I just received a copy of “PRR Passenger Car Painting and Lettering”, and in it, it shows photos of “Horse” cars ( baggage car-like, for race horses), and “Scenery” cars, for transporting bulky theater sets. The horse cars were lettered for the “Metropolitan Jockey Club”, “Del Mar Turf Club”, and “Atlantic City Racing Association”…all with PRR markings across the tops, and “Railway Express Agency” on one corner. New one on me! Joe
They have a horse car that transported seabescit at the RR mesuem of Pennsylvainia
Considering I’ve been to the Museum a dozen times…I better pay attention to the rolling stock and not just the engines! Thanks for the “heads up”. Joe
Shipment of prize livestock was big business to the REA. Racehorses and prize show animals were usually shipped in baggage cars, but a few railroads such as the PRR and C&O owned their own special horse cars. C&O’s cars (think they had two) were converted heavyweight Pullman baggage cars outfitted with stalls to separate and restrain the animals and a living space for a groom who would ride the car. These cars served the many legendary horse farms located along the C&O’s now-abandoned branch from Ashland, KY to Louisville, but they were also used prolifically by one of the road’s vice presidents to ship a prize-winning bull that he owned in the late 40’s.
There was also a series of nearly identical cars, 3 baggage doors per side that where for theatrical scenery that differed only in having end doors (or it might have been the other way around w/ the horse cars having end doors) that were intended for traveling B’way productions. They were named Verdi, Wagner, Othello and such.
Here’s a photo of a CNR horse express car that I built using a Rivarossi coach as the starting point.
I worked from a photo of the prototype, which was originally a Grand Trunk car.
Wayne
Col. Marion Savage had a ‘private car’ built for his prize trotter, Dan Patch. Oddly enough - since Savage owned the Minneapolis St.Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Co. (commonly called the “Dan Patch Line”, Dan’s private car was lettered for the Omaha Road, which ran right by Savage’s estate near Savage, MN.
The J.G Shedd Aquarium in Chicago Il. had two or three special rail cars to transport Sea life to Chicago and baybe other places.
They disposed of them just a couple of years ago. and now Fly everything in.
I do nt remember much of them, but they were billboard cars stating “J.G. Shedd Aquarium” Chicago, IL.
The Santa Fe Railway also had a series of heavyweight baggage cars that had horse stalls installed. These were used for hauling prized equines to and from the southern California race tracks. The cars moved in the consists of certain of the Railway’s passenger trains.
As a kid I lived close enough to Washington Park racetrack in suburban Chicagoland to hear the PA announcements of the races. The ICRR ran race track specials from downtown Chicago right into the track over an electrified spur line which left the main at Harvey and skirted the east side of Markham Yard. During racing meets I’d often see horsecars moving into and out of Washington Park on this spur. Thats been over 50 years ago and my memory is a bit hazy but I seem to recall these were REA cars and did not not carry the lettering or reporting marks of any specific railroad.
Mark