Not the usual freight car view. Let me add a couple of caveats: This is a tourist railroad property and I had permission to be there and shoot photos. Second, I wasn’t as close as the photo suggests thanks to the zoom feature of my camera lens. This was also a static line of cars with no locomotive present. I exercise all reasonable safety precautions when doing photography like this.

Okay, all that said, I wanted this shot in particular because we seldom see this vantage point. Further, we don’t pay as much attention to this area of rolling stock as we could. Unless one happens to be a freight car or prototype modeler, the underframe often gets shortchanged on a model. The common justification is that no one will see it. What about you? You’ll see it, and you’ll know whether you did a good job down there or just slipped by with the minimum.

Take a look at what’s going on underneath this particular car. Check out the condition of things. Remember, it is an older car. Bonus points and bragging rights to whoever can correctly identify the car. What do you see?

Regards,

Mike

November 2. 2011

Well, no takers on the guess this freight car quiz. The answer is: an X-29. The car is in the collection of the Whitewater Valley Railroad located at Connersville, IN. The WVRR runs an excursion train to Metamora, IN on trackage that used to be part of the same branch line that I model. A severe washout from river flooding many years ago severed the line  and it was never repaired for lack of finances.

The yard south of Connersville has an eclectic mix of freight and passenger stock in various states of condition from derelict to in service. The X-29 is one of several steam era pieces of freight equipment, that also includes a PS-1 boxcar.

Excursion service is handled by former Erie RR Stillwell coaches, such as the one shown below. Motive power is also varied in scope and condition.

This old veteran from Lima with her NYC paint job still rolls off the miles. If you have the chance to visit the line, please do so. The trip is a leisurely one and a paved highway follows the line for most of its length to Metamora, making photography easy. Watch out for sharp curves along the road though!!

Regards,

Mike