N&W storage mail cars

[NW Mailing List]

Looking at 

http://www.uglywomansguide.com/index.php/2010/05/portsmouths-got-a-brand-new-train/#comments

it isn't obvious whether the Portsmouth cars have recesses in the end where
vestibule doors were blanked off in the conversion process. If not, they may have been originally built as baggage cars. Illinois Railway Museum has N&W 1459, which has such recesses and appears to have been converted from a Pullman car. See

http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/rsearch.cgi?coaches=Norfolk+&+Western=1459

The N&W purchased 98 cars from Pullman:

34 parlor cars and one sleeper in 1941, originally built 1910-17, converted
to coaches by N&W according to Wayner "The Complete Roster of Heavyweight
Pullman Cars"

45 tourist cars in 1947, most of which were converted from 12-1 sleepers
during World War II for military movements, converted to work cars by N&W
(same source)

18 additional tourist cars in 1953 (Wayner does not indicate subsequent use)

Plan 2416 parlor cars and plan 2410 sleepers, comprising most of the first
two groups, were similar externally except for window arrangements. It will
not be easy to identify which kind of car was used for N&W mail storage cars if they came from this source, unless the N&W Historical Society has
relevant records. 

Alex Schneider


November 18, 2010

Thanks, Alex!

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com