This was a fairly common move in the '50s and '60s. The car is bound
for Western Avenue shop were the E fleet was maintained. I am sure it
originated at West Burlington Shop where the trucks and motors were
rebuilt. Western Ave. had a drop table and could easily change one or
both trucks of an E unit in a shift. That way, an E could go
dispatched from the shop with a freshly shopped truck(s) and motors
without tying up the locomotive for an undesirable length of time.
The flat car which carried the trucks may have been assigned to the
Material Dept. with specific fittings for carrying the trucks.
Similar cars were set up to carry traction motors with or without
wheel sets and wheel sets, for either locomotive (with bull gears
applied) or for freight car wheels. All would be interesting and
prototypical loads. Locomotive material would be destine for West
Burlington while freight car material would be shipped to Havelock
Shop in Lincoln, NE . for repair or rebuild. There were also a number
of box cars and gondolas assigned to the Material Dept. for moving
various material, either repaired or needing repair, all over the
system. If the cars were regularly assigned to the Material Dept.
they were usually stenciled on the side with "Assigned to the
Material Dept." and "Return to whatever shop". Of course, these were
all non revenue moves, but would be carried in regular freight trains
and way freights for switching.. On my visits to the various system
shops, there were always cars around for this purpose. Back when most
RRs handled their own repairs from locomotives to air brake
equipment, they did a lot of business with themselves!
Another interesting company "load" would be a dead locomotive in the
train either headed for repair or re-assignment (switchers). Road
locomotives were generally coupled to the rear of the road consist
while switchers were often carried several cars back from the road
power. One other possibility would be a locomotive headed for scrap.
These were often stripped of usable components such as windows,
lights, numbers boards, etc. They also were generally very shabby in
appearance.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO.
On Dec 3, 2009, at 4:48 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Re: Help with photo information
> Posted by: "sartherdj@aol.com" sartherdj@aol.com dsarther
> Wed Dec 2, 2009 7:19 pm (PST)
>
>
>
> Mark. Good eye. That is a very neat photo you located for us in Mike's
> book and as suggested a great flatcar load with historical evidence
> for its
> validity.
>
> Later, Dave S. Tucson, AZ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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