Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.
Visit us on the Internet at http://www.railserve.com/lmra
E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com
Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453
There were a few errors in the article last month regarding the McIlhaney Creamery Company. They were the fault of the editor. "Ten thousand cows" should have read "one thousand cows." To my knowledge, there is no Burlington Northern, just the Burlington. Last, in fact, Al Fox was not 60-years-old in 1951, but only 16. Al is greatly relieved! seeMcIlhaney Creamery
The club has been asked to run trains at this years Cowboy Symposium. We will set up the club pike on Sept. 6 from 9:30 am to 10:30 pm and run the trains on Sept. 7 - 8 from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. They want to see stock cars, wood cabooses and steam engines.
The clinic this month, called "Train Orders" will be given by Homer Morrow.
I recently received a catalog from the Consolidated Plastics Company. They have bottles of every (and I mean every) size, shape and description. They are perfect for holding glue, shoe dye, paint, weathering solution, etc. They also carry small aluminum weighing dishes, perfect for mixing up paint or Epoxy glue. They have gloves, funnels, tubing, open containers (for holding unfinished projects with all the parts in one place) closed containers and an amazing host of other stuff. I will bring the catalog with me to the meeting. Please look at it.
Here follows an e-mail from John Thibault to Jack Seay.
Thanks for responding, but I am looking for period photos. I lived in Lubbock between 1990-1995 and knew that the RH and TT were gone. I think that the SF took the TT to Saginaw, TX. Whether it is still there is unknown to me at this time. I keep asking friends of mine around the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, but they don't seem to know either. I suspect that it is gone. About the so-called "Harvey House" that is currently at Slaton. It was never the Harvey House, although Fred Harvey did build it. There were three structures built, the Harvey House, the Depot, and the Reading Room (the current structure). When the Fred Harvey built Depot burned, the Reading Room became the Depot. I believe that the original HH burned also, but since I don't have the references in front of me the date escapes me. I believe that it was before the previously mentioned fire though. Why didn't the Santa Fe rebuild the Harvey House? Probably WWII and then declining passenger revenue after the War. This information comes from the Santa Fe Historical and Modeling Society as well as other publications done over the years. When I lived in Lubbock, one of the original Fuel Tanks 65 ft x 45 ft, was still standing at Slaton. It was, however, owned by a farmer, who was using it for Grain storage. I believe that it too is now gone. What I am hoping for is that someone will come up with documents regarding Slaton facilities in some attic or have been given to a Museum or a town Historical Society. Much of this stuff may be out there, but many of the above don't have the resources or knowledge to properly catalog such things. I remember going to the Slaton Museum looking for info and wound up telling them far more than they knew. Do you know how to take photos for modeling?
The Snyder Depot is still pretty much in the as-built condition. Scaled photos of that structure would be very useful. Also there is a Grain Elevator at Slaton on the North side of the "Depot" that I would like some scale photo's of. Also if anyone at the LMRRC, knows anyone that was once an employee, they might have photos of Slaton. Anyway I'd like to thank you again for the effort. Please stay in touch, because the Slaton Division is one of my favorite topics.
Best Regards
John Tsee Slaton
This is the editor. Feel free to correspond with John if you can help him. If you need his mailing address, let me know.
May I add a little to the variations of memory regarding the local reefers?
The Burlington Bulletin is the publication of the Burlington Route Historical Society, headquartered in La Grange, Ill. Issue Number 28, 1993, is dedicated to the "Burlington Billboard Reefers." In 61 pages, Hol Wagner and Bob Landeregan cover the history and present the only remaining drawings, rare pictures, and HO models of roughly 47 leasing companies, including Lubbock's McIlhaney Creamery and Banner Creamery of Abilene. You can obtain more information from the Society at http://www.burlington-route.com . Mr. Landeregan was a former chief engineer for Burlington Fruit Express and had xerox copies of the original drawings for many of the cars in the BREX Roster. Colorful, leased bill board reefers were widely used in this country prior to July 1938. Most dated only from the end of Prohibition, in 1933. In 1934, the Interstate Commerce Commission outlawed them as an illegal rebate to the lessee, and set the same date for discontinuation as the removal of arch bar trucks from interstate service. Following that date the lessee could have its name in letters no more than 1 foot high. A few large shippers owned their own cars, which explains the continuation of some colorful paint schemes.
Burlington Refrigerator Express Company (BREX) leased class RM-7 40 ft wooden bodied refrigerator cars from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR. The two Texas creameries were the only companies to sublease from the Fort Worth & Denver. Neither the Colorado Southern nor FW&D (subsidiaries of CB&Q) repainted any of their own cars, even though they had identical cars available. All BREX cars had "Standard Body Brown" (mineral red) ends, roofs and fascias and black side hardware. "VENTILATOR Ð REFRIGERATOR " in standard block serif lettering appeared near the top of the sides to the right of the door. The standard BREX cars had yellow sides. In addition to more than 58 breweries, at least 23 produce companies had cars repainted to advertize their products. Many companies, including McIlhaney, retained the yellow sides.
According to Wagner, McIlhaney Creamery had two cars, BREX 75213 and 75214, renumbered as MKCX 4800-4801. The article includes a drawing with a detailed plan. No photo is available. It goes on to state that the yellow sides had 6 inch black block serif lettering. To the left of the door was a large white McIlhaney's Creamery Butter Box with black lettering and red trim. All appears to be the same as our other info.
Banner Creamery of Abilene was at the southernmost end of the FW&D's Wichita Valley subsidiary. BREX 75933 was repainted with orange-yellow sides and renumbered BCCX 4900. To the left of the door, this colorful car had a butter box in light yellow, light green and white. A scene in the top section of the box had a light green tree, grass, and cow against a light yellow sky. The slogan "West Texas' Favorite Butter," in six inch medium blue Roman letters and underlined in white surrounded the box. To the right of the door, was "Banner" in large medium blue script with a white border. Roughly centered was a black bordered medium blue oval with "CREAMERY" in orange bordered white letters. Beneath this "ABILENE, TEXAS" in six inch medium blue Roman letters was underlined in white. The reporting marks were 7 inch medium blue block serif letters. Again there is a copy of the original plan drawing and no picture.
I will try to have the magazine at our August meeting so we can all drool over possible projects for contest winning models. Or we might just enjoy the original Coors drawings. - see McILHANEY CREAMERY
I just received notification of a new book from Krause publications entitled Getting Started in Garden Railroading. The book is authored by Allan W. Miller. In many parts of the country, this is an extremely popular part of our hobby. I don't know of anyone in Lubbock who has ever attempted a garden railroad. The flyer states "Railroad enthusiasts can now expand into their backyard with instruction from Allan Miller. His Getting Started in Garden Railroading guides readers through planning, construction and maintenance of an outdoor garden railroad using large scale train equipment." To order, contact Krause Publications, PR01, PO Box 5009, Iola, WI 54945-5009 or (800) 258-0929, or www.krausebooks.com. I have no financial interest in Krause Publications.
I recently received a letter from Jo Stone addressed to the LMRA. Jo has some 1950 vintage Lionel trains items for sale. She lists the following: engine #2065, flat car (New York Central), tanker (Sunaco), hopper car (Lehigh Valley), coal car (Lionel Lines), caboose (Southern Pacific), track pieces (35 straight, 16 curved, two short, one bumper), switch section, control box, tunnel, bridge pieces (22) and box landscaping. She states "I would like to know what it is worth and if someone in the organization is interested in it." Request mailing address and phone # for Jo by emailing jackseay@sbcglobal.netmailto:jackseay@sbcglobal.net,
A good friend of mine is selling the items on the enclosed list. Please get in touch with him if you have an interest.