(erielack) Erie/EL Wooden Express Car

[Hhaines_@_aol.com]

Dear List:

The Bethlehem Car Works has announced availability of an important passenger

car model of Erie Express Car Class C-9 (C for "cargo"). I have read that
once purchased, Erie passenger equipment was on the railroad for a long time
.
 It is true with these 4-window wood express cars that entered service on th
e
Eire in 1912, and some were photographed in MOW service in 1974. Photos show

these cars operated in passenger trains behind all types of locomotives
including camelback E-3 Atlantics, G-15 ten-wheelers, K-1, 2, 4, and 5
Pacifics, Berkshires, a SantaFe (2-10-2) a Decapod in the 1930s, F-3s, E-8s,

ALCO HH, PAs, and RS-3s.

There were several classes of cars built to a similar plan and appearance.
Pictured on page 22, August 2002 Model Railroad Craftsman is a completed
model of Erie car number 356-a blind ended 70 foot C-9 wood express car with

steel underframe and truss-rods. One of the cars I was about to scratch buil
d
from styrene!

In 1912, these cars would have been used on Erie's best long-distance trains

like the Erie Vestibuled Express Limited between New York and Chicago.
Several of these wood express cars were pictured in each passenger train fro
m
1914 through the 1920s and 1930s.  By the late 1930s, Erie steel heavyweight

express-baggage cars were starting to outnumber the wooden cars in the
trains.  World War II seems to have given them another life being
photographed on all types of trains. 

By 1949, the steel-framed wooden C-9s and cousins were seen only occasionall
y
on the Erie Limited. According to one report (caption), Wells Fargo Express
contracted to run a set of them on the Erie, so they were kept in service
longer.  I am not sure when the contract ended because most were labeled for

competitor Railway Express Agency.

In 1950, lightweight steel express cars entered Erie's fleet to displace the

wooden cars from the Erie Limited.  A few of the wooden express cars
continued to be found on the Lake City, Mountain Express, and other trains.

Only a few were photographed behind Erie E-8s in passenger trains in 1951. 
The latest photo I reviewed with these cars in a revenue passenger train was

taken in 1956. 

From there, some must have migrated into the Maintenance of Way fleet, some
lasting well through the merger and as late as 1974 in the EL 840000 series.
 


They were painted Eire (Pullman) dark green, with black trucks.  By MOW days
,
the handrails had been painted yellow.  The instructions may shed some light

on this. As time went on, the roofs became black with soot or patch.  By the

EL years, roofs appear to be painted black.  I have seen no photos to show
that any were painted in the Erie Limited two-tone green scheme.

For the prototype, these cars are listed in 1913 Erie passenger and car
diagram book on George Elwoods site. Class C-9 covered Erie numbers 350
through # 374, and were built by Barney and Smith  in 1912.  Erie #370-374
had end doors.  All weighed 113,000 pounds and were 70-feet 9-inches over th
e
end wall.  The plan shows these cars had "fish hooks" for bagged cargo (like

mail), a safe, a desk, two 6-foot 6 =BE-inch wide doors per side, steam heat
,
(later years, a stove), and electric lights. These cars usually rode on
6-wheel trucks, but one photo shows one with 4-wheel trucks early in its
career.

There are color photos of the cars.  Erie/DL&W Color Guide to Freight and
Passenger Equipment notes that Barney and Smith not only built Erie #350 to
374, but also Erie #375-399 in 1913 (that might have become Class C-10?).
Erie must have liked them because they used the plan in 1917-1918 to have
Osgood Bradley build yet another class (possibly Class C-12 in the Erie
Railroad Story) Erie #450-499.  The cars that survived at merger time became

Erie/EL maintenance of way cars (pictured as 484036, 484036, and 483004).

I hope to acquire one of these wood craftsman kits in the near future.  It
would be great to buy them through the ELHS, but I do not know if they have
them.  The kits comes with laser-cut wood sides, plastic and white metal
detail parts without trucks or couplers. I suspect some of the trucks offere
d
by the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society will work. The advertisement state
s
these cars ran until the 1940s, but photos below suggest they had a few
revenue days after those dates.

I have a few questions for the list.  Has this car been out for awhile?  It
was the first I have seen about it.  BCWs web site was not working this
weekend, so I could not write them. 

Did anyone out there help BCW with this project?  If so, I would like to
thank them.  Such a kit makes my life easier. 

Thanks in Advance,

Howard Haines
ELHS #1447


For photo reference, I found pictures of the prototype in the following six
books.  In Color:
ERIE/DL&W COLOR GUITE TO FREIGHT AND PASSENGER EQUIPMENT BY LARRY DE YOUNG
AND MIKE DEL VECCHIO, 2001, pages 58-60 (1964 to 1974).

ERIE RAILROAD IN COLOR David  R. Sweetland 1991, Pages 65 (1953), and p68
(1950), 

In Black and White:
THE ERIE LACKAWANN STORY, Paul Carleton, 1974, page 178 (1914), p193 (1949),

p210 (1939), p 214, p 223 (1949), p 256 (1949), p261 (1949), and p264, (1949

behind ALCo PA).

THE ERIE RAILROAD STORY, Paul Carleton, 1988, page 44 (1947), p 91 (NY&NJ,
1949), p 97 (1923?), p 108 (1939), p 117 (1947), p 122 (1940-41), p 125
(1949), p 184 (1950), p 197 (1949), p 198 (1949), page 205 (1951?), and p 21
5
(1951).

ERIE MEMORIES, Ed Crist, 1993 Pages 8 (1949), 39 (1940), p 50 (1939), p 74
(1940-41), 105 (1949), 115 (1941), p 134  (1936), p 151 and (1948-50).

THE ROUTE OF THE ERIE LINITED, Rod Dirkes, and John Krause, 1986, Cover,
pages 2, 10 (1941), 11, 14 (1943), 19 (1946), 23, 24 (1947), 26 (1947), 29
(1941), 31 (1940), 32 (1947), 33 (1949), p 35 (1937 and 1949), p 43 (1946),
p
44 (late 1940s)

ERIE POWER, Fredrick Westing, 1970 pages 290 (1919), p 279 (1917), p307
(1928/9), pages 310-311 (Train #3, 1922), p 315, page 322, and page 323
(Armistis Day 1918, Hamburg NY)

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