The photos on this page are from July 27, 2003.

GACX 4373, a 55-foot Pulman Standard ribside hopper, and FURX 845427, a smooth-sided hopper that may have been built by NSC.

Bangor & Aroostook (BAR) 4632 is a 70-ton, 50-foot boxcar built by Berwick Forge & Fabricating.

ACFX 59461 is another ACF Centerflow hopper, with 4 bays.

The most common type of car in the yard were NOKL 50-foot waffleside boxcars built by Pullman-Standard, such as 525175.  Several strings of identical boxcars filled most of the occupied track in the yard.

BAR heavyweight observation car #100.

A Northern Vermont plow, with a faded 401016 number, sits waiting out the summer for snow in the future.  Behind, a pair of parked Geeps provided a perfect opportunity for locomotive roster shots.

Green Mountain Railway GP40 #305, in fresh green and yellow paint, sits near the refueling rack, engine off.  Aside from trucks modified to have single-clasp brakes, it is a standard EMD GP40.

This was originally built as SCL 1606.  The nose headlight is an uncommon option on US-built Geep's but was specified by several roads, including SCL.

A view from the front, showing the classic headlight/ditch light triangle and Nathan K5LAR23 horn.  Ditch lights were made mandatory in Canada in 1986 for safety reasons; it's much easier to judge the speed of a train by several lights than by a single headlight.

Behind, a second unit wears Helm Leasing colours stenciled for Green Mountain.  Despite a water-level sight glass and an access door arrangement at the rear of the hood that are spotting features of the GP40-2, the unequal-length handrail stanchions and (a less reliable distinction) standard Blomberg trucks confirm it to be a GP40.  The rear radiator intake is a real curiosity and appears to have been taken from retired first-generation Geeps.  The photo above shows that it has the same grill on the left side, too.  This unique rear section may be the result of repairs from accident damage.

A view from the front, which reveals more interesting features.  The horn, a Nathan M3, is a type rarely seen nowadays.  The slot in the battery box reveals its CSX (and previously B&O) heritage; this was originally B&O 3756.

Something tells me this boxcar, BAR #9006, hasn't seen service in a while.  It's a 70-ton 50-foot boxcar that's from around the late 1960s.

BAR crane #X126, loaded with a couple of freight car trucks and (not clearly visible) several springs from them.

Pullman-Standard hopper #X3550, its vintage indicated by the plain-bearing trucks it rides on.  This is an unresized 1200 DPI scan.

Cushioned underframe, anyone?  Actually, there's not really any indication that this is a cushioned underframe on NS 463918, but rather it looks like part of the main frame.  The center sill extension is so long the uncoupling lever is suspended on a bar of its own about 2 feet long.  This looks to be a home-made or modified boxcar shorter than what the frame was originally designed for.

Nope, definitely not an as-built design from a major manufacturer.  A look at this end reveals that the frame extends by about 2 feet less.

At first glance, NS 463406 doesn't look familiar either, with a unique underframe profile.  However, the oval panels at the bottom door corners, the narrow panels at each end and, more subtle, the beveled ends of the roof rails once again prove this to be a Pullman-Standard boxcar.  A closer look also shows that it's 60 feet long, the reason for the extra panel on each side of the door compared to the 50-foot version.  Waffleside boxcars have a character of their own.  July 27, 2003.

Michael Eby 2005