Eastman Kodak captive freight cars

[BR&P]

Here's another "used to be" topic. At one time, Eastman Kodak had a small fleet of captive cars for in-plant service. In the early 1960's, some of these cars were stored surplus on the track just inside Kodak from the B&O - I don't know what Kodak's name or number for that track was. They had a flat, some boxcars, and some 2-pocket hoppers. I can't remember which car(s) it was, but I recall seeing "NYO&W" cast into the sideframe of the trucks on at least one car, I THINK it was a hopper. No hopper pics, I'm sorry to say.

Here's a couple boxcar pics, though. Note the outside-braced cars are end-door cars as evidenced by the hinges at the corner. I have no idea of the ancestry of these cars. Also note the huge coal piles - if they were not there, you would see Ridge Road - the view is roughly northwest.

img611.jpg (379.28 KiB) Viewed 2681 times

img612.jpg (394.57 KiB) Viewed 2681 times

[CPSmith]

Here's my lone contribution:
http://chris9411.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... id=4552464" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BR&P]

Here's my lone contribution:

CPS pic EK hoppers.jpg (107.85 KiB) Viewed 2610 times

Nice shot, CPS! Note that not only are the hoppers in the foreground Kodak's, but the DT&I double-door boxcar in the distance has been relettered EK also.

[RailKevin]

What is the building in Chris' photo? It resembles a cement plant, but I don't know if Kodak had one.

[scottychaos]

Here is a thread from a decade ago about the DT&I cars:

viewtopic.php?f=128&t=45232" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Photobucket killed all my photos..
I'll look them up and re-post them here..

Scot

[FarmallBob]

In the late 90's I there were also several ancient tank cars in the Kodak captive fleet.

Tanks were riveted steel construction and rode on journal ("friction") bearing trucks. Also they were small capacity - maybe 10,000 gal. There was no indication what product the cars once carried.

When I last saw them they were pushed to the end of a little used spur in the hinterlands of Kodak Park West; they looked like they'd been there a while (years).

...FB

[nessman]

What about the Kodak "wheel" cars?

[CPSmith]

Like these? (kinda ...)
http://chris9411.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... id=4551979" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BR&P]

Well, those are the wheels, but we need a pic of the special car that carried them.

For info, those wheels were used - I believe - in making film and had to have a perfect finish. When it wore, or needed work, Kodak had a shop that could do that. BUT - the wheel, even on the special rail car - was too tall to go under the B&O and NYC underpasses.

So the "thing" car - not sure if it would be considered a gon, a flat, or what - would go north on the NYC, over to the B&O at Charlotte, then up to Kodak and into the plant. And moves in the opposite direction naturally did the same in reverse.

Last I knew, one of the wheels - but not the rail car - was on display on Kodak property at West Ridge Road and Bernice Street - just a quarter mile east of the tracks.

[jr]

Kodak donated one of the small tank cars to the Rochester Chapter, in the early 90s. EK-52. It was a 1930-built ACF car, as I recall.

The two wheel cars were cut up on-site, along with several flat cars, in either December 2012 or January 2013. My description would be a flatcar, with additional truss work along the sides, because they had no center sill (the wheels were mounted in such a way that they only cleared the top of the tracks by a small amount).

The lone remaining KPRR caboose was mounted on a short piece of track near the Eastman Ave gate, 6 or 8 years ago. It is a former B&O "I" series caboose. It was still in decent shape, the last time that I was able to get a close look, about four years ago.

The flatcar that now resides at Rochester Junction was part of the KPRR fleet. Spent time on the LA&L, and later resided many years at Industry. Believed to be a 1907 NYC car.

There was an article in the July 1988 Trains magazine, on the KPRR. There were photos of the wheel cars in there.

JR

[BR&P]

The flatcar that now resides at Rochester Junction was part of the KPRR fleet. Spent time on the LA&L, and later resided many years at Industry. Believed to be a 1907 NYC car.

Not the best quality photo, but the only one I can locate at the moment:

img614.jpg (587.05 KiB) Viewed 2431 times

[CPSmith]

Of (perhaps) more interest is the Jack Frost covered hopper. AHM sold HO versions of the same.

[tree68]

Of (perhaps) more interest is the Jack Frost covered hopper.

Ah, for the days when the cars had more than reporting marks, etc, and graffiti on them.

[Scott K]

There's also at least one picture of one of the wheel cars in Bill Gordon's Erie book. The caption mentions how it needed to come to Rochester on the Erie because of their greater clearances, a legacy of the old six foot gauge days.

[BR&P]

There's also at least one picture of one of the wheel cars in Bill Gordon's Erie book. The caption mentions how it needed to come to Rochester on the Erie because of their greater clearances, a legacy of the old six foot gauge days.

The Erie's wide lateral clearances would not be needed, as far as I know that car was normal width, the only issue was vertical clearance. But I learn something every day so maybe it did. I don't doubt that the picture is in there. I'm not saying it absolutely never went to the Erie. I AM saying I'm a bit skeptical of that, and would like to get confirmation from some written source, or an ex-Kodak employee who can support it.