Back in the day, railroads would drop off and pick up set-off cars at various intermediate stations. These included sleepers, diners, lounges and head-end cars. Amtrak has all but ended that practice.
During the holiday season, railroads would use every head-end car they had to carry an increase in mail and express business as millions of Christmas cards, parcels and letters rode the rails.
Show above is a Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad baggage car on the siding in Peninsula. I’m not sure why it is there, but suspect it has something to do with the Polar Express season.
With a little imagination, though, I can pretend that it is a set off car that will be loaded with holiday mail and express from the Peninsula post office and sent it out tonight on the Baltimore & Ohio’s Cleveland Night Express.
Tags: baggage cars, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, CVSR baggage cars, CVSR in Peninsula Ohio, head-end cars, Peninsula Ohio, railroad tracks, tracks
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November 18, 2017 at 6:28 pm |
The baggage car is there for a volunteer to act as a hobo. As the Polar Express trains roll by, the hobo will have to the train, just as the elves do. For those who have not seen the movie version of the Polar Express, a hobo plays an integral part of the boy surviving the trip and seeing Santa Claus at the end.