What is it?! The weirdest "Abandoned" rail car in Eastern Pennsylvania (Part 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- Want to see one of the most mysterious "abandoned" rail cars in Eastern Pennsylvania? Of course you do.
Join me for this walkthrough and investigation into the rusty 100 year old relic, outlining some of its history based off just a few visual cues-and see some ex CNW boxcars and interesting large scale art along the way! - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Found a potential lead: The Car Is Conrail 64707, a flanger built in 10-1924 most likely as a Pullman/Government/Pennsylvania Railroad Troop Sleeper Car, was converted to a MOW Caboose sometime after WW2. Finally converted to a flanger in the 60’s. Then to Penn Central as flanger 60052. Finally it went to Conrail as flanger 64707 and sold to a private owner.
It definitely has all the elements of a flanger.
@@dtj9923MU cables are almost a dead giveaway (besides the number)
Troop sleeper cars were built during the Second World War, prior to that Pullman had enough sleeper cars to go around. The PRR did convert some box cars into passenger cars for commuter trains during WW2, they got 'porthole' windows so that might have been a part of this car's life.
@@keystonedriving8180 I haven't heard of these boxcar/passenger car conversions. Any tips on where to read up on them?
But did any of the troop sleepers have big keystone logos on them like this one? I'm sticking with gut of X-29 conversion. As I said in the video, the evidence is there but I have no smoking gun.
Yes, this rail car should be saved. It can become a very unique, nice place to live. Thank you for sharing.
Depending on where I'm going on California Rd in Quakertown, Pa, I see that rail car all the time. That weird art form is what that guy creates
& sells, apparently he must be doing very well as he's been in business for some time now.
Some yrs back, I remember when that track ran across the road then it was removed as that it was no longer in use or needed. I have lived
here in Quakertown for the last 46 yrs & have seen many changes & probably will continue to do so, it's a very nice & quiet Bucks County town.
This is the one I found. The track used to go across California Rd and connected to the Reading Quakertown Branch.
I remember when they had service to this warehouse. Over the years these sat there and they repaved the road in the late 90s and they ripped up the tracks.
I was wondering why they left these there. I think these needed maintenance and were " bump " cars , like they had behind the Pennsburg Shopping Center the same time period, and they pulled those out in the late 90s and ripped up the 663 crossing.
But I remember watching trains on these lines every day.
That building used to have a business but it was leased for a lot of stuff.
In 1984 they had a massive Haunted House for Halloween that was two floors and the coolest one I have ever seen.
Those in the middle are brakes cylinders
The top I think are air tanks.
ESPN must still own these.
I don't know if Conrail owned these. This was Reading and Conrail owned Reading.
2007 ?
I didn't think that that crossing still existed in 2007.
I thought it was late 90s they ripped up the crossing.
My memory is going so I am clearly wrong.
I have noticed that I am more confused this past month than ever before.
Really scared me.
Memory loss is no fun. I miss details sometimes.
There's photos on rrpicturearchive of it in town in 2007, then on the siding by 2013. It apparently hasn't moved since.
Conrail had it - there's a photo in the video of how it looked right after a Contrail repaint. It was apparently off their roster by 1987 tho.
Update! I've been discussing this on the Ahead of the Torch group and a member there says he helped move the cars across the road (after it was repaved) - so your memory on this one might be exact.
This is in my backyard. The guy that does the sculptures told me he owns all the cars.
Do you happen to know if the boxes are used for storage, or if he's got plans for the flanger?
I suspected this might be a possibility given the nature of the location, with all the art around the building.
Honestly the guy has a bit of an attitude. From what I understand the boxcar's we're locked shut just to keep the kids out. Not used for storage.
@@slikkarl Oy vey. I'm a little worried that if he does own them, what are his plans for them? What happens to them when he eventually passes away? There's a lot of examples of what happens when there's no arrangements made.
Ha! Tobin! I went to school with him.
The round EMD object is a Multi Unit socket with a flip up cover. MU cables connected all the controls together.
Definitely have seen photos of one of these between locomotives.
Yes, it should definitely be saved. It's evolution is an interesting one and is a great proxy for US railroad history. It'd fit in well at the Danbury Railway Museum.
Yeah, there or the PA museum. I'm getting the impression there's not many flangers of this era preserved.
I've seen these cars! The doors on the flanger are engineer side doors from a MP54E5 or MP54E6. At 3:10 you can see the window on the door has a second square frame around it. This was so the engineer on the MP54 could open the window, (which was on a hinge, essentially a door in a door) and get some fresh, cool, air in the summer. The other 2 doors still left on the flanger are missing the windows. The boxcars have East Penn Railriad reporting marks.
Waoh, that's a great detail I missed. I've been wondering what other cars they might have cobbled parts from to build the doors and ends with.
I have nothing to do, I’m going to look.
Time to go through internet archives.
Great video and great location for this topic I grew up near this area and I've always wondered what this caboose thing was
It's a cool neighborhood. I'm an NYC guy but spent quite a few weekends in that neck of the woods growing up (randomly befriended some guys out there)
EPRY was the East Penn Railways. It merged with Penn Eastern to form in East Penn Railroad (ESPN) in 2007, so the cars were likely retired prior to that.
Another awesome detail - thank you for that. I only got to read a little about EPRY/ESPN and figured I'd research it more for the part 2 video...
I don't recognize that exact car but the controls and interior air cylinder arrangement makes me think it may be a flanger of some kind.
Definite flanger.
Snow flanger made from a former Pennsylvania Railroad boxcar.
Yes I believe that the Flanger should be saved.
Neat video. Anyone ever tell you you look like Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future?
Nope, never 🤣
Looks like a GE gas turbine Doodlebug.
That was my first thought.
it looks like a boxcab electric enginge used to move trains in and out of graund central terminal
It does - or one of the ones used the old obscure 'pocket' freight yards around NYC 100 years ago... My money's still on an X-29 tho.
I think the stock should be saved, there are no PRR flangers left in existence.
Any idea how many were home-built? I'm neurotically trying to prove the others are long gone.
@@ltvsquad I had already researched these beforehand, all I know that is worth anything is the amount. The PRR had 4 flangers on their roster, this is a really early example from 1924, I have no idea what it was originally, your guess sounds good to me, though another comment saying it was a troop car at one point is another accurate guess.
@@Amtrak09 Oooo - only 4. I was able to find photos of two others but none from the last ten years. This is a pretty rare bird.
god damn vines
hi owns the "abandoned" and stripped 484 locomotive that was bought in mexico?
I'm not familiar with this one. 484, the former Amtrak FL9?
@@ltvsquad Hi, no, it was on utube 1-2? months ago. It is a stripped 484 baldwin?
It should be saved
has poling pockets ..very old
Yeah, noticed that. Poling went out of style in the early 1960s; I've seen 1950s yard diesels with poling pockets.
@@michaelblum4968 I mistakenly thought it was prohibited before then, but apparently it was just abandoned for safety in the time period you stated. 👍
100 years old this October. :) (I'm surprised the build day was still visible on it, it's in the vid towards the start)
The pockets are one more thing that points towards this car being converted from a boxcar.
The sculptures are ugly but not the railroad cars!
I kinda like them - some more than others.
It looks like it's still restorable. Let's hope this forlorn relic is pulled out of its purgatory, restored and will ride the rails again!
Yeah I don't see why it couldn't be restored. For 100 years old it's in pretty good shape. The trick would be figuring out what is missing and where to source or fabricate those parts. It really feels like a Frankenstein of different car parts from that era.