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Posted by Nate Clark
on March 2, 2012, 5:09 am, in reply to "Re: B&LE 2 bay 77ton Hopper questions"
173.75.149.127
The following from the Utah Rails site:
http://utahrails.net/cc-ry/cc-ry-index.php
(Bold highlighting is mine.)
"During World War II, Carbon County's owner, United States Steel transferred a number of B&LE 2-bay hoppers to the CBC to handle the increased coal output from the expansion to the Geneva Mine. The cars kept their B&LE marks for some time, as is shown in several photos, but after the war they were restenciled for CBC. Some of these cars were similar to the USRA 50-ton 2-bay design, but others were quite different, with the wide middle panel as mentioned above.
"The 1943 ORER shows almost 1,000 cars of very similar dimensions and capacity on the Bessemer & Lake Erie, but by 1953, these cars were no longer in service on B&LE, making them a prime candidate for having been transferred by U. S. Steel to the Carbon County Railway in Utah. The number series on either these B&LE or Carbon County cars is not known."
Well, now we know EXACTLY how a B&LE triple-offset would have looked in fresh R-W-B BiCentennial paint! Note the white paint on the plain-bearing journal lids of the double-clasp brake, heavy-duty trucks:
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133901317&k=aabEE&lb=1&s=L
One of 300 new Pullman-Standard hoppers ordered in 1948 by CBC, here's a car that would have looked at home in Conneaut, Albion or North Bessemer. Many such B&LE cars were imported from Pennsylvania to serve this sister U.S. Steel carrier.
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133903304&k=gGXFy
Detailed view of a truck that would have seemed familiar to car inspectors at Shenango and Butler:
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133903197&k=sng69&lb=1&s=A
Put some more trees and other vegetation on the hillside, paint the caboose red and change the markings on the caboose and the cars, and this Utah scene could be on the South End...maybe Deer Creek?
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133903637&k=HWmPn&lb=1&s=X3
The power doesn't say 'Unity Railways', and these P-S hoppers were built for the CBC, but there were cars in this Utah line's fleet (and maybe in this train's consist) that would be familiar with Renton Mine and the taste of its Allegheny County bituminous. Carbon County SW9s #1201 and 1202 were former DM&IR #11 & 14.
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133900561&k=sc6TK&lb=1&s=X3
The details of wooden caboose C-1002 sure look like it could have some B&LE heritage, though I do not know. I enlarged this to the 'O' size (to the right of 'X3') on the selector at the photo top, and I swear my eyes see a "B&LE" inspection stencil in white on the bottom of the wood siding beyond the grabiron bolt, above the inboard axle situated below the two nearest windows:
http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Carbon-County-Railway/13497688_GZcnbR#!i=1133900374&k=eQEgG&lb=1&s=X2