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Mainline railroads
American Railcar Leasing #967
liquid gas boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Nov 1972 / JCH
Atlantic Coast Line #17302
watermelon car / Cottondale, Fl/ Jan 1960 / JCH
Atlantic Coast Line #35376
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Jan 1975 / JCH
British Columbia #40745
double-door boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Jul 1074 / JCH
Central of Georgia #5505
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Feb 1972 / JCH
Central of Georgia #8718
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Oct 1971 / JCH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #9626
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Jun 1973 / JCH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #55187
boxcar / Meridian, Ms / Jun 1970 / JCH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #56032
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Apr 1972
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #56899
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Oct 1972 / JCH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #67494
boxcar / Columbus, Ms / Dec 1970 / JCH
Illinois Central #28042
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Feb 1973 / JCH
Linde Air Products #3035
liquid gas boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Apr 1973 / JCH
Marquette Rail #1029
boxcar / Epworth, Oh / Dec 2010 / RWH
McCloud #6111
hi-cube boxcar / Windsor, Oh / Dec 2011 / RWH
McCloud #6120
hi-cube boxcar / Epworth, Oh / Dec 2011 / RWH
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis #19095
boxcar / Pensacola, Fl / 1959 / JCH
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis #18613
boxcar / Pensacola, Fl / 1959 / JCH
Norfolk, Franklin & Danville #2361
double-door boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Oct 1971 / JCH
Peoria & Eastern #3609
boxcar / Decatur, Al / May 1966 / JCH
Norfolk & Western #55013
automobile boxcar (1939) / Huntsville, Al / Jul 1974 / JCH
Seaboard Coast Line #22323
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Jun 1973 / JCH
Seaboard Air Line #21645
boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Jul 1971 / JCH
Southern #47349
Boxcar / Huntsville, Al / Feb 1973 / JCH
Southern Pacific #188664
Huntsville, Al / Mar 1973 / JCH
Wabash #20518
double-door boxcar / Sheffield, Al / Sep 1968 / JCH
Western Railway of Alabama #17793
boxcar / Pensacola, Fl / 1959 / JCH
Western Railway of Alabama #18177
boxcar / Pensacola, Fl / 1959 / JCH
My father had an eye for interesting rolling stock. Driving by one day after work in the winter of 1986, the unusually low number (only 3 digits!) on this otherwise ubiquitous 50' Southern box caught his attention, and later that week we drove across town to snap a photo before the local carried it away.
Unusual tidbits like this made living at the end of a tired old branchline quite fun for this boy-railfan. When our ICG branch was still supporting two locals a week, it was a great adventure to figure out from the car window, driving through town, what rolling stock had arrived and what had departed with every new turn. Gondolas for the scrap yard, covered hoppers for the feed distributor, and frequent boxes ... for the lumber company, the ag supplier, and -- in the case of Southern's #145 -- the local beer distributor. From who-knows-where, half a dozen cars full of who-knows-what made their way to our little town of Covington week after week. That is, until the traffic gave out and rails paved over.
Erie #7012
flat car / Huntsville, Al / Dec 1966 / JCH
In the 1960s, my father worked as the electrical engineer for the municipal electric system in Huntsville, Al. In 1966, an order was placed with Westinghouse Electric for a mobile substation for temporary use during outages or line reconstruction (left). In December of that year, dad received a call from the Southern Railway agent that a flatcar had been left in town by the day's local, ready for delivery. The mobile substation was fresh from the factory, with masking paper still over the rubber tires from the spray painting process. Despite the fresh appearance, however, closer inspection revealed that the substation had been damaged in rail shipment to Huntsville. The Southern was instructed to pick up the flat on the next local and reroute its cargo to Birmingham for repairs by Westinghouse, but not before dad rode out to the siding with his Twin Reflex to snap a series of photos of Erie flat #7012 and its damaged goods.
Erie #7256
depressed center 8-axle flatcar / Pensacola, Fl / Jan 1959 / JCH
In the winter of 1959, while working for Gulf Power in the Florida panhandle, dad photographed the company's diminutive Vulcan tank engine bringing a large piece of new equipment -- a steam turbine -- to the site of an electrical generating plant still under construction. The crew pulled the impressive Erie depressed-center flatcar from the L&N interchange down toward the construction site, pausing halfway at the crest of the spur to rig up a makeshift braking system before descending the long grade down to the station. The car rides of four 2-axle trucks, with the weight of the depressed center balanced over each two-truck pair. For the complete series of pictures, see our Gulf Power industrial collection.
US Army tanks on flatcars / Belle Mina, Al / Jul 1868 / JCH
Illinois Central Gulf #100589
wheel service flat car / Jackson, Ms / Jan 1987 / JCH
Seaboard Coast Line #132133
low-side gondola / Huntsville, Al / Jun 1973 / JCH
E. I. Dupont De Nemours & Co #40018
covered hopper / Huntsville, Al / Nov 1974 / JCH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #866368
wood chip hopper / Laurel, Ms / Sep 1986 / JCH
American Car & Foundry Co #38102
covered pellet hopper / West Salem, Oh / Dec 2010 / RWH
General American Transportation Corp #74343
covered hopper / Epworth, Oh / Dec 2010 / RWH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #4760
pulpwood rack / Laurel, Ms / Mar 1972 / JCH
Brown Miller Company #210
four-vat pickle car / Hattiesburg, Ms / Dec 1960 / JCH
Hattiesburg, Ms / Dec 1960 / JCH
American Car & Foundry Co #12057
tank car / Abita Springs, La / Mar 1987 / RWH
General American Tank Line #300846
oil tank car / Youngstown, Oh / Dec 2010 / RWH
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #66262
oil tank car / Jackson, Ms / Aug 1986 / JCH
North American Tank Line #2601
tank car / Huntsville, Al / Jan 1975 / JCH
Union Tank Car Company #17635
oil tank car / Huntsville, Al / Feb 1973 / JCH