Photos of Short Line Boxcars (QA&P, AT&N, NEO, etc.)

BY 1953 the NEO did not have any boxes on the roster. How about a gon? http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?p=15236#post15236

Charles Briton's book, The Quanah Route, A Texas Short Line Railroad, and Don Hofsommer's book, The Quanah Route contain rolling stock photos.

 

I flipped through my copy of Hofsommer's book. Didn't find any large-format boxcar photos, but on p. 132 there is a posed postwar publicity photo of decapod 1620 and two QA&P boxcars on a freshly-painted QA&P girder bridge. Hofsommer generally focuses on the business history of the line.

Charles C. Britton's "The Quanah Route", published by Joed Books in 1990, contains a smaller version of the photo mentioned above, plus other rolling stock photos including tank car no. 310 and boxcar no 505, ca 1946, and a modern insulated boxcar, along with many other photos of locomotives, cabooses, etc. The publisher's address printed in the book, [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]P.O. Box 1322, Fort Collins 80522, might or might not still be good. [/FONT][/FONT]If you can't locate a copy for sale, you might try asking your local library about interlibrary loan. Many of these photos are credited to Robert W. Richardson, and apparently housed at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Others are attributed to the DeGolyer Collection at Southern Methodist University. Both repositories might be a source for further research.

Art Griffin, who makes model railroad decals based on historic builders' photographs, has a QA&P decal set. You could contact him for availability of the decals and the photograph they're based on. See http://www.greatdecals.com/Griffin.htm .

A search of WorldCat, a database of library holdings, [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]indicates that Texas Tech University has two photograph collections which would be of interest:

[/FONT](1) Photograph collection, 1895-1974. [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Railway Company.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]1895-1974[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]English Visual Material : Picture 212 copy prints : b&w ; 4 x 5 in. 216 copy negatives : b&w ; 4 x 5 in. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Consists of photographs of Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Railroad trains, depots, and tracks (1895-1954; 1974 and undated). Bulks with photographs of depots and tracks (1920-1950 and undated). Also contains a photograph of the headquarters house on the Matador Ranch (undated); street scenes in Paducah, Texas (1896); and agricultural scenes (undated).[/FONT]

(2) Photograph collection, 1883-1961.[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Matador Land and Cattle Company.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]1883-1961[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]English Visual Material : Picture 489 photo prints : b&w. 253 copy negatives : b&w. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Consists of photographs of the people, places and livestock on the Matador Ranch in West Texas (1883-1961). Includes photographs of a mail wagon (1900), the community Christmas tree in Dickens, Texas (1900), a steer sale in Denver, Colorado and the Quannah, Acme and Pacific Railway.[/FONT]

You would have to contact Texas Tech's library for further information on these.

The Barriger Collection at the University of Missouri at St. Louis also has an extensive collection of carbuilders' photographs, mostly from the files of American Car & Foundry (ACF). See http://www.umsl.edu/barriger/index.html , and particularly http://www.umsl.edu/barriger/collections/acf.htm . They may have builders' photos of cars built for the QA&P. Again, you would have to contact them since I don't see any readily available index of their archival holdings.

A couple of model railroad manufacturers have released mass-produced QA&P boxcars in HO scale. I have not verified the accuracy of their paint schemes. Athearn/Horizon/Roundhouse plans to release a QA&P ready-to-run 36-foot wooden trussrod boxcar next year: http://www.roundhousetrains.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=36'+Box&CatID=THRF . And the Show Me Model Railroad Company did a run of Athearn woodsided boxcars painted for the QA&P: http://www.showmelines.com/Catalog-Quanah.html .

Bradley A. Scott

 

Addendum: Trains Magazine published an article in February 1961 entitled "Quanah Means Quick". I have no way of knowing whether it included any photographs; perhaps someone with an extensive collection of back issues could supply further information.

 

An earlier 1952 QA&P article was copied, with permission, in FMIG Newsletter 39, but boxcar photos weren't included. Doug

 

Hello Forum:

In regards to the Trains February 1961 article on the Quanah Route the following photos are part of the article:

1. Time Freight 30 passes through landscape. Three Geeps on point. Rock Island boxcar, Great Northern boxcar, NP boxcar and three tank cars all get in the shot.

2. Time Freight 30 near Paducah. Shows Frisco caboose #231 and a TTX flat with some empty car carriers loaded.

3. Floydada. ATSF F's nose is in the shot and the Geeps are switching. Fairly clear view of Frisco 507 and GN boxcar #5553.

4. Roster shot of QA&P 4-4-0 #187 pulling into Quanah-1948.

5. Roster shot of QA&P Ten-Wheeler #723.

6. Roster shot of QA&P Decapod #1617 at Quanah-1950.

Good photos, but none of QA&P boxcars, etc.

John
WF TX

 

There's a QA&P box car on the dust jacket (also inside) of the Nick Molo Frisco/Katy book.

Tom

 

Page 173 of the Hoffsomer Book has a photo of a car from the same series as the one in Nick Molo's book. Note, these are GARX cars leased to the QAP (the Frisco had some on it's books as well).

Page 119 of McCall and Schultz's "Frisco Southwest" has a 1950 photo of a wood sheathed boxcar (QAP 531) a tank car (QAP 320) and a caboose (QAP 49).

Paul

 

That's a beautiful postcard shot with the long freight train!

Still, I wonder about the QA&P boxcar in the shot. That part of the photo looks like it might have been retouched, possibly as part of the QA&P's famously aggressive advertising and promotional efforts.

Bradley A. Scott

 

Perhaps, but maybe not.

Most of the photos I have seen of QA&P equipment have actually been work cars, and almost all of those were converted from boxcars similar in design to the one in Frisco Southwest.

The Hoffsommer book leads me to believe that the Frisco supplied most of the equipment used on the line. The Frisco certainly supplied the locomotives (The QA&P didn't own any locomotives by the 1930s). Also, the specially equipped flatcars the QA&P used for hauling Gypsum board from the plants in Acme were supplied by the Frisco (and carried SLSF markings - there are pictures of at least one of these in the book).

The answer to this question can be found, if someone has access to an equipment register from the time period in question.

Paul

 

Take a look at the notes on the OER Page Chris posted. In particular, the first note in the second column:
"Freight cars owned are not used in interchange service."

So, at least in July 1942, which is the date on the OER page Chris posted, The QA&P did not own any cars which were used in interchange service. We'll need an OER from a later date to get a better picture of the situation in the late 1940s and the 1950s.

Paul