During the recent re-double tracking of the Conrail Shared Assets former Lehigh Valley mainline through South Plainfield, NJ a Burro crane with a vintage Reading flat car as been assigned to the South P. yard.
The flat still wears full Reading paint. According to the stenciling it is RDG #97038 class FM built in June 1942. Pretty cool to find a 65 year old flat car still in her original owner’s paint working on a Class One line.
There are more Reading freight cars still in service.
Two years ago I saw a READING Plug-Door Boxcar still in the original paint scheme. The paint on the READING Plug-Door Boxcar was in very good shape after at least 30 years. It would have been great if I have gotten a photo of that one.
Has anyone seen it? It was headed to Chicago when I saw it.
It may still be in service but it definitely isn’t earning money. Probably the prime reason that this car is still in full RDG paint is that it’s in non-interchange non-revenue service. M/W service is very light duty and no railroad is going to spend too much money beyond what is necessary to keep it legal and operable.
I seem to recall seeing a green Reading coil car cover a few years back in W. Chicago. I find it fascinating to uncover these gems from time to time. Helps breathe a little life into what has become increasingly mundane consists.
Actually that is a former class GHh gon that was cut down to be a TOFC car (class FCb) and was later rebuilt into a class FMm (drywall shipment with bulkheads) or FMn or FMo for carrying auto frames.
The original gon dates back to '42, but the 'flatcar" dates from about 1959. The RDG had numerous classes of flatcars that began life as gons.
A while back, I was at Marion, Ohio when an eastbound freight came into town and then backed into the yard. As it eased past the station and tower, I spotted an Erie Lackawanna coal hopper in original paint (and not too bad of condition) in the train. Was nice seeing a car running on it’s original rails.