MTL heavyweight baggage car

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Curiosity.. I'm guessing the 'Horse car' got it's name based on it's original purpose (Moving horses).. but as time went on and the transportation of Horses was not as large scale as it was in the 18-early1900s, were they rebuilt for other purposes?

Typically the horses transported in horse - express cars were race horses, not just common horse breeds.  It was the decline in race horse transport that resulted in most of these cars being reassigned to handle express, especially since the three doors helped in unloading a car faster.  Prized show cattle also could have been transported in this type of car, typically for state fairs that were several hundred miles from the farm...

Handling race horses, especially so in the east, was big business and a lot of railroads popped for such equipment because of the profit that could be made.  Having appropriate stalls available for hauling horses meant that the fare for the horse to travel on the train was a bit higher than if handled in stock cars and usually the horse's handler traveled with the horse to be sure that it was fed and watered.  Many of the early cars had small windows where a water hose could be handed through so the horses could be watered.  These smaller windows were later welded shut as the cars moved away from handling livestock.

One example of a prize cattle being shipped not likely to ever be represented as an available model was down in Augusta, Ga., where the owner of a prize bull was transported in its own passenger car to the Atlanta state fair.  The owner bought on of the four Southern Railway coach - dinettes when it was withdrawn from revenue passenger service and converted the dinette end of the car so that his precious bovine could travel in class.  The rest of the car kept its two segregated tables and coach seating (the car was used for segregated travel up to the early-60s).  It was painted in a bright yellow paint which the car still wears to this day, though heavily weathered and abandoned near Augusta now.

[learmoia]

During the wars they were used to transport the Calvary and once the race horse business faded away, may roads used them to haul cars...as basic freight cars and out here on the west coast and I believe in Pennsylvania used to haul circus stuff and stage sets.  Also, there were a number of three door baggage cars, so they make good stand ins for those.

Joe
MTl

Makes sense... maybe I was seeing 3 door baggage cars..

In watching New York Central videos, each Mail/Express train would have a couple 3 door cars mixed in.. I always heard them called Horse cars, but I doubt they literally hauled Horses in the 40s. 

~Ian

[tuxachanie]

I'm looking forward to the MT horse car. I can use several 70' horse cars for my primary railroads... L&N, Southern, SAL, and Illinois Central. The WofT 80' car is nice, but too long for me and a little pricey for kitbashing. Also looking forward to the MT Erie baggage car. I'll need a 10-pack of those for painting and kitbashing! 

Tony
Hattiesburg MS

[Puddington]

The Canadian Pacific rostered horse express cars until 1980. They were used for the transport of valuable race horse during the season and wintered at tracks across Canada as storage sheds for hay, straw and oats. I built a 57' horse express car that ran until 1978 for my Dominion.

[Puddington]

The NYC used horse express cars for hauling scenery for Broadway shows - I have seen pictures of loading through the end doors. I think the NYC actually obtained some "horse express" style cars for that task exclusively.... although I'm not 100% certain.

[learmoia]

The NYC used horse express cars for hauling scenery for Broadway shows - I have seen pictures of loading through the end doors. I think the NYC actually obtained some "horse express" style cars for that task exclusively.... although I'm not 100% certain.

Huh learn something new every day.. cool!..  ~Ian

[OldEastRR]

Saw heavyweight horse cars at Hawthorne Park, in Cicero, IL, in  the late '60s. Don't forget to make your loading dock (including the ramp) out of dirt with cribbing or concrete retaining walls, and a sandy layer on top.

[Nato]

     Pennsylvania had dedicated theatrical scenery cars with end doors that looked like horse cars. Nate Goodman (Nato) Salt Lake, Utah.

[nickelplate759]

PRR even had one named "Mikado" (after the opera, not the locomotive type)!

Info here: http://prr.railfan.net/passenger/GSPEAR/GSPEAR_PRR_Scenery_Car.htm

[eric220]

PRR even had one named "Mikado" (after the opera, not the locomotive type)!

Info here: http://prr.railfan.net/passenger/GSPEAR/GSPEAR_PRR_Scenery_Car.htm

I'm guessing car 6059 was not popular with production crews.

[Missaberoad]

I'm guessing car 6059 was not popular with production crews.

The Scottish car? 

[eric220]

The Scottish car? 

If you say it in a theater scenery car, does it count?

[thomasjmdavis]

All I can say is that I have been on a stage when someone said it 3 times to disprove the superstition, and approximately 15 seconds later, a backhoe working elsewhere on campus hit the 14kV electric main, and we were blacked out for 2 days. (When the lights went out, everyone thought it was me playing a joke with the actress who said it). I would think that any good baggage handler familiar with the legends would forgo use of the name, lest the roof leak and ruin the cargo, or the car derail.   On my layout, there is a rather precipitous drop from the edge, so if I ever model a theater car, I will name it "Othello", or perhaps after one of my set designer friends.  The list does leave me wondering who "Patti" was.

At the rate things are going, it would not surprise me if someone were to produce resin castings for the scenery cars.  I'd also be a customer for one of those PRR double door express boxcars (don't know the class off the top of my head, but the ones that have the doors spaced out like baggage car doors).

With MT having the baggage car slated for a June release in their Liberty Bell set, here's hoping we see them in Erie colors soon after.  And I need undecorated, lots of those.

[JoeD]

The Erie and PRR will be out in two days.    you guys better step up all's I gotta say.   

Joe
MTL

[CBQ Fan]

The Erie and PRR will be out in two days.    you guys better step up all's I gotta say.   

Joe
MTL

CB&Q. CB&Q. CB&Q. CB&Q. CB&Q. Joe I need the diner!