I am looking for some help to ID 3 coachs. The cars are 70 feet long inside from
door to door and have a concrete floor. We think the cars are from the LIRR, they
have been in Fayette county pa. since mid 90s. We may want to use them on the
Fayette Central RR . I will try to link a photo.


Tim C
Fayette Central RR
http://www.fayettecentralrailroad.com/

OK not having much luck with the photo
TC

ok now it works

tc

The one in the back, that we can only see the end of, is most definitely an ex-LIRR "Ping-pong" P54. The other two I'm not sure about, but I know we have folks here that probably know just how all three cars ended up where they did.

Where are these hiding again?

The two in front with the round roof and square vents are Rock Island commuter cars from Chicago (called by some folks "Al Capone Cars"---- I guess a play on the DL&W "Wyatt Earp" 60s-era nickname for the open platform cars).

The upper buffer spring mounts on the rear car make me think it's an NYC Osgood Bradley "B&A commuter coach". At least 3-4 wound up on the D&H and a few more on the NYS&W.

Howard P.

Okay, I second Brother Pincus' expert analysis. Now, how in h-e-double-hockey-sticks did two Rock Island commuter cars end up in Fayette County, Pa.?

The cars are on a industrial siding off of the FM&P sub that ran from connellsville pa.
to fairmount wv. This was B&O track, car are about 5 miles south of connellsville pa.
We are thinking about fixing up the cars to use with our ALCO S2, we run in the summer on weekend out of uniontown pa. with B&O RDC 9913 now in between
connellsville and end of track near fairchance pa.

Tim C

Where did they come from before your group got them? And how long have they been sitting there?

Howard P.

The cars are owned by Fay-Penn Industrial Development Corp. they got them in the mid 90s. The local youth has taken there toll on them, the car are not in to bad of shape yet. We don't know were they came from before Fay-Penn, we are thinking
of getting them to use with our ALCO S2.

Tim C

I see at least 100 panes of glass that need to be replaced and maybe a zillion feet of gasket material. Are those window frames atill usable? They look tough. Before you write any checks have some estimates done on that window replacement program...it looks overwhelming to me. Good luck with the project!

T7

At one time there were a number of passenger cars parked at various points along the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, with a variety of owners and most with mechanical defects of one sort of another. I looked at these particular cars about three years ago and concluded they probably came from Chicago commuter service. They were not of interest or use to us.

Alan Maples
Everett Railroad

Those pics seal it. That's a B&A coach.

Who is "Steam Associates?" I remember reading they owned an 80 tonner that was scrapped in New England last year.

Rob

It's not surprising that a couple of former Rock Island commuter cars are located in Pennsylvania. These cars have moved all over the country, and are in service on a number of tourist lines. I think that some have even been converted to diners. It sure would be nice to have a listing of the cars that are still in existance. The Rock started their numbers at 2500 and they went on up into the low 2600's. And the Rock Island even bought a few commuter coaches from the Chicago & North Western that were similar to the B&A car pictured and that were numbered just above the last number of the 2500's. I don't know if any of those ex-C&NW cars survived though. So, if you have, or know of, any of these former Rock Island cars, how about letting us know? And maybe somebody can check out those two former Rock Island cars there in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and see if there are any numbers shown anywhere on them.

Les

I object, in a sense.

While it really should not be that unusual for former Rock Island 2500's/2600's to have ended up somewhere in the East, I spent considerable time last night, and just now, scouring my files for older, extinct excursion operations in the East that might have conceivably used ex-RI commuter cars. I could find none whatsoever. I'm pulling up consists for the 2102 trips in the Greenbrier Valley, Rail City, High Iron, Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley, Penn View Mountain, you name it. Nada.

Keep in mind that, at/before the time that the RI cars were being deaccessioned and made available, lots of other cars in the East--primarily Lackawanna "Boonton" cars, CNJ and Reading coaches, Erie Stillwells, LIRR "Ping-Pongs", and the aforementioned Osgood-Bradley cars--were being made available, and were considerably more attractive than RI coaches from either an appearance standpoint (clearstory cars, in some cases) or a historical standpoint--or even just cheaper shipping. The Eastern cars ended up as far west as Indiana and even Wisconsin. Unfair as the characterization may be, RI cars struck me as the perfect option for the "Wild West" tourist trap railroad with staged train robberies. My understanding was that they also didn't ride particularly well (see also LIRR "Ping-Pong").

In short, seeing two Rock Island coaches deep in Pennsylvania like this is the moral equivalent of finding a PRR observation lounge "living" in Winslow, Arizona. But at least I can explain the latter!

I have looked on the cars for numbers but have not found any. When the weather get better I am going to look again to see if I can find anything under the many layers of paint. The cars need alot of work for us to use (mostly windows) and
a few places in the floor fixed, along with some rust repair. The biggest thing is they are already here ( only 1 car has roller bearings)

Tim C

The car that loooks like a B&A coach may very well be one of the C&NW coaches that were sold to the Rock Island. Externally, the cars were almost identical. If it has roller bearings and a toilet compartment, it is, as B&A cars had neither. The Rock Island numbers were 2615-2623.