M&NF Boxcar #500

: Clearfield, KY. Sep. 9, 2019

This boxcar was found in the bush at Clearfield, Kentucky.

Barely read letterings indicate this car as Morehead & North Fork Railroad #500. It rides on Bettendorf trucks and still keeps the end vents and door rail for the screened door as you can see in the photo above.

According to Dale Brown at Railway Preservation News web site, this 36’ boxcar was originally a Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis car built in the early the 20's, later became a Louisville & Nashville car, a Flemingsburg & Northern car, and finally became an M&NF unique piece maybe after the shut down of F&N in 1955[1, 2].

Accurail produced a HO scale kit of the exact car in 2019.


The Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER) for January 1954 lists the #97856 as the one and only freight equipment at F&N. Accordingly, M&NF #500 can be considered as the former F&N, nee-L&N #97856.

M&NF #500 is not listed in ORERs as “Freight cars owned are not employed in Commercial Service” at the Railroad. Here, I’ll show related ORER listings from L&N and F&N pages.


L&N 97100 – 99099 series boxcars
The ORER for January 1926 shows the group #97100 to 99099 with 1993 cars in place, described as follows:

AAR Designation VA and description “Ventilated Box, Steel Underframe”.

The inside length of these cars is 36 feet 2 and 7/8 inches, inside width 8 feet 6 inches, inside height 7 feet 11 and 1/12inches, outside length 36 feet 8 and 1/2 inches, extreme height 13 feet 8 and 1/4 inches and capacity 2451 cubic feet or 80,000 pounds.

F&N #97856 boxcar
The ORER for January 1954 shows a single car for revenue service at Flemingsburg & Northern Railroad, F&N #97856, described as follows:

AAR Designation VA and description “Ventilated Box, Steel Underframe”.

The inside length of this car is 36 feet 2 inches, inside width 8 feet 6 inches, inside height 7 feet 11 inches, outside length 38 feet 1 inch, extreme height 13 feet 8 inches and capacity 2458 cubic feet or 80,000 pounds.


M&NF #500 boxcar
And the data read in the Morehead State University photo is[3]:

The inside length of this car is 36 feet 2 inches, inside width 8 feet 6 inches, inside height 7 feet 11 inches, and capacity 2453 cubic feet or 80,000 pounds.


All photos above are taken on Sep. 9, 2019.

[1] Brown, Dale, (2001), Morehead & North Fork thread, Railway Preservation News web site;
[2] the photo of F&N #97856 found in May 2018 Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine;
[3] the photo of M&NF #500 found at Morehead State University Camden-Carroll Library;

: model drawings by Accurail
: Sugar Creek, OH. Sep. 7, 2019


この貨車はケンタッキー州Clearfieldの藪の中で見つけた。元は1920年代初頭に製造された、AAR分類でVAに当たる通風車「ツ」で、妻面のシャッター付通気口や側面片引扉開口の左に延びた格子戸用レールにその面影を見ることができる。古い写真では、側面下部にも通気口と思われる四角い開口が二箇所写っている。

Morehead & North Fork Railroad（M&NF）という小さな鉄道に在籍していたが、Official Railway Equipment Registerには寸法・データの記載がない。営業車としては使われなかったとある。通気設備はここに来てから撤去されたようだ。

先に記したように、以前は仲間たちとともに展示されていたが、現在はご覧の通りで寂しい限り。ちなみに、貨車を覆っている上屋も盛業当時からのものである。