Re: 1902 coal car lettering details

Posted by Jim Courtney on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/1902-coal-car-lettering-details-tp3705p3791.html

Robert,

The 300 series coal cars were built in the fall of 1882, the big Tiffany reefers were built by St Charles the following year. Both series of cars were likely delivered with the new Westinghouse air brakes. I think the photo dates from about 1883 to 1884, because the locomotives on the train above, on the Palisades, haven't been renumbered to the new 1885 UP specifications.

So I think this is a period of transition, as the new UP management reorganizes both the Colorado Central and the South Park. The truck sideframe outside brake hangers (the "wings" you refer to), begin to disappear from all the older cars about this time, and thereafter brake beams are hung from the frame. Perhaps during this transition it was discovered that the new air brake rigging didn't work well with brake hangers attached to truck sideframes.

Chris,

By this time the UP owned the Central outright and had a controlling interest in the South Park. The UP management would have operated the two railroads as subsidiary properties of one railroad, the UP.  Just as South Park freight cars and locomotives would roam the UP as far as Utah and Idaho, the Central cars likely roamed all of the South Park divisions. Per diem charges wouldn't apply, as the UP would be charging itself for car rentals.

Consider an enlargement of the double header climbing toward Alpine, above, in the same image:



The 3rd and 5th cars, both 5 stake coal cars, are also likely Colorado Central cars headed back toward Clear Creek (I don't think the South Park owned any 5 stake coal cars). And the 6th car, the boxcar with the three men atop, looks shorter, possibly a 24 foot Central car as well.

Ron, I'd also like to hear your thoughts.