(erielack) DL&W on the head end

["MDelvec952_@_aol.com"]

In a message dated 98-06-21 16:35:00 EDT, "Andrisd_@_aol.com" writes:

> I was wondering what type if any head-end express cars the Lackawanna used.
>  

Your question would be more easily answered if you were asking about a
specific era.  However, in the diesel daze there were basically four batches
of head cars owned by the Lackawanna. (bags, troop sleepers, boxcars and milk
cars).
      The typical baggage car; 2000-2034 had clarestory roofs; 2035-2109 had
round roofs. 2110 was a converted Boonton line coach, 2111-2121 were the ex-
troop sleepers -- these were delivered in 1948 in green, but painted into
stripes later on.
      Two batches of boxcars were purchased for express service; 10000-10039,
and 10040-10089, in 1950 and 1957, respectively.  The first batch had 12 side
panels, 6' doors and a post-war dreadnaught end, and the latter batch had
12-panels, 8' doors and the 4/3/1 end ala Front Range boxcars.  Both were
delivered with National B-1 trucks and steam lines.   The great mystery here
is why these were not delivered in the Route of Phoebe Snow billboard like the
ones that ran in freight trains, since in the late 1950s the passenger boxcars
actually ran in the Phoebe consist.  Perry Shoemaker was asked the question
about the billboards, and he didn't have an answer.  But he did say that the
Phoebe never turned a profit (neither did most diesel-era streamliners).
Also, keep in mind that the Phoebe as planned was not intended to carry
baggage and express cars, just the RPOs (no mail storage car).  After just a
few years, the baggage cars began showing up in the trains.
      Milk cars, usually the wooden ones, also travelled on the head end of
specific trains.  Since they were not interchange cars, the reporting marks
were seldom kept clean. In 1955 the Lackawanna converted two of the
10000-10040 boxcars into mechanically refrigerated milk cars, and these
silver-painted boxes were in active service until the very last load of
revenue milk, in 1966 for Sheffield Farms in Endicott City.  Train 47 was
famous for its long strings of empty milk cars returning to Scranton and
Binghamton in both steam and diesel eras.
            In the middle and later 1950s, Railway Express Agency wooden and
steel express cars of many types were common in Lackawanna trains, usually in
batches of two, three or four.  Toward the later 1950s, photos seem to show
numerous head end cars, and after the Erie merger head end seemed to be a big
business.
            In steam days the baggage cars were the main stay of the head end
biz, but keep in mind that the Lackawanna had many combinations of combines,
including unusual diner / baggage cars.  Cals Classics has photos of these.

                   Hope this helps                       ....Mike

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