Freight Cars
BOX CARS
CONX 50001 Sante Fe 7176 Class FE-22 CONX 50014 Sante Fe 7020 Class FE-22 These two cars are former Santa Fe class Fe-22's. They were rebuilt at Topeka, Kansas in 1940 from class Fe-S cars (General American Transportation Corp. 1928 built, wood body, steel underframe and end cars). 200 cars were constructed numbers 7000-7199. The last of the class was retired in 1973.
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CONX 50001 Sante Fe 7176 Class FE-22 CONX 50014 Sante Fe 7020 Class FE-22 These two cars are former Santa Fe class Fe-22's. They were rebuilt at Topeka, Kansas in 1940 from class Fe-S cars (General American Transportation Corp. 1928 built, wood body, steel underframe and end cars). 200 cars were constructed numbers 7000-7199. The last of the class was retired in 1973.
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This car is a former Santa Fe class Fe-23. It was rebuilt at Topeka, Kansas in 1941 from class Fe-S cars (General American Transportation Corp. 1928 built, wood body, steel under frame and end cars). 249 cars were constructed numbers 6750-6999. The last of the class was retired in 1974. Both the Fe-22 and Fe-23 class cars had a 50 ton capacity. The major difference as built was the Fe-22 class had 1" interior wood lining and the Fe-23 class had 13/16" interior wood lining. The Cu Ft for the Fe-22 was 4927 and the Fe-23 had 4949. Both classes of cars were used to transport auto's, trucks, farm equipment and heavy machinery. Some of the cars in both classes were modified to carry aircraft parts and assemblies. The as built paint job on both classes of cars was: sides, ends, trucks and underframe - mineral brown, roof - anti slip matte black, lettering and stenciling - white All the cars received the large system map to the right of the double doors on the right side of the car with the slogan "ship Santa Fe all the way". The left side of the cars to the right of the double doors received one of four name train slogans, Scout, El Capitan, Super Chief, or Chief. The paint scheme changed many times over the years and there are too many to mention. Half of the Fe-S class was leased to the NYC between 1938 and 1939. They painted over the ATSF with NYC and painted out the Santa Fe on the herald, otherwise, they were not changed. Previous owners: Continental Oil Company used end loading capabilities for grease drums Sante Fe used for transport of Crosly automobiles.
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TANK CARS
Single dome - Built May 1923
1 Photos Single dome - Built May 1923
1 Photos Built by AC & F - 1943 Type T-43, capy 110,000, Lt. Wt. 58,700
1 Photos Built Oct. 1965 Capy 140000, Ltwt 80000 TTC TX 11-77 Previous owner Continental Oil Company
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FLAT CARS
Date built June 1953 Rebuilt Sept. 1965
Builders No. Class F-70-12
Previous owner Union Pacific
Before donation to museum car was used as piggyback unloading ramp in old Rock Island yard in downtown Oklahoma City. Modified to riding car in 2003.
3 Photos Previous owners: Quest Communications
Southern Pacific Railroad
5051 Donated to museum by Bob Hussey
1 Photos Previous owners: Quest Communications
Southern Pacific Railroad
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MISCELLANEOUS
Builder Winter - Weiss, Denver, Colorado
Built 1924
Acquired 1985
Previous owners Southern San Luis Valley Railroad subsidery of Colorado Aggregrate Company
History
The car had the truck axle added for "traction" sometime in the 1950s.. The initial location was between the front and rear truck just ahead of the lead axle of the rear truck. The car still looked the same as your photos as late as Sept. 1949. A photo in the book shows the extended front end was added by 1960. I suspect this extension was added to accommodate an air compressor to operate the train brakes on the cars as there are brackets and piping still in place that indicate a compressor was once located there. The M-300 is very light and freight cars loaded or unloaded would not have any problem pushing it down the track once they got to rolling.
The SLVS experimented with the rubber wheel drive system when the steel wheels (on the rear truck) proved to provide inadequate traction. The rail bus was used to replace a mail/passenger train. The problem with the rubber tire system was the tires heated up on the rail to the point they last only a couple of round trips of the line. The same problem occurred with the first D-500 that was built with rubber wheels. Replacing a blown tire on that thing would be downright exhausting, particularly at high altitude. It seems that both the M-300 and the first D-500 were quite adept at blowing tires. The M-300 also had a steel trailer car of narrow gage dimensions (standard gage axles however) that was used infrequently and finally finished its days as the pump house for the SLVS water well.
As for how the car came to Oklahoma City. One of the traveling members of the Oklahoma Railway Museum (then called the Central Oklahoma Railfan Club, also called the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the NRHS) happened onto the SLVS at Blanca about 1985. He caught sight of the M-300 and asked the railroad if they would part with it. About 6 months later the M-300 was loaded on the back of a flat bed semi-trailer and trucked back to Oklahoma. The car earned the name "The Mouse" because of its silver/gray paint and the fact that a whole troop of mice could be seen falling out of the M-300 and running all over the deck of the trailer as it was towed over La Veta Pass.
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