Sunday, December 22, 2019

Marty McGuirk's Mystery Box Car


A little over a year ago, Marty McGuirk posted this photo on the Central Vermont from Bob's Photo, as he was trying to identify the box car two in front of the locomotive (the one directly in front is an ex-auto car on the Illinois Central.) Marty's initial take was that it was a Louisiana & Arkansas 1932 ARA box car, given the best-guess reporting marks on the car of "L&A" and the height of the car. However, the straight side sills nixed that supposition. 

Here's my best guess. The L&A had several individual cars on the roster. I believe they were ones that the L&A ended up owning/keeping for reasons likely lost to time. I am fairly certain this car is L&A 10202 and that it is an ex-PRR X28A. Every one of the dimensions in the Official Railway Equipment Register matches the PRR's same dimensions for the X28A class. This mystery car has flat riveted ends and roof and straight side sill, all features of the X28A. Given the available information (and the absence of other contradictory info) I am going with L&A 10202, the only car in the Louisiana & Arkansas series L&A 10202-10202. What do you think?


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