One Response to NW2 258 and Boxcar 6360

  1. Mark Davidson says:
    May 1, 2025 at 1:26 AM

    Location is Kansas City, Kansas.

    The train is entering the east end of the 3.2 mile long Argentine Yard of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) Railway. A Frisco switchman is on the rear platform ready to navigate through the maze of turnouts. The locomotive is leading a westbound transfer train from Frisco’s 19th Street Yard located in the West Bottoms in Kansas City, Missouri. The crew is delivering interchange cars to the Santa Fe.

    The transfer has just passed their AY Tower, MP 3.9. The tower controlled the east end approaches to their two hump yards and the east approaches to the Argentine Diesel Shop and service tracks area. Just to the west or right is the South 18th Street Expressway / U.S. Highway 69 overpass over the bottom land industrial area to the north, the Kansas River, and ATSF.

    General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division (EMD) NW2 locomotive SLSF 258 entered service 6/8/1948. It was one of 10 NW2 phase IV units (SLSF 250-259). It would be followed by an additional six NW2 phase V units in 1949 (SLSF 260-265). The units originally wore black with yellow diagonal stripes, extended Roman lettering and numbers.

    On the cab side is a KarTrak brand Automatic Car Identification (ACI) placard. The railroad industry used optical sensors that read a reflectorized colored barcode system to track rolling stock between 1967 and 1977. The system was generally effective but was susceptible to errors from misplacement or orientation and lack of maintenance of the placards. This led to lineside reader errors that over time approached 20%. Dirt on the barcode placards was an especially difficult issue to overcome.

    However, the system was an important step forward in the application of computer technology for tracking freight cars, trailers, containers and other rolling stock. Ultimately in the mid-1990s the railroad industry transitioned to, adopted and now uses an automatic equipment identification (AEI) system based on radio frequency identification (RFID). The current system uses plastic encased coded microchip tags attached to rolling stock that are activated and read by lineside transmitter sensors.

    Concurrently, both systems are coupled to the Umler (Universal Machine Language Equipment Register) industry database. Umler provides critical logistics data for tracking railroad, ocean cargo and highway equipment. System tools enhance rolling stock management and reporting to railroads, ports, equipment owners, agents, shippers, railcar service providers, industry consultants and government agencies.

    Note the reversed forward tilt white side sill delineator stripes. Standard practice was to apply the side sill delineators with the upward tilt to the rear of the unit. This is one of five NW2 locomotives identified with this reversed pattern in the Mandarin orange and white paint scheme. The locomotives included NW2 units SLSF 252, 253, 258, 261 and 262.

    Boxcar SLSF 8360 is a 70 ton, 50’ 6” inside length, 4,953 cubic foot car. It was built and delivered by General American Transportation Company (GATC) between April and May 1965. The car was from the second order (SLSF 8325-8424) of 100 similar cars from GATC. The car featured 10’ Youngstown plug doors, two taper lower side sills, 20” Hydra Cushion underframe and Miner hand brakes.

    The first order of 100 cars (SLSF 8225-8324) from GATC had similar weight, length and interior capacity. They differed as they had Superior 10’-5” plug doors, straight lower side sills, Keystone 20” end of car underframe cushioning devices and Equipco brand hand brakes. To reduce damage, both series of the car’s interiors featured movable Evans Damage Free 2 (DF-2) load restraining dividers.

    In the background from the east or left, the back sides of the two dwellings above the Frisco boxcar are located at 1614 and 1616 Metropolitan Avenue. The double door garage visible behind the lineside signal head is located at 1415 South 18th Street. It sits on the short side street behind the northeast corner house at 1618 Metropolitan Street.

    The galvanized steel lattice braced high tension towers support power lines from the Kaw Power Station Municipal Plant up to a substation. The lines then subdivide and spread over the ridge separating the Kansas River and Turkey Creek drainage basins. The 92 mega-watt power plant is operated by the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The dual coal or gas fired power plant is located at 2015 Kansas Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas 66105-1127.

    The power plant acquired former Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) General Electric (GE) 44-ton phase IIa center cab switch engine locomotive ATSF 460 after its retirement on 6/3/1966. It became BPU 460 for in-plant switching of cars at the power station. After its retirement by the utility, the locomotive was acquired by the heritage tourist excursion line Midland Railway (MDRY) in Baldwin City, Kansas. The line incurred financial difficulty and was reorganized in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The disposition of MDRY 460 is unknown after the line shut down in 2023.

    The photographer is standing on the levee along the south bank of the Kansas River. The levee systems throughout the region were strengthened and raised after the devastating catastrophic flood of 1951. Additional flood control programs over the following decades hundreds of miles upstream included building additional dams and retention reservoirs.

    View is looking south southeast.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark

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