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| Al Armitage photo, Ron Morse Collection, ca. 1949-1950 |
One of the things I thought would be a fun part of this "series" on flat cars would be to highlight some of the more interesting and unusual cars that I have come across in the photos I have acquired over the years. The Spokane International car was one such example, as is the one shown herein. According to wikipedia, the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern was organized in 1895 to build a line from Waterloo to Cedar Falls, Iowa, completed in 1897. It expanded to Waverly and Cedar Rapids and operated a modest schedule of several interurban trains per day connecting these points. It also operated a freight belt line around Waterloo.
In January, 1953, according to the Official Railway Equipment Register, the WCF&N rostered a whopping 52 freight cars, of which almost half were the 25 flat cars in the 4000-4024 series. I have had this photo on my radar since I acquired the print, thinking it would be a great project to complement one of my two Sunshine Models Farmall tractor load kits. Of note are the towing loops at the bolsters. That's a project for another day, though.
P.S. I do not know when these cars were built or by what car builder. If anyone knows those details, please fell free to share via the comments section below. Thank you!
Great flatcar load of Farmall Ms. An interesting fact about the WCF&N, it was the only railroad that served the large Rath Meat Packing plant in Waterloo, up to 124 cars of PHP a day. While much of the meat was transferred to the Illinois Central at Waterloo, who later was an owner of the WCF&N, some of the meat was interchanged with the RI at LaPorte City, and no doubt to the CGW and CNW at other locations.
ReplyDeleteVery cool info, Doug. Thank you! Sounds like a great layout opportunity for someone!
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