[Dennis Faircloth]

Hi Patrick,

The 1972 Summary of Equipment shows car series TP 821100-821199 built new by GSI in 1965. The attached equipment diagram seems to bear this out.

[attachment=0:267guzrn]EQD_TP_821100-199_1976-07-01.pdf[/attachment:267guzrn]

[Dennis Faircloth]

Bill, I took a look through the digital archives. We have a stenciling drawing dated 9-28-1948 that states it is for all classes except “P” and “M”.
It has a specific note regarding the addition of the “R” to the 2-10-4 “I” class designations, so I am pretty confident this drawing covers them.

Cab numbers: 16″ tall, 14″ wide
Sand dome numbers: 4″ tall
Tender lettering: 8″ tall
Tender end number: 6″ tall

The scan is too large for me to post here, and I cannot make a low res version without losing readable detail. I emailed the large PDF file to your Delta Models email address. If for some reason you cannot retrieve the file via email, let me know and I will send a link to my Dropbox folder.

Please let us know if this diagram is helpful.

[Dennis Faircloth]

I had always heard that during the 1970s a couple of tracks in Osawatomie Yard were filled with cars with roller lumber, waiting to be sold and rebilled.

[Dennis Faircloth]

David – can you post a photo, a link and/or give me a number series? I can keep my eye out for photos.

[Dennis Faircloth]

Charlie beat me to posting by about 10 minutes! His mention of Bayou Pierre was the key, as I had forgotten about that mill. I had eliminated Cypress Bend (near McGehee, AR); South Texarkana; Pine Bluff; Bastrop, LA; and Natchez, MS (gone now, but a good topic for another thread.) A Google Maps look verified the track arrangement.

A lot has changed since the photo. IP converted the mill from coal to natural gas, and the coal dump pit is filled in. The plant now is contract switched by WATCO.

[Dennis Faircloth]

Thanks David for indentifying the truck model….something just did not look right about the styling for a domestic-built Ford.

So there is a Manchester district and street in both Kansas City and St Louis. I am pretty familiar with the Manchester district in KC, and nothing in the photo lines up with that area. I am thinking this is St Louis near Chouteau Ave or Sarpy Ave area. I need a native who remembers the brick stack. That gray shape behind the first autorack is a grain elevator with Purina markings on top. So here are two more photos from different angles.

[attachment=0:wo2rt00m]Slot 21-001.jpg[/attachment:wo2rt00m]

[attachment=1:wo2rt00m]Slot 21-003.jpg[/attachment:wo2rt00m]

[Dennis Faircloth]

Which specific types of cars in a brewery pool would be determined based upon interior cubic capacity. (Besides the requirement to be insulated.) Industries loading boxcars most often have specific loading patterns for palletized shipments and want to maximize the amount of product in a car, since it moves on a carload rate. I think you would be fairly prototypical in your pool by matching cars with similar interior capacity, without knowing specific cars assigned to the prototype pool.

[Dennis Faircloth]

Welcome to the group Joe!

[Dennis Faircloth]

Tulsa’s connection to the MP is that it was also on the Midland Valley Railroad, along with Ft Smith and Muskogee. A portion of the line in Tulsa is still operated by the Tulsa-Sapulpa Union RR. I believe the depot at Jenks, OK, just east of Tulsa is still standing, not sure the status of the museum that was located there.

[Dennis Faircloth]

Updated and edited, subject line changed.

[Dennis Faircloth]

A lot of cars were assigned to pools managed by other railroads, for industries on that railroad. As an example, there were MP RBL’s in Southern’s pool for the Stroh’s brewery in Atlanta. I would imagine there were some MP cars in the pool for Miller’s facility in Milwaukee. MP cars would be in any pool for a Miller plant where MP participated in the routing of outbound traffic. I have dug around and not found any specific info on the assignments for ARMH RBL’s, but I continue to search.

As an aside – the AB brewery in Houston was served by MP. It was located on the Houston-North Shore route to Baytown, and served out of MK Yard.

[Dennis Faircloth]

So, the “DRWG” should be “DRGW” as in Denver, Rio Grande & Western. Me having a bout of dyslexia, probably because I have been typing “DWG” while renaming a bunch of drawing files. I will get the spreadsheet changed.

I presume you mean car 29, which is TP 719197. That is actually what the paperwork says, although I would venture a guess that it is an indentical move to Car 20, TP 719194, and both cars came from San Francisco.

I really appreciate your observation on Car 2, SP 117614. It orginated at Susanville, CA, on the Southern Pacific, and was routed SP-Salt Lake City-Pueblo-MP-Omaha-MILW with a destination of Peoria, IL via Chicago & North Western. A roller car would explain having the same consignor and consignee (I would guess one of the spellings is a typo.)

A “roller” is a car shipped with a pseudo or temporary destination, giving a freight broker time to sell the carload before it reaches that original imaginary destination. Rollers of lumber often took circuitous routes to allow time for the load to be sold.

@steve503 wrote:

I find these fascinating at times. How about car 27, A TP CH going from St. Joseph (originated by TP?) to St. Joseph with time on the DRWG (a reporting mark I can only guess at.) Car 2 appears to maybe be a “roller” since route looks roundabout?
Steve Marquess

[Dennis Faircloth]

Hi Ryan,

It took me some time, but I searched through the MPHS Digital Archives for enclosed autoracks. So far, I have only found these two photos. One is a roofless rack on a Trailer Train flat. I cannot tell if it is bi-level or tri-level. The other shows most of a MP rack at the GM Shreveport assembly plant.[attachment=0:qt42ctkm]MP autoracks at GM Shreveport.jpg[/attachment:qt42ctkm][attachment=1:qt42ctkm]MP roofless rack on TTGX flat.jpg[/attachment:qt42ctkm]

[Dennis Faircloth]

Thanks for posting this Dana. The freight cars are interesting. We sure do not have any location clues in the photos for CSI work.

[Dennis Faircloth]

Brownsville train service: my info is spotty, but here is what I have…….

In the mid to late 1960’s, a pair of trains connected San Antonio and Brownsville. #367 San Antonio-Brownsville connected with #95 New Orleans-Kingsville, and #366 Brownsville-San Antonio connected with #94 Kingsville-New Orleans. #94/#95 moved the Houston traffic to/from Brownsville.

By the early 1970’s, 94/95 had been renumbered 394/395 and cut back to Houston-Kingsville. 366/367 changed to San Antonio-Mission trains which made connection with Houston traffic at Kingsville, and Brownsville traffic at Harlingen.

Southbound, Houston to Kingsville train #395 carried a Brownsville block for Harlingen, which was picked up at Kingsville by San Antonio-Mission train #367. Brownsville traffic was set out at Harlingen and moved to Brownsville on Local 856 departing 05:00 and arriving Brownsville at 07:30.

Northbound, another local (not sure job#) departed Brownsville 12:01 am and arrived Harlingen 02:00, connecting to Mission-San Antonio train #366, which set out traffic for Kingsville-Houston #394 at Kingsville.

I have a 1975 listing that shows Brownsville assigned 2 units for yard service, totalling 3,200 horsepower. 2 jobs worked on both 1st and 2nd shifts, no jobs worked on 3rd shift.

By January 1979, two very long distance locals were serving Brownsville. L859 operated Houston-Brownsville with 5,400 horsepower assigned, departed Houston 04:00 hrs. L858 operated Brownsville-Houston with 5,400 HP, departed Brownsville 2359 hrs.

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