Bangor and Aroostook
In 1936 and 1938 the BAR received 100 log rack cars from Magor
and from Greenville. These cars originally numbered 4500-4599
were renumbered in 1952 to 500-599. Although originally painted
box car red, in the late 1970s a few were repainted black and
cars 518, 525, 545, and 551 were modified with side slats for tie
service. Number 545 subsequently had it's slats removed. In 1967
15 of these cars were converted to v-deck pulpwood racks
1920-1934 and 10 cars were stretched 11' 5" and converted to
bulkhead lumber flats 382-391.
The Bangor and Aroostook began the acquisition
of it's purpose built pulpwood car fleet in 1947 with the
purchase of 100 45' side dump cars from Magor Car Corp. These
cars were numbered 5000-5099 and had two half length swing out
side doors on each side of the car hinged at the top. Built into
each swing out side door was a small 4 1/2' sliding door. There
is a good photo of one of these cars after their 1952 renumbering
on page 22 of Sweetland and Horsley's "Northern New England
Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment." These cars
were purchased to carry 4' pulpwood from wood lots in northern
Maine close to the paper mills where the wood was dumped into the
river for the final trip to the mill.
In 1949 the BAR purchased a second lot of 100 of these cars and
numbered them 5100-5199. This second lot varied somewhat in
construction from the first lot particularly around the ends. The
1947 lot had vertical ends while the 1949 lot had ends that
sloped inward from top to bottom as viewed from the exterior of
the car.
In 1952 these 200 cars were renumbered with the 1947 cars
becoming 1-99 and the 1949 cars becoming 100-199. In 1956 the BAR
purchased it's last 65 side dump cars and numbered them 200-264.
These cars appear to have been identical to the 1949 built cars
based on their appearance after their 1961 conversion to standard
pulpwood rack cars.
In 1956 the BAR also began it's purchase of standard 45' v-deck
pulpwood rack cars with the 1600 series cars from Magor. These
266 cars were delivered in the then standard boxcar red paint in
several lots from 1956 through 1958 with cars 1600-1719 having
solid bearing trucks and 1720-1865 having roller bearings. In
1977 most of these cars were rebuilt with side stakes to handle
8' pulpwood and in the process were repainted forest green and
renumbered into a subset of the same series (1600-1786). The
roller bearing equipped cars became 1600-1744 and the solid
bearing cars became 1745-1786.
In 1960 the BAR converted the 1947 built side dump cars 1-99 into
standard pulpwood racks and numbered them 1502-1599. The next
year the 1949 built side dumps 100-199 were also converted and
became 1402-1501. Also in 1961 the 1956 built side dumps 200-264
were converted to become pulp racks 1337-1401. In 1967-68 cars
1337-1367 were renumbered 1866-1896 to make way for BAR's second
order of 64' jumbo pulp racks 1268-1367 received that year. It
appears that the end of the side dump cars coincided with the end
of the practice of dumping wood into the river for the final trip
to the mill. In 1963 some of the 1956 built cars were stretched
10' and fitted to carry lumber becoming BAR 370-378, 380-381, and
397-398. In 1975 these cars were reconverted back to pulpwood
racks (but retaining their 55' length) becoming cars 1955-1966.
In 1977 several of the converted 1956 built cars received side
stakes and became part of the 1745-1786 cars mentioned above.
In 1964 the BAR purchased 168 "jumbo" 64' pulpwood
racks with center bulkheads to stabilize the load. These cars
were numbered 1100-1267. A second order of 100 identical cars
numbered 1268-1367 arrived from Berwick in 1968. Beginning in
1969 the BAR converted 30 64' pulpwood racks to lumber flats by
removing the center bulkheads and bridging the v-decks with wood
timbers. These cars, originally numbered 470-499, had expanded to
fill out the 401-499 series by 1977. Cars 401-415 did not have
the bulkhead extensions of cars 416-499 and were apparently
renumbered into the 650 series in the early 1980s.
During the 1980s many of the 64' bulkhead lumber flats were
modified in several ways including: the addition of stake pockets
and wooden side boards (for ballast service?), the addition of
center stakes and tie down straps to stabilize lumber loads, and
the addition of widely spaced side stakes to handle 8' and tree
length pulpwood logs. These latter cars were renumbered into the
1000 series and those cars converted in the 1980s were painted
dark green while the 1990s conversions are dark blue.
The most extensive modification that the BAR's Derby Shops has
made to the 1964 built jumbo pulpwood racks is the 1998
conversion of some of these cars into the 13000 series 7200 cubic
foot wood chip gondolas.
In 1967 the BAR leased 20 45' pulpwood racks from U.S. Railway
Equipment and numbered them 1900-1919. The cars were built in
1953 by Pullman Standard, modified with bulkhead extensions by
USRE in 1967, and were probably ex Apalachicola Northern cars.
Also in 1967 the BAR converted 15 of it's 500 series log racks
built in 1936-38 by Magor and Greenville to pulpwood cars and
numbered them 1920-1934. In 1969 a second group of 20 of the 1953
Pullman Standard cars were leased from USRE and became BAR
1935-1954.