Norfolk and Western Derrick Car 1902

[webenda]

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A Norfolk and Western derrick car and its crew were photographed in Bluefield, West Virginia, in 1902. Platform cars carried derrick cranes used for heavy-lifting duties (for example, bridge replacements and repair) and to move derailed rolling stock.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Lots going on in that photo...

What kind of flat car is that??? Side sills appear to be made up from a framework of 4 pipes/rods with the outside truss rod centered in the end plate.

Stiff leg derrick but maybe with a swivel? 2nd or replacement derrick arm on the flat car.

What's that at the other end - a winch? Use with the derrick or stand alone for other uses?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

The building in the foreground, behind the men, interests me - such a grand, handsome structure , yet such a crummy porch and nearly absent footing for it and its steps. Odd, to me.

[Wolf]

The way I read the picture is that the railroad runs in a cut that was
either just deepened or widened and that the crew with the derrick
is placing stones for the new retaining wall (as can be seen in the
background). Once the new wall is in, I would assume that the
building behind the flat car would get a more-proper set of steps
and underpinning for that porch....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I would imagine you are right, Wolf.

[webenda]

What is that thing floating above the electric/telephone pole?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/XMtQ2U]

[Roy]

What is that thing floating above the electric/telephone pole?

It looks like a space capsule.

[Tom Dempsey]

Clown Car from Outer Space?!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What is that thing floating above the electric/telephone pole?

An electrical light - there are at least two more in a line in the photo........

[webenda]

What is that thing floating above the electric/telephone pole?

An electrical light - there are at least two more in a line in the photo........

Aha!
They are a form of carbon rod arc light called a "Moon Light." They were self-igniting (the fuse that got them started had to be replaced before they could be ignited the next night.)

[/url]

LIFE EXPECTANCY

Carbon rods in the first Moon Lights lasted two hours.

In the 1890s the carbon consumption of the rods was slowed down considerably by enclosing the lamp in a gas tube, which increased the life expectancy of the carbon sticks fivefold – enough to make the rods last all night.

Later arc lights could burn for 100 to 150 hours (4 to 6 days) without replacing the rods.

Reference: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/01/ ... 1800s.html

Thank you, Rufus, for the clue.

[rogruth]

I actually saw a very similar car working on the the old Wrightsville and Tennelle in Wrightsville, GA in the mid 1980s.
The W&T became part of the SRR and then NS. It is still in use.

[Mitch]

As a kid, helpin' clean up at the local Drive-In theater, I remember carrying out burnt carbon rod stubs from the two big projectors mounted to the cement floor. The rods burned long enough to show 1 reel of the movie, the second projector set up to go after intermission. The carbon rods make a pretty darn bright light.