Re: Non-Revenue Service Cars

Posted by Dave Eggleston on Sep 04, 2022; 8:43pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Non-Revenue-Service-Cars-tp14179p18004.html

My turn. One well-known car that had black patches was the Greeley Salt Lake & Pacific caboose 026552, a UP-built 1880 24' Colorado Central car modified ca 1885/1886.  A slight stretch but it feels a good place to point out the differences these markings took.

For six decades artists and plan makers have repeatedly presented the side lettering inside a black band running the full length of the side. In fact, it didn't.

This is the car in the late 1880s at Sunset. Note the "Colorado Central" the "C C" on the door and the "026552" all float in their own individual rectangles.



The end of the car looked like this.



This is on the spur at Salina, also known as Gold Hill, in the late 1880s. Note the patch for the lettering and number but also the "C" on the end door--which does not appear to have a backing patch.

It's predecessor caboose, 01542, predated the UP renumbering effort and never appears to have been "patched." This is about halfway up Boulder Canyon, about a mile and a half west of Boulder, at a location known as Maxwell Pitch around 1884/1885.



The car behind it, 1620, was a sister boxcar to 026552 and shows how those UP cars were originally lettered. They painted out the old markings in body color when the car was converted to a caboose and the patches are intentionally placed for legibility.