...for this pair of EG&E 50' express reefers. Built very early in the 20th century, with massive steel fishbelly underfames and steel framing and ends, they're victims of a derailment on a nearby line. While the two cars received only minor damage, the wreck destroyed a small bridge, stranding both cars and their loads of fresh fish. Set out on a siding in an unpopulated area while wreck crews worked, the crushed ice spread over the open crates soon melted, and the cars sat, forgotten, while a new bridge was constructed. When the consignee complained that his cars had not arrived and they were finally tracked down, it was already too late. A claims adjuster was duly dispatched, but was reportedly unable to get close enough to the cars to make his inspection. Not surprisingly, the forms were nevertheless completed.

By the time the new bridge was finished, the cars had been declared fit to move and were routed directly to the Erie Northshore. Preceding them was a telegraphed message from the EG&E's Superintendent of Rolling Stock, instructing the Northshore's Carshop Foreman to scrap both cars upon arrival, with all reclaimable material to be set aside pending further notification.
As they rolled into Lowbanks, an engine and crew awaited. With a stiff breeze coming in off of Lake Erie, the stench was still overpowering, drowning out even the signature aroma of the nearby stockyards. The crew hastened to couple up, and after pumping up the air, shoved the cars west, to an unused storage siding in the country, where the cars would be burned. Another train would be sent out later, with a derrick, to pick up the trucks and other remaining scrap metal.








I scratchbuilt three of these cars (one was given to a friend) many years ago, inspired by a photo of a Santa Fe boxcar with a combination of wood and steel sides. The floors, sides and structural shapes on the roof are basswood, while the "steel" parts are styrene. The main reason for the scrapping is to reclaim the Central Valley trucks, which are attached from inside the car. Of course, neither the roof nor the floor is removeable. A secondary reason for the scrapping is that I see too many things about them that I don't like.
These are the last cars in my possession still in the EG&E's original "passenger car green" (PollyS Dark Weapon Olive), although there are at least two complete passenger trains, quite a bit of headend equipment and several boxcars in the same paint, possibly floating around somewhere out there.
The trucks will eventually be used under some as-yet-to-be-built wooden baggage cars.

Wayne

Shoot dangit, Wayne, if I had a couple pair o' CV's I'd send em your way for a swap. But I don't. Beautiful cars even if they aren't up to snuff.

I've got an old VGN work train box car with staple grab irons and overly thick roof walk, etc. Bought it at a swap meet because it was old, VGN, and I didn't know any better. But it's got a pair of sprung metal trucks with metal wheels under it...and it could receive the same sort of TLC treatment my Hart Gon rec'd back in the spring...eventually. But burning the car just to get at the trucks? Even with creative fiction, never! :cry:

Galen

The news story is saddening (but the story itself is priceless!)

The two cars look pretty good from my house, but of course, My house is much too far away to comment on the aroma test.

The Central Valley trucks are also priceless! I have several pairs of those Express 4-wheel Passenger trucks, and they are of the stuff you write home about! Free-rolling, sprung and equalized, they were considered the creme-de-la-creme back in the sixties! As a young man in my early twenties, fresh out of the Army in the early seventies, it was my goal to put Central Valley trucks under ever piece of rolling stock that I built, which at that time, was a lot of Central Valley and La Belle wooden kits. I discovered several pair of Central Valley HOn3 arch bars in the "Trucks" box when I was unpacking!

And for those unfamiliar with ataching Central Valley trucks, if you used their method of attaching the trucks, you could "snap" them on an off (to gain easy access to couplers, etc.) but the downside was that the "snap" (yes ... a real snap) was affixed with a small machine screw and nut ... the nut being inside the car body.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time ..."

Did CV quit making those trucks? Seems a shame to scrap those scratchbuilt cars! Like biL said, they look purty durned special from here.

I haven't seen a pair of Central Valley trucks, passenger or freight for sale, even as NOS ("New Old Stock") in maybe twenty years!

Say it ain't so...!

And I'd second the offer - if I had some to swap, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Those reefers look pretty good from here, plus they are the right era!

What about these...? <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.ca/CENTRAL-VALLEY-HO-PASSENGER-TRUCKS-T-25-X1-T-31-X2-/190486558334?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2c59e2367e#ht_2031wt_702">http://cgi.ebay.ca/CENTRAL-VALLEY-HO-PA ... 2031wt_702</a><!-- m -->


Andrew

Good Lord! How did you find them? Those boxes put them back to the sixties or before!

The ones I bought in the seventies came in little clear plastic "pill boxes."

I've got a car with a set of those bolsters...take your trucks and send me the car, I'll swap you the bolsters...

Wayne:
Your story reminds me of one that I read (in Branchlines?) quite a few years ago.
The Olde Hide House in Acton* (back when it was a real tannery) had to scrape bits of whatever off the inside of the hides before tanning. The scrapings were collected and shipped to someplace in the Niagara Peninsula. The stuff was shipped in open gondolas -- I picture wooden ones -- and it stank, crawled with beasties, and was generally an unpleasant duty.





* it's worth the drive to Acton!

BR60103 Wrote:Wayne:
Your story reminds me of one that I read (in Branchlines?) quite a few years ago.
The Olde Hide House in Acton* (back when it was a real tannery) had to scrape bits of whatever off the inside of the hides before tanning. The scrapings were collected and shipped to someplace in the Niagara Peninsula. The stuff was shipped in open gondolas -- I picture wooden ones -- and it stank, crawled with beasties, and was generally an unpleasant duty.





* it's worth the drive to Acton!

I remember those ads... I was in Orangeville at the time!

We have a guy at the modular club who has modelled such a gondola.


Andrew

I may be building a rendering plant, if I ever get around to building the second level of the layout. I remember reading of gondolas loaded with offal, and what a joy they were to switch - bump into them at too high a speed, and the contents would slosh over the ends.

The little tale of the spoiled fish was inspired by a story I recall reading some years ago. Evidently, a string of MDT wood reefers, perhaps a dozen or twenty cars, was loaded with meat, and somehow ended up sidetracked somewhere out in the sticks in New York Central territory. I don't recall if it was due to bad ordered cars or what, but for some reason they weren't immediately missed. When someone finally realised that they had never shown up at their intended destination, the search was on. By the time they were discovered (someone may have complained about the smell) it was much too late. Because the smell had contaminated the cars, they were no longer suitable for food service (and the overly-narrow doors likely precluded their use as hide cars - probably the only service for which they'd still be useful). They were ordered burned on the spot, and the metal was later salvaged.

The trucks on my two cars are held on by a screw driven from the top of the floor. It passes through the truck's bolster and is threaded into a hex nut which, as the screw is tightened, is drawn into a hex-shaped depression in the bottom of the bolster. I don't recall why that system was offered or why I used it in that manner.

That's a very good price for those CV trucks - is that for one pair or all three? I see them occasionally at the LHS, old stock but still new-in-box, from estates. The prices are usually $12.00-$15.00, but I've seen the six-wheel ones for over $20.00.

EDIT: Well DUH! I just went to have a look at those cars and it appears that the hex nut was only holding the male component of the "snap" in place - a slight twist and the truck was off! Now, where the heck's my Zippo?

Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:I may be building a rendering plant, if I ever get around to building the second level of the layout. I remember reading of gondolas loaded with offal, and what a joy they were to switch - bump into them at too high a speed, and the contents would slosh over the ends.
Wayne

When I first met my wife Mary I learned her father was the supervisor of the local Darling & Co. office. She later told me that when she was just a little girl she went with her dad one night to watch them clean up a wreck. It seems that one of the truck drivers tried to "beat the train" at a small crossing in Rogers, Ohio, and the last trailer was broadsided. (it was the old doubles that had an axle in front and one in the rear, which were common when I was a kid).
She told me the engineer and fireman were sick and there were chicken parts and the accompanying insect larvae all over the place.
I thought for years she had exaggerated the story, until I was painting the Y&S locomotive in Negley and met the old engineer and his fireman at the time and got their more enhanced version of the story, and they also confirmed that the locomotive I was painting was the one that "did the deed". (I started to imagine a strange odor when I got near the locomotive :mrgreen: ).

Doc---I enjoy your stories as much as the photos---you remind me of Ian Wilson---how about doing a book titled:"Steam Memories on the Elora Gorge and Eastern".
Although not as old as your reefers,here's a couple of photos of EG&E reefers still in revenue service on my layout

Speaking of rotting organic matter,

A guy from our IT department just related a story about when he serviced MAC's for Apple Computers. A customer sent a laptop in for repairs complaining that the keyboard wasn't working. Turns out the customer spilled milk on it but never bothered to mention that tiny detail. So by the time they got to it they opened laptop and shut it immediately. His co-worker who saw the mess merely commented, "I cannot work on this." and walked out of the room. A good descriptive word for what was hiding under that lid would be "infested".

Ewwwwwww!!!! hock:

It's a shame you have to let go of those cars Wayne. They do look nice to me. I am jealous that Mr. Nutbar seems to have acquired some rather attractive pieces of your rolling stock though.

Rotting organic matter.....mmmmmmmmmmm. And some of it that's still viable........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! There are some mighty ripe cheeses out there. Wayne, have you ever had a raclette with Reblochon cheese? Our neighbours in Petawawa had just come back from a posting to Brussells where he was a staff officer at NATO HQ, and they introduced us to Reblochon. They gave us some....twice...and we took it home. We couldn't stand the smell of the fridge after a few days, and into the garbage it went.

Very nice work on those cars.

Crandell