Sad to say that on Wednesday, a special train 992 left Rome, GA with 116 wood racks enroute via Chattanooga, TN to Ohio to be scrapped. These cars had been in dead storage on the old Mobile Main Line just south of Rome since 1996. According to the Trainmaster here, they had little trouble getting them out. The word they were told is that a company from Ohio bought them with the intentions of scrapping them out. I managed to get a copy of the crew's switch list before they departed, if anyone is interested in the car numbers let me know. One strange thing I noted is that several of the cars had hold written beside them. I am wondering if perhaps these are some that were saved, if anyone knows let me know, its got my curiosity up.

Jonathan Blair Rome, GA

-- Jonathan L. Blair (JLBlair@Bellsouth.net), January 06, 2001

Answers

Jonathan--even more important that the list of cars, did you get any photos of them?

-- Larry (ljpuckett@starpower.net), January 06, 2001.

Larry, sad to say I did not. Most of the cars were in an area that you could not get to by road. In fact, when NS changed over to their new system of car tracking, TYES someone erased the all of the cars, and they had to be walked to be booked again. I remember one of the clerks telling me that they had to walk down the cars and swing from end to end just to walk it out since you couldn't even walk down the roadbed. I will ask around here and see if anyone may have gotten a pic or two, however I doubt it due to the terrain of the area that they were in.

Jonathan Blair Rome, GA

-- Jonathan L. Blair (JLBlair@Bellsouth.net), January 06, 2001.

Who would have ever thought? Wood racks, common as houseflies-now GONE. Things you take for granted, seemingly everywhere...GP7s and 9s...units still in SR black-and-aluminum...everywhere today, gone tomorrow....y'all had better start getting pictures of the four-axle GPs left on the NS, too, especially the old GP 38s and 38-2s...By the time that big GE "streamliners"(those dash-40s)reach Albany,GA and the Central, you know the end is near for "little power". You're going to see the end of "waffle-side" boxcars soon, too...

-- Bud Leggett (leggettd@dartnet.peachnet.edu), August 08, 2001.

>I am wondering if perhaps these are some that were saved, if anyone knows let me know, its got my curiosity up. Jonathan Blair Rome, GA

Well, in one sense the answer is yes... but not as you might think...

Norfolk Southern not that long ago (within the last couple of years) sent a bunch of them through the shops to be rebuilt into gondolas... with the cut-off ends winding up as retainer walls inside of Cycle Systems scrap yard (don't ask how I know... ;-D). At least they look pretty good painted in orange with the unique cut-down ends!!!

Others have been converted for transporting long logs (8-foot-plus set lengthwise) and I have even seen a few that were converted to carry dimensional lumber (had some sort of raised enforcements over the V well to hold the stacks of lumber up so a forklift could slide under them).

-- Jerry M. LaBoda (jmlaboda2@yahoo.com), April 21, 2002.