Great video, it's good to see those old rail cartridges before they disappear for ever. All hand made, imagine the time spent building those. Thanks very much.
Those are definetley old train cars. The railroads were still using some wooden cars as late as the 1960s, although most by then were steel. That first one wasn't a caboose. It was a lunch car for the work crews. In the end were the sink was there would have been a cook stove. In the other end would have been tables and a wood burning stove for heat. The second one was exactly what you said, a work shop. Spare parts, tools and equipment. They had wooden insulated refrigerator cars back then, it looked like both of these were insulated back in the day, then refited as a lunch car and shop after many years.
My grandma used to talk about when she was little, 1920's, the camp cars would be picked up and put on flat rail cars when they were ready to move to a new area. Her family did logging.
They do look like really old rail freight cars. I would guess 100 plus years old.The path to them is probably an old rail bed. They would have to be lifted off their wheels with a railroad crane. Probably got them for free or really cheap. I live in an old railroad town and there are lots of things that have move from the railroad into private hands. I had a garage on my property that all of the interior wood was from old box cars. These cars had all of the specs stenciled on the side, including the build date.
A visit years back would have been very interesting. I go with old rail cars, I spotted the ladders that you always see. Living in one and making a dollar in the other, absolutely beautiful. Wonderful video. Penn State ??
Where do you teach? I just found you today and find your vlogs interesting. PA is a pretty place ....and we went thru on the highway system of toll roads and couldn't wait to get outta there. It is a pretty place. Past trips to PA have always been picturesque and I envy your woodsy playground. I'm from Illinois and we have woodsy places too but hilly we are not.....only in certain areas. Shawnee National Park is hilly in the southern most part of the state.....looks exactly like the areas you walk in. We are in Abe Lincoln country and he was a major hiker.....no cart no horse, a very indigent man until he met his wife to be, Mary Todd.
Rail cars yes. My thought by looking at the miscellaneous parts is set there for use as a lumber camp. The chain links in the second car are conveyor links as used on a sawmill. Large timbers out back would possibly have been the base frame of the mill. Frick mills were built with timber like that. Old railcars (trolley cars too) were often repurposed as various buildings.
I worked in rail for quite a while. The frames seem very light duty to be even 100 year old cars. They do have very industrial corner braces or guards and climing rails, but they seem to be just trailers. They almost look like they couldve been used for a job site and left behind
Those buildings looked like the original mobile home....not a train just a train shaped cabin. The ladder was just a means of getting to the roof. Very practical. If we did that now, we'd have people climbing our roofs. lol.
You have us guessing what they were used for. Likely old train cars but how did they get there? A lot of the trees look young maybe lumber camp. you could check to see if there was a railroad that went though that area. Enjoyed
Remnants of a CCC/WPA project in the area or a company town, maybe? A topo map of the area might reveal an abandoned rail bed as well, which would fit with the decommissioned rail cars and the railroad ties used on the bridges. Those giant beams are probably from the bridge which used to cross the gully nearby. Or, it never got finished and those beams have just laid there since the '30s? '40s? Who knows how long? Very cool.
The railroads used to have roving crews that lived in them. They would spot them somewhere and the guys would work the rails in the area then the railroad would move the crew cars to another location. The second one was the shop for the gang of rail workers bridge builders etc. They were still used up into the 1960's for traveling gangs. One of our sites also had a old Funeral car that had been used on the Railroad as well(Summit Valley Ca) Life on the Old Santa Fe Railroad I guess someone purchased and moved them when the Railroad sold them. A lot of the old flat cars became bridges across small creeks as well.
Yes definitely second hand rail cars. In the second one there were links for a slatted conveyor belt. So my guess is that they processed timber, back in the day. In N Wales we have two similar old railway wagons on the top of two hills, 1000ft higher up than any railway track. Most likely sold by the railway companies back in 1930s... ( Gives me an idea for some Geo-Caches... but a different story...)
I know where you are at. These were moved here to be used as hunting cabins. I never heard how they were moved to that location. I check with my friend who first showed me them. I think he said they were moved there before the interstate was put in
Ide say they were old R&R cars but converted into something else. I was going to say a type of hunting camp until you went to the second building. I think but what you found, possibly construction use, for that Interstate not far from where your filming. Highway constructors have been known to leave behind stuff like that. Ide say the second building was where they kept tools, cables and other such things. Probably too costly to move and they wrote them off on their taxes.
This great, glad I stumbled upon your channel. Google Concrete City Nanticoke PA and read up on the history of that if you already haven't. Then go check it out! One freakin awesome place! If you need cords hit me up!
I remodel homes and it’s crazy how long the old stuff lasts.. the older the better it was designed..new stuff doesn’t last.. except plastic, that’ll be around forever... idea!
