Well, guess what we found in Corbin KY. The Southern CNO&TP sleeper, French Broad River.
It’s had a rough life since 1950 or so, but it’s now safely, more or less, sitting on a cut section of track to the right of the old depot on, of course, Depot Street. Here’s a look at the end of the car as shown above.
Not a particularly rare poster (it folds out to a one-sided 22″ x 32″ size) and one that has been slightly damaged on one panel (I’m rather good at finding stuff that is “slightly damaged”) by being in contact with some sort of acidic paper. It features 29 black-and-white photos of Southern history from 1830 (even one of a geezery-looking Nicholas W. Darrell) through the mid 50s. Notice there’s no ZIP Code shown.
So, find yourself one of these and “paste these pictures in your railroad scrapbook”.
Even mended with tape (not my doing), this is a fine picture, taken by the American Car and Foundry Company in 1923. Brand new car for Southern Railway.
I would guess that this is the crew that guarded and processed the mail on the car, getting ready to load up. That’s a lot of security!
Railway post offices were mostly gone by 1962 and completely gone by 1977.
I found this sign at a flea market mall. It’s 8.75″ in diameter, baked enamel finish and 10.75 ounces in weight. It has been dinged a bit and I’m not under any illusion that it’s an antique. I believe the company that produced these signs is no longer making them. “Too expensive”, I read.
I’m not having any luck finding a similar sign yet. I may have to (alert! 1960s TV series reference) “Wire Paladin, San Francisco”.
The Tennessean train was jointly operated by N&W and Southern with a 24-hour run between Washington DC and Memphis. It made regular trips from 1941 until 1968.
The lady who mailed this didn’t have a particularly good experience:
“Train 8 hrs late arriving at Memphis. Phoned (someone). They will meet me in (something). Coach without heat all night – nearly froze. No food on the train except potato chips and crackers. Thanks for lunch. Love Mother”
The Memphis postmark is incomplete, but has to be from the ’50s, when postcard postage was two cents (1952 – 1958).
Card was printed by E. C. Kropp of Milwaukee.
Blogging the Railroad Tunnels 