Eastman Kodak captive freight cars

[Scott K]

I'm fairly sure it was the caption for that photo, but possibly I saw an Erie ad touting their large clearances, implying overhead as well as lateral. I don't have my own copy of the book unfortunately. I'll have to see if my local library still has their copy and take a picture of the relevant page.

[nydepot]

There are two EK - Erie related photos. One is on page 88 of 1 of 2 chemical storage tanks from Warren PA. They measured 16-8' high, 12-7' wide, and 16' long. Eire and EK men are pictured.

The second is page 90 and shows one of the wheels being delivered from Westinghouse to EK standing 18-6' above the rails (not a wheel car itself). It was the highest shipment ever over the Erie.

The text style is different from Gordon's book so I assume it's right from an Erie magazine or publicity photo.

[BR&P]

Something other than the Gordon book would be helpful. Bill had a wealth of information, and he preserved an incredible amount of history which otherwise would be lost. But as anyone who has his books will concede, organization was not his strong point. Altho if the pic shows an Erie engine pulling it, or a location readily identifiable as on the Erie, that's good enough for me.

Obviously 50 or 60 years ago, things were a lot different. I didn't think the car(s) which carried the wheel were interchangable, at least not to the extent of going out of town. But again, I'm constantly being surprised at new info I had not previously known.

[jr]

I inquired with a long-time KPRR employee, about wheel car routings, clearances, etc. He started about 1970; not sure of his retirement date, but it was less than ten years ago. His response follows.

All the cars had brass bearing journal boxes that kept them off the outside RR. But that was after they weren't used anymore.
They stopped going outside the park early in my time there. I don't know the ConRail tracks that well ...so I'm not sure what route they would have taken to get the wheels repaired. I do know they did not fit under the bridges just east of B207 on the Kodak track. To get the cars from east Kodak to west or vice versa they had to go to Charlotte and interchange there from one RR to the other. I do not remember when the B & O ...or Rochester Southern stopped going to Charlotte but it was a long time ago!!!.

[nydepot]

It is a publicity photo with Erie and EK men in it. That's better than some snapshot they all took back then. The cars is also marked up with Westinghouse and such placards.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't believe that an Erie depressed center flat car (not an EK car) with a brand new wheel can't be delivered to EK? EK never made the wheels. They just transported them around once in-house and in their own cars. The wheel has smaller clearances than a double-stack car.

Something other than the Gordon book would be helpful. Bill had a wealth of information, and he preserved an incredible amount of history which otherwise would be lost. But as anyone who has his books will concede, organization was not his strong point. Altho if the pic shows an Erie engine pulling it, or a location readily identifiable as on the Erie, that's good enough for me.

Obviously 50 or 60 years ago, things were a lot different. I didn't think the car(s) which carried the wheel were interchangable, at least not to the extent of going out of town. But again, I'm constantly being surprised at new info I had not previously known.

[BR&P]

I'm not sure why you wouldn't believe that an Erie depressed center flat car (not an EK car) with a brand new wheel can't be delivered to EK?

I had no doubts at all that an Erie car might have brought a wheel in. Go re-read the post I questioned - it says "There's also at least one picture of one of the wheel cars in Bill Gordon's Erie book." Since we were talking about Kodak's wheel cars the conclusion from reading that would be that one of Kodak's wheel cars went out on the Erie. Subsequent clarification of the picture in question showed that yes, a wheel came in via the Erie, but no, it was not in Kodak's own car. Problem solved!

[Scott K]

I had just assumed that the wheels came in on their own special cars that then remained on the KP property with them.