2-10-0 (Ex-Great Western Railway(Colorado)
No. 98, 4-4-0 (sold to the Wilmington & Western)
No. 475, 4-8-0 (ex-N&W 475)
No. 972, 4-6-0 (undergoing restoration)
No. 1223, 4-4-0 (gone - retired to museum,ex-PRR 1223)
No. 7002, 4-4-2 (gone - retired to museum,ex-PRR 8063 "imposter 7002")

Diesel:

No. 1, 20-ton Plymouth
No. 2, 10-ton Plymouth
No. 7, GE 28-tonner (gone - scrapped)
No. 33, GE 44-tonner (ex-PRR 9331)

Motor & Rail Cars:

No. 3, Motor Car
No. 10, Rail Car (ex-LO&S)
No. 21, Rail Car (gone)

Frieght Cars:

No. 96451, PRR Boxcar
No. 713, Ma. & Pa. Boxcar
No. 733, Ma. & Pa. Boxcar
No. 40025, Central Vermont Boxcar
No. 6081, Rutland Boxcar
No. 1543 WP FM
No. 9194, Rutland Boxcar
No. 04, ex-PRR Flatcar
No. 122, Ma. & Pa. Flatcar
No. 120, ex-PRR Flatcar/Gondola (wooden stakes for sides)
No. 05, ex-Reading Tank Car
No. 150, ex-NYC 3 bay steel hopper
No. 194798, PRR 4 bay steel hopper
No. 302, Ma. & Pa. Side Dump Car
No. 12, Ex-DT&I Caboose
No. 476087, PRR Caboose (SRC #10)
No. ??, Burro Crane
No. 03, ex-PRR Steam Crane
No. 66, ex-WA&G Snowplow
No. 255750 PRR LO

Coaches(Open Air):

No. 71, ex-B&M (Daffodil Spring)
No. 72, ex-B&M (Mill Creek)
No. 73, ex-B&M (Pleasent View)
No. 99, ex-B&M (Valley View)
No. 68, ex-B&M (Hello Dolly)

Coaches:
No.??, "ex-IVRR"
No. 3214, ex-B&M (Strasburg) Baggage
No. 60, ex-B&M (Donald E.L. Hallcock)
No. 10 PR Obs (Reading)
No. 20, Ma. & Pa. (Willow Brook)
No. 58, ex-Reading (Cherry Hill)
No. 59, ex-B&M (Grasshopper Level)
No. 62, ex-B&M (Cobblers Knob)
No. 65, ex-Reading (Walnut Hollow)
No. 70, ex-B&M (Cherry Hill)
No. 72, ex-B&M (Mill Creek)
No. 92, ex-Reading (Susquehanna Valley)
No. 96, ex-B&M (William McFarlan)
No. 88, ex-B&M (Marian) Parlor Car
No. 93, ex-B&M (Lee E. Brenner)
No. 75, ex-B&M(?) (Henry K. Long)
Western Maryland #814 (Under Restoration)
B&O Coach (Cocooned)
Rutland Coach (Cocooned)
B&O Cafe Observation (Cocooned)
B&A Coach (Cocooned)
B&A Coach (Cocooned)



Strasburg Railroad Forum at Railfan.net
altoonaroundhouse@umich.edu

> Yes there are PRR cars in operation on the
> SRC. In fact there are five plus a steam
> crane. Box car 96451, flatcar 04, gondola
> 120, 4-bay hopper 194798, and a wooden
> caboose 476087. The box car came with the
> property back in 1957 when it was saved. All
> the others have been picked-up through the
> years.

*I think the key word was "operate". I was aware of the PRR-heritage freight cars, but they come off the sidings perhaps once a year for freight charters by Franz, Craft & Co. I assumed the original poster was asking about passenger cars.



LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

I was going to post my huge SRC all-time roster here for all to share but evidently this web site now prevents longer posts--I kept getting a "Post Too Long" message. Oh well. (Rypn staff, take note: to have such a mechanism in place is disappointing because it prevents the sharing of extensive data with a wider audience. Let's get this fixed!) If any of you wish to obtain a copy of my SRC roster feel free to email me off-line. An expanded version will appear in my forthcoming book, To Paradise by Steam: A History of the Strasburg Rail Road Company, 1832-Present. It will contain complete histories of the locomotives and cars as well as a full history in text and photos of the railroad from the very beginning to the present era.

kbell7312@earthlink.net

(Rypn staff, take note: to
> have such a mechanism in place is
> disappointing because it prevents the
> sharing of extensive data with a wider
> audience. Let's get this fixed!)

We are working on fixes to this and a host of other flaws and limitiations of the current Interchange by switching from a Windows server to a UNIX server, and switching from the old WebBBS Perl scripts to PHP scripts. Our usage load is now far to heavy for the WebBBS scripts to really support.

Unfortunately the early phases of this transition ran into a number of different technical snags. Just this past week we regrouped and moved the Interchange back onto the old server for a while longer.

We have learned a hard lesson, and will not be attempting a piecemeal transition (ie, moving the old scripts onto the new server as a first step)any longer. We will test the new scripts on the new server more systematically, and cut over only after we are sure they are in good shape.

The limitiation on these and all other improvements to RyPN are the same as those at any museum or preservation activity you may work with: staff time, and money. We do not have enough money to hire professional consultants to do this for us. So, progress can only occur as the staff (in this case, Hume Kading) has time available around his other responsibilities).

Our chief concern until then is to keep the basic Interchange avialable, but not to try to improve or extend the old WebBBS scripts. Once we are running successfully on UNIX and PHP, we can start to tackle other enhancements and improvements.

So, there's a quick summary of where we are and where we are going over the nexct 4-6 months.


eledbetter@rypn.org

> So, there's a quick summary of where we are
> and where we are going over the nexct 4-6
> months.

Perhaps as a quick fix, perhaps you could make an anonymous FTP folder available for the sharing of large documents. Trying to load any sort of formatted information in the postings is an exercise in futility anyway. Of course anybody submitting something for inclusion in the FTP folder would have to understand that they must own the copyright and by making the material available via FTP, that it is being given away gratis to all who are interested.

Ed


ff1044@aol.com

> Perhaps as a quick fix, perhaps you could
> make an anonymous FTP folder available for
> the sharing of large documents.

I don't think we would want to accept the responsibility of running an open FTP server--too much of a security headache.

For now, users can always post the avialability of a larger document here and then circulate it via e-mail to those who wish to receive it. They can also edit the information into an article and we will gladly consider publishing it.

eledbetter@rypn.org

I read recently in a 1960s Model Railroader that M&P 20 was provided to Strasburg via a local NRHS chapter. Was ownership transferred outright? Is this car maintained as a historic relic or is it part of the regular fleet, with parts replaced as seen fit? I appreciate the quality and integrity of workmanship at SRC, but some artifacts are easier to replace than others. Thanks...

Hey Kurt, you have been busy!!!!! When will this book come out? Also, I heard that a new Road To Paradise book is supposed to come out. Is your book the one that they were fefering to, or is your's in addition to that? I will e-mail you about that roster!

Paul

pcalpin31@yahoo.com

The railroad gift shop has indicated that they will not reprint the current edition of The Road to Paradise once the supply has been exhausted. They are contemplating a completely new souvenir book, and have asked me to write the early history chapter. My book will be more in-depth, like a traditional business history (i.e. like books previously published by Golden West, Kalmbach, Indiana University Press, etc.). I do not yet have a publisher though I have approached the railroad gift shop in the past about publishing it. I don't anticipate any problem finding a publisher (given the popularity of the topic) when the time comes. Stay tuned.

> Hey Kurt, you have been busy!!!!! When will
> this book come out? Also, I heard that a new
> Road To Paradise book is supposed to come
> out. Is your book the one that they were
> fefering to, or is your's in addition to
> that? I will e-mail you about that roster!

> Paul

As far as I know, we own the coach outright. 20 is maintained in the same manner as the rest of our fleet. Currently it is on display in our coach yard, just West of the water tower. We keep the mileage on it to a minimum. However it has been on the half hour train from time to time, and is used during our Thomas events.


http://www.strasburgrailroad.com
wayne@strasburgrailroad.com

According to SRC records, M&P coach 20 was purchased for $200 in April 1959. SRC owns the title to the car free and clear.
K.R. Bell

> As far as I know, we own the coach outright.
> 20 is maintained in the same manner as the
> rest of our fleet. Currently it is on
> display in our coach yard, just West of the
> water tower. We keep the mileage on it to a
> minimum. However it has been on the half
> hour train from time to time, and is used
> during our Thomas events.