Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: Bill’s Boxcars (vol 3)

The 40 ft boxcar. Ah yes, an all-American classic! At least I didn’t wait another whole year in between vol 2 & vol 3, like I did between 1 & 2. And this time ‘WAG Jr’ gets to have some of the fun. Art was just as prolific at shooting freight cars as his Pop, Bill was.

And not a “tag” to be seen anywhere…

1. M&StL 4174 in Topeka, KS in December of 1960.
Photo by William A. Gibson JUNIOR, aka “Art” aka “WAG Jr”

2. WAG 7013 in Topeka, KS on March 20, 1963. (Bill was shooting some family initials with this one!)

3. UP 100501 in Topeka, KS on July 12, 1969.
Photos 2-3 by William A. Gibson SENIOR, aka “Bill” aka “WAG Sr”

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/23 03:29 by santafe199.

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Great shots! I really enjoy seeing freight car photos from "back in the day"! Hope there will be many more volumes to follow!!! Thanks for sharing these with us!

Locoinsp Wrote:
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> Great shots! I really enjoy seeing freight car
> photos from "back in the day"! Hope there will be
> many more volumes to follow!!! Thanks for sharing
> these with us!

Second that! I also enjoy freight car images, particularly of the vintage of these images. Neat to see cars like these in photos and enjoy them that way (with all of the usual Gibson Quality Standards fully upheld). I like cars of this era and the more unusual paint schemes particularly (if appropriate) on my N-scale model railroad. But I like them even more in fine images like these three.

All three are gems, but I have to give the nod to the M&StL box. Wow.

As always, thanks guys for the opportunity to view and enjoy these.

MC

I used to see those Wellsville, Addison and Galeton boxcars regularly when living in Binghamton 1969-71.  They were the only wood-sided boxcars I recall from that period. 

They then suddenly and completely disappeared, having apparently hit the maximum age limit for interchange service.

Art House

Thanks Lance, terrific photos. Any idea why the UP boxcar was subject to hammering to the upper left side of the door?
Tim Costello

tgcostello Wrote: > ... Any idea why the ... hammering to the upper left side of the door ...

(chuckling) I don't have a clue, but I've got a hunch it happened at some loading spot. I thought about editing those marks out, but quickly realized they might make a good discussion topic. Someone with a fertile imagination could make up a pretty wild story here... ;^)

Lance/199 

Very enjoyable series!

Larry

I do like that M&StL Mikan scheme. Thanks for sharing.

Locoinsp Wrote: > ... Hope there will be many more volumes to follow!!!

Wull shucks, pardner... 'tween you 'n me 'n that fencepost over yonder I have a special corral with the same name as this here thread. And I've managed to round up 384 stray boxcar images, without really trying. So I think this "outfit" will be around for a spell... ;^)

Lance/199

 

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Locoinsp Wrote: > ... Hope there will be many
> more volumes to follow!!!
>
> Wull shucks, pardner... 'tween you 'n me 'n that
> fencepost over yonder I have a special corral with
> the same name as this here thread. And I've
> managed to round up 384 stray boxcar images,
> without really trying. So I think this "outfit"
> will be around for a spell... ;^)
>
> Lance/199
Well now, guess I'd better make sure I keep my membership in this here outfil paid up so as I don't miss any of them thar posts of yours!!!
>
>  

I photographed a WA&G wooden boxcar in Stockton, CA in the 1970s.  I SMELLED the car before I ever caught sight of it!  (The chief commodity that these cars hauled off of the WA&G was hides, going to shoe manufacturers, and they stank to high heavens!)  The car was on a spur off of the SP that served the Sears store.  Who in their right mind would send their shipment to Sears in a car that smelled like this one did???

King_Coal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do like that M&StL Mikan scheme. Thanks for
> sharing.

"Mikan" scheme?

• Is that a reference to the "basketball" logo at the upper right corner of the car?
• And some possible connection to basketball great George Mikan, famed player with the old Minneapolis Lakers?  (yes, those Lakers, before they went to LA).
  
  • Mikan also gained some measure of fame as Commissioner of the NBA-rival American Basketball Association (ABA), and during his tenure for changing the league's basketball to a ball with red, white and blue panels between the seams (the so-called "ABA Ball"). In appearance, it was somewhat like the basketball used by the Harlem Globetrotters
• Or perhaps did George Mikan have some connection to the M&StL through his work as a successful attorney in Minneapolis. following his professional basketball career? And perhaps during those days, also a connection to Ben Heineman and his investment group during Heineman's period of control of the Louie? Heineman himself would gain some fame in railroad history for his later control of the C&NW, and modernization of its Chicago commuter service with bi-level gallery cars.

Inquiring minds seek to know.....
Thanks in advance for any insights.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/20 19:46 by ironmtn.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Locoinsp Wrote: > ... Hope there will be many
> more volumes to follow!!!
>
> Wull shucks, pardner... 'tween you 'n me 'n that
> fencepost over yonder I have a special corral with
> the same name as this here thread. And I've
> managed to round up 384 stray boxcar images,
> without really trying. So I think this "outfit"
> will be around for a spell... ;^)
>
> Lance/199
>
>  
Just wondering if there will be any stock cars.....they do have the box car shape, eh?.........in those 384 strays?  These days I guess we would be running all of them in one monster train.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

MC, I'm not truly sure why they named it the Mikan scheme, although the letters look about 6'10" tall, just like "Mr. Basketball" George Mikan!

It's pretty cool to see a George Mikan reference on the day of the NBA draft.......he was the original NBA dominant big man.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

King_Coal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MC, I'm not truly sure why they named it the Mikan
> scheme, although the letters look about 6'10"
> tall, just like "Mr. Basketball" George Mikan!

Didn't think of that -- which makes perfect sense. Maybe it's the combination of those very tall letters, and the round "basketball" logo, with the three lines of type arranged just like the red, white and blue panels (between the seams of the ball) of George Mikan's "ABA Ball".

First I'd ever heard of that paint scheme called the "Mikan scheme". But whatever the reason for it gaining that nickname, I sure do like it. Very sharp indeed.

MC

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 40 ft boxcar. Ah yes, an all-American classic!
> At least I didn’t wait another whole year in
> between vol 2 & vol 3, like I did between 1 & 2.
> And this time ‘WAG Jr’ gets to have some of
> the fun. Art was just as prolific at shooting
> freight cars as his Pop, Bill was.
>
> And not a “tag” to be seen anywhere…
>
> 1. M&StL 4174 in Topeka, KS in December of 1960.
> Photo by William A. Gibson JUNIOR, aka “Art”
> aka “WAG Jr”
>
> 2. WAG 7013 in Topeka, KS on March 20, 1963. (Bill
> was shooting some family initials with this one!)
>
> 3. UP 100501 in Topeka, KS on July 12, 1969.
> Photos 2-3 by William A. Gibson SENIOR, aka
> “Bill” aka “WAG Sr”
>
> Thanks for looking back!
> Lance Garrels (santafe199)
> Art Gibson (wag216)

Wow Lance!  Nice to see something of my past and without graffiti plastered all over.  I especially recall those outside braced WAG cars passing by me on the Rock Island's GSR of Southwest Kansas. Thanks for the show here!