Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: wag2811 was here!

In railfan photography no job is really complete until the filing is done. Here are a couple of Bill’s images that didn’t make the cut for a WAG Wed. thread over a year ago. With the new scanner I decided to run an improved scan for all 14 slides from this particular box in Bill’s collection before a final filing of the digital images.

As the scans were progressing these 2 images took on a new life. Upon closer inspection I realized the WP Fs were actually FTs. And in the depot shot at Battle Mountain this certain 4-door Ford came to my attention. It’s got a Kansas tag, and it’s no real surprise that it’s Bill’s car. But what caught my interest was the tag number; “SN-2811”. The SN is for Shawnee County where the State Capital of Topeka is located (Topeka is also the county seat). But the ‘2811’ was Bill’s pet favorite number. Where Art is “wag216” on TO, Bill almost certainly would have been “wag2811” were he still around to be a TO member!

I finished this text too late last night to give Art a call. But he’ll surely see this and will be able to relate the story of how Bill got the car tag with his favorite number. Was it a reserved number, or just a happy coincidence?

1. WP FT combo 906D & 906C on a westbound manifest, east of Wendover, UT.

2. SP depot in Battle Mountain, NV.

Another peek:

3. Close-up of Bill’s 1956(?) Ford with the tell-tale license plate “SN 2811”.
(2 photos taken by William A. [Bill] Gibson Sr on August 18, 1958)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/22 22:28 by santafe199.

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Outstanding. I am trying to see what gas sold for it 1958;probably 18-20 cents a gallon.

My uncle and I took a trip west in '56 and gas was 12 1/2 cents.

Sweet...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

As great as the first photo is, I gazed at that second photo for a good while. People trusting their car to the man who wears the star at the Texaco station, the old motel, the depot - a great scene of Americana if there ever was one! Not to mention the boxcar spotted at the depot, the semaphore train order signa, the pole line, classic cars......Neat!!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/15 07:00 by Rathole.

mopacrr Wrote:
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> Outstanding. I am trying to see what gas sold for
> it 1958;probably 18-20 cents a gallon.

i'm payin $1.79 now here in south jersey

Posted from Android

I remember riding with a friend in Cisco Tx in 1957 who passed up a gas station because gas was 26.9 and went to one where it was 25.9. Funny that I remember that but that penny just stuck in my mind.

Great photos. Especially #1.

Ronda Thomas

WOW!!! Great set of images! Classic.

Bob H.
PRose

mopacrr Wrote:
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> Outstanding. I am trying to see what gas sold for
> it 1958;probably 18-20 cents a gallon.


Which is why the auto put the passenger train out of business.

WP-M2051 Wrote:
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> mopacrr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Outstanding. I am trying to see what gas sold
> for
> > it 1958;probably 18-20 cents a gallon.
>
>
> Which is why the auto put the passenger train out
> of business.

Not to mention the Boeing-707.....and Ike's Interstate Highway Act of 1956! (By extension, yet another reason for damning Hitler's 'Third Reich'!) (As if any more reasons are needed.)

Great stuff, Lance -- as always! :D

Pat from Littleton, Colorado.

Wow. Got knocked to the floor twice. Still have to go back and study that second one.

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> mopacrr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Outstanding. I am trying to see what gas sold
> for
> > it 1958;probably 18-20 cents a gallon.
>
> i'm payin $1.79 now here in south jersey
>
> Posted from Android

Depending on your inflation calculator, those are about the same.