Re: Old photo: passenger car size differences

Casey,

I'll call you on the pile driver and raise you one box car. That photo is on page 82 of 'Rails through the Orange Groves'. There also other photos of the Newport wharf in the book too.

You have the loco and tender, then the larger box figure that looks to be a cab for the 'pile driver' is actually a box car behind the tender, then the taller passenger car followed by the two smaller ones. The 'pile driver' can be seen in two other photos in the book, neither one shows the box like structure or cab. One photo is looking out towards the end of the wharf from the left of the depot in the photo Bruce posted. The other is from the end of the wharf looking back towards the depot. The crane remains in the same place in the photos, one with a different train and the other with no train. Also the track is off centered to the far side of the wharf and the crane is on the near side.

If you were to super impose the the lone boxcar back behind the tender you would find that it is shorter than the boxcar that I claim is there, but other pictures show these boxcars and sure enough there is one that is taller than the others.

I grew up and continue to live in Orange County and have both volumes of 'Rails though the Orange Groves', excellent books on the history and the importance the railroads played in Orange County. Most people here would have no idea there was ever a wharf at Newport Beach, let alone the railroad reached it!

I'll try to scan the photos and post them later.

Dennis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2017 08:53AM by Dennis Tebo.