Oldest Rail Equipment Still In Regular Service

[GSC]

Mostly in museums, there are some old locomotives and rolling stock still in regular service. What have you heard of?

CNJ's first 8-wheel caboose 91155 is still in service at the NJ Museum of Transportation / Pine Creek RR at Allaire NJ www.njmt.org

It was built in 1874 as Southern RR of NJ boxcar 31943, and rebuilt into CRR of NJ's first 8-wheel caboose in 1902, class NE. It was rebuilt in 1921 with a steel underframe, becoming class NEa. Acquired from CNJ in 1972, when arch-bar trucks and K-series brakes were outlawed (all CNJ wooden cabooses were taken out of service in 1972), three-foot gauge trucks were placed underneath and minor repairs were made, and the car entered passenger service. Except for occasional maintenance, the car has been in regular service at Pine Creek since 1972.

Why CNJ started the 8-wheel wooden caboose numbering at 91155 is a mystery.

[litz]

Car 150, on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad, is a former New York Central railcar (built by the Osgood Bradley Company) in 1923.

[John_Perkowski]

From the Company website:

"The Selma was built for Union Pacific by Pullman Standard in 1912 as business car No. 101. "

[scottychaos]

Livonia Avon & Lakeville Railroad's office car "Traveller" was built in 1884.
127 years old, and still in service.



Scot

[Jtgshu]

Wow that car looks amazing!!!!

Its gonna be hard to beat 127 years! Is that continuous or relatively close to continous service or was it stuffed and mounted somehwere and restored/rebuilt to its condition today?

[scottychaos]

Wow that car looks amazing!!!!

Its gonna be hard to beat 127 years! Is that continuous or relatively close to continous service or was it stuffed and mounted somehwere and restored/rebuilt to its condition today?

never been in a museum! in continuous railroad service..
here is Travellers history, from another thread on rr.net:

For those of you interested, here is a condensed history of #100:

Built circa 1884 (wooden construction) as Bangor & Aroostock Railway offical car #200.
Acquired 1913 by the Intercolonial Railway--named Winnipeg
Renumbered Canadian Government Railways #30 in May 1918.
Renumbered Canadian National Railways #102 (Jan 1921), #85 (Oct 1922), and #65 (Apr 1924).
CNR Class PV-68/PV-69, rebuilt Nov.1929-May 1930 with steel fish belly underframe(truss rods), steel sheathing and new interior.
Modernized by CNR in 1963.
Retired by CNR Feb.1976, and sold to Robert Bennatts of Peck MI.
Acquired 1988 by the A&M RR, renumbered #100, named Traveller.
Acquired May 1998 by the LA&L RR.

Discovered this info in my files while doing a little research.....Jerry.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 13&t=20048

Scot

[John_Perkowski]

Here is my question: Is TRAVELLER capable of interchange service? In other words, can the officers go to the Sugar Bowl or the BCS Championship aboard it as a business car?

[ex Budd man]

We have Budd SL-II cars built in the 1960s running in daily passenger service here on SEPTA. These aren't museium refugees or privately held cars,they have been in continous service since they were built. Yes they are worn out and not all of the fleet is running, but they make the morning line every day.

[GSC]

Pine Creek's other regular revenue pass car, ex-Newfoundland Rwy / Canadian National wood coach #502 was built in 1902. It worked for some time at Carroll Park & Western in Bloomsburg PA, and then came to NJ.

Their ex-US Army 25 ton GE diesel electric 7751 was built in 1942, regular passenger power.

In regular use as a switcher, 11 ton Plymouth diesel mechanical #5 was built in 1931 (originally with a gas engine)

[John_Perkowski]

MODERATOR'S NOTE:

I'm going to put a limit on this thread. Please, let's only talk about equipment that is out working for its living.

Those who wish to talk about equipment in museum service should point their conversations to the General Discussion: Museums, Tourist Lines, and Historical Organizations board.

Thank you.

[v8interceptor]

There's a fair amount of work train equipment still owned by Class 1 and regional railroads that was built long ago. Snowfighting equipment like flangers and Russel wedge plows are good examples. There aren't many Leslie rotary snowplows still operating but most of the those that are were built in the 1920's and 30's. Of course, the older equipment has for the most part gone through heavy rebuilding over the years. The Leslie plows were almost all built as steam powered units but have been converted to diesel-electric (usually with the juice supplied by a "mother" locomotive) power,for instance...

[scharnhorst]

Conrail Rotary Snowplow 64599 was built in 1889 as New York Central X659 and was rebuilt in the 1950's. This was the oldest piece of rolling stock in continuous operation on any Class 1 railroad as it fought the snowbelts of upstate New York! The unique piece now resides in Hamburg, NY under the ownership of the Western New York Chapter NRHS. I do believe CSX Retired this between 1999 and 2005?

[scottychaos]

Here is my question: Is TRAVELLER capable of interchange service? In other words, can the officers go to the Sugar Bowl or the BCS Championship aboard it as a business car?

I believe it can..
a few years ago chased a special train with one LAL Alco, hauling "Traveller" that ran from the LAL in Avon, up to Rochester, switched to the Rochester & Southern railroad, headed south to Silver Springs, then ran onto Norfolk Southern rails to run to Hornell, then over NS to the LAL's sister road, the WNYP..
So it is allowed to run on other railroads, including Class-1 railroads..

I doubt it would ever travel far from home rails..but in theory, it can.

Scot

[AnotherPennsyNut]

Okay, I can't beat that business car, but I can come close: CR (NS) #80046. It is a scale test car, the last of its kind. It is 111 years old, never spent a day in retirement, still working for the proper heir to its original owner, passed down through the generations. It was built in 1900 as RDG #91201, went to Conrail, and then to NS. It's still running up miles, painted for Conrail. Anyone want to join my movement to have it preserved in the RR Museum of PA?

[AnotherPennsyNut]

Oh, and one extremely unlikely survivor. Probably the oldest remaining car in class I railroad revenue freight service, but nowhere as old as MOW or effectively preserved tourist RR stuff. Again, Conrail, ex-Reading. Still in active Class I use by CSX, an old welded-side, green & yellow, 40' box of the Reading's, #60310, built in 1956. The original trucks were never replaced, they simply cut out the friction bearings and stuffed rollers in the journal boxes. The original paint was never replaced either, meaning the paint job is 94% rust, 3% Reading lettering, and 3% Conrail patches. At some point, the roofwalk was removed, reflective stripes were added, and a roll-up door was added inside the door frame because the actual DOOR seems to have RUSTED ITSELF SHUT! For some reason, nobody picked it out to go to the scrapper with all its original brethren, and so it ended up living on as "the boxcar that never dies". I would give CSX serious money to keep that in freight service until 2050. Just to see the look on every shipper's face in the future, looking at this old relic.