Flat Car Friday PRR F22 with interesting load

 

I can promise that the subject each week will not always feature Pennsy flat cars, but so far that is the case. This week's subject is one that again should be familiar to modelers as the F22 has been available in HO scale in both brass and as a resin kit from Funaro & Camerlengo. Issues 26 and 32 of The Keystone Modeler had articles containing info about the F22 class, with issue 26 containing info about the sister class F23, as well. Pennsylvania Railroad Flat Cars contains six pages of info and photos about the F22 and F23 classes. These were often referred to as gun cars or flats as two would often be used in tandem to transport large gun barrels as used on naval vessels. The load in this photo is also naval in nature, being a conning tower (edited post: based upon discussion at the Steam Era Freight Cars list, this was determined to likely be part of the "Conning Tower Tube" from the USS Missouri - credit to Ralph Brown and Marty McGuirk for their expertise.) The photo is from the Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University