Show MEANDDRIXGS OF A FREIGHT CARAway I CAR-Away From Home Sixteen Months Before the Tracer Caught It Here is the record of the wanderings of a freight car On December 14 1886 a Big Four car was loaded with corn in Indianapolis Indianap-olis and started to Boston It arrived there January 1 The owner of the corn in Boston sold it to a merchant in Medfleld and it reached that city January Janu-ary 24 1887 There It remained loaded I until March 17 when it was started back to Boston empty In Boston it I was loaded with supplies for miners in the Delaware coal fields There it was loaded with coal lor Chicago starting i for that city March 31 It reached Chicago April 10 but was immediately reconsigned to ai coal dealer at Minot on the Manitoba road 523 miles west of St Paul It reached Minot April 14 It was immediately unloaded and sent II empty to St Paul where it was loaded with wheat for New York It left St Paul April 26 and a week later while passing over the Grand Trunk road on the way to New York the train hauling haul-ing the can was wrecked The Big Four car was not badly damaged The drawheads were broken and a casting was ruined The car was sent to the Grand Trunk shops The workmen there had to send to the Big Four for an interchangeable in-terchangeable casting The requisition passed through several departments in the Grand Trunk and Big Four general offices and the casting was sent by freight The car bad been loaded all the time On July 18 the repairs were finally finished and the car was sent on to New York with the wheat put into it in St Paul April 26 When the grain was taken out in New York the car was loaded for Scranton and be I ing unloaded there it was again re loaded with coal for Chicago On August Au-gust 12 it reached Chicago About this time the Big Four sent a tracer for the car It was located in Chicago and orders were given to send the car home to Indianapolis On August 16 the car was unloaded There was then a great demand for cars so this one instead of being sent to Indianapolis was sent to Buffalo loaded with wheat The wheat was consigned to a man who on September 27 sold it in the car to a merchant on the Erie road The car reached him October 1 On October 10 he unloaded The Erie was short of cars then so this Big Four car was loaded with coal the third time for Chicago in Chicago the coal was sold tp a dealer In Newport News and away the car went on the Monon railway for New port News arriving November 10 On this trip the car passed through In dianapolis which city it had left December De-cember 14 1886 and where it was so badly wanted by its owners From Newport News the car Trent loaded to Georgia The scent was becoming dim and the car disappeared for awhile a-while but finally turned up on January Jan-uary 14 1888 in the possession of the Richmond Danville railway A week later it appeared at Selma Ala Next it was heard from in Atlanta and for a week or more was in local service between Atlanta and Montgomery Mont-gomery On February 11 1888 it stood sidetracked at Augusta Ga Here the Big Four tracer caught up with it and a demand was made for its speedy return to Indianapolis it was March 11 however before the car could be loaded for a point near its home On that date it was loaded and on April 3 it was delivered to the Louisville Nashville load which finally delivered it April 17 to the Big Four yards in Indianapolis Ind after an absence of sixteen months and one day I |