flat car 1831, which is shown as having been built by the Newfoundland Rail- way in 1938. This car would have been essentially the same as the older flats. Many of the cabooses in service at this time had been converted from wooden boxcars and were similar in appearance to these. (The railway also had some ca- booses that were converted from wood passenger cars that were used mostly on branchlines with mixed train service where they could carry passengers, as well as the train crew.) The CNR Mechanical Department
TWO PHOTOS: DAN ROWSELL: GRAND FALLS, NFLD., CANADA; SEPT., 1984
drawings show the cars as having three windows on one side, a single window on the opposite side and a window and door, with a storm door, on each end. The cars had Andrews trucks with 3³⁄₄″×7″ jour- nals and 30″ wheels. They were equipped with K-1 brakes and weighed 33,000 pounds. There were some minor differ- ences between the cars in this series. They generally had one window on the tool box side and three windows on the brake reservoir/cylinder side; however, a close look at the pictures reveals that there were exceptions to this. There are also some differences in the ladder de- sign and positioning, and the original wood sheathing was replaced by plywood on at least one of the cars.
served as Assistant Mechanical Engi- neer for the CNR in St. John’s, data from the CNR files show that they were built by the railway’s St. John’s shops in 1957 and were constructed using the frames from 20-ton, steel truss rod flat cars that were originally built by Amer- ican Car & Foundry. Cabooses 6048, 6050-6052 were converted from New- foundland Railway flat car Nos. 1313, 1483, 1235 and 1377, respectively. No
After being retired from the CNR, one of the cabooses went on to serve the Grand Falls Central. With its windows and door panels boarded up, the car appears to be out of service in these photos (above), which were taken four years before the end of rail- way service on the island. This car has ply- wood sides. Also note the light fixture and two receptacles near the top of the end. CNR No. 6042 (right) was part of an earlier series of cars built on boxcar frames. While similar in appearance, the car has no win- dow on the end and the window spacing and roof line are slightly different.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 61
original build dates were shown for these particular cars but other cars in this range of numbers had dates from 1903 to 1905. Caboose 6049 came from
The first of these cars to come off the roster was No. 6050 in 1960. The rest of the cars were retired between Septem- ber, 1968 and April, 1971. One of the cars was sold to the Grand Falls Cen- tral, a 22-mile shortline that operated out of Grand Falls, Newfoundland, and, according to the 2013 Canadian Trackside Guide, at least one example of this series still survives. The book lists former CN 6049 as being in Cari- bou, Newfoundland. Thanks to Ken Goslett, Dan Rowsell, Conrad Steeves and Bob Sandusky for their help in preparing this article and sharing their photos and knowledge.
C. ROBERT CRAIG MEMORIAL LIBRARY, KEN CHIVERS COLLECTION: ST. JOHNS, NFLD, CANADA; AUG., 1956
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100