Take me out to the ball game. Well, there is no ball field here yet. This old Houston Union station was however incorporated into the new Minute Maid Park where the Astros now play. Here, a visiting minor league team just got off a Missouri Pacific train from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were in town to play at Buffalo Stadium against the Houston Buffaloes, who eventually became the Astos. The Buffaloes were a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals. Photo from the Sloane Gallery Collection.
Yup. I guess that old smokestack is a giveaway. They have a lot going on there if you like steam. Want to identify the locomotive?
If I use my CSI ultra photo enhancement software, I can see the patch on the fireman's hat says McCloud River 25. And then there is that tall barrel spark arrestor on top of the smoke stack. I know it is not this locomotive.
Hmmm. The only thing I can find is that the car is/was for sale by the WP RR Museum and that its heritage is CN, a lounge car as built in 1948. I'm hoping a member can tell us more.
Here in NW Montana, a favorite rail industry. Simple wood chip loading. Just back the truck up and dump straight into a rail car.
That's a worthy photo Box. I miss "shortwood" pulpwood cars and seeing their sometimes simple loadouts with only a truck-mounted Prentice knuckeboom loader. When the paper industry moved to tree-length debarking drums, it brought the end of shortwood. As seen in your photo though, wood chip loading remains widely used.
