| Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad across from the South Shore's Randolph Street Station in Chicago, Illinois on an unknown day in March 1980, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. Yes, it was snowing, so there is some snowflake distortion. According to the October 1971 issue of the Official Railway Equipment Register ( ORER ), the GM&O had 188 of these 50 foot double door ( 15 foot door opening ) numbered 54100-54299, 4932 cubic foot capacity. Some of the cars must have left the roster as early as 1971. It was stenciled as BLT. 9-61 and WHEN EMPTY RETURN VIA REVERSE ROUTE TO AGENT GM&O RR, and below that was stenciled: HOME FOR REPAIRS RULE 1 DO NOT LOAD UNTIL REPAIRED. You may wonder why the car was parked in downtown Chicago when it should have been routed to a repair yard. At the time of this photo, the ICG owned a lot of very valuable real estate in downtown Chicago, in the form of a rail yard, which now is Chicago Park District. The ICG had to show occupancy of the property in question, less the City of Chicago condemn it and take it over. So the railroad parked a bunch of derelict freight cars in said yard. |