Cranes

Eckington Yards, 6/4/23. United States Washington D.C. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016847637/

I’ve been noticing various types of cranes in prototype photos of team yards and tracks. They do not show up everywhere, but cranes are a detail to consider when modeling a scene in the 1900-1940 years. The 1923 image above documents passenger cars parked at a team yard in Washington DC for a Shriner’s convention. They aren’t easy to spot. but there are several cranes in the background.

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Missouri Pacific boxcar fleet

Steven Hedlund shared an interesting review of the Missouri Pacific boxcar fleet. His profile includes subsidiary Lines and historical notes on how the company grew. The MP was a major bridge route between western states and rail connections at St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans.

Missouri Pacific boxcars pop up in many pre-1930 images. Steve reviews several car designs and lettering changes through the first decades of the 20th Century. His Missouri Pacific PDF can be reviewed in the Freight Car Fleets resource section of the blog.


In other Missouri Pacific news, a new book is coming soon from the MP Railroad Historical Society. Charlie Duckworth has curated selected photographs from the Society archives for a 160 page book. Additional details can be reviewed on the Society Store.


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Chicago & Alton freight cars

Ray Breyer has authored a mid-Twenties railroad freight car fleet profile on the Chicago & Alton. The line was a busy connector between the Chicago, Kansas City, and St. Louis railroad hubs. Many are aware of the C&A passenger varnish, but the freight car fleet was also important.

As the C&A was once owned by the Harriman syndicate, several of the car designs are related to other Harriman roads (SP, IC, UP). Ray’s Chicago & Alton PDF can be reviewed in the Freight Car Fleets resource section.


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