Spokane, Portland & Seattle 40-ft. Boxcar

摘要

The Spokane, Portland & Seattle was a smaller regional railroad up in the Pacific Northwest that connected its namesake cities. It was conceived by that great railroad "Empire Builder" James Jerome Hill. As such, it was jointly owned by two other Hill properties, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, and allowed for easy access to those Pacific Coast ports (much to the chagrin of Union Pacific). For much of its early existence, SP&S depended on the parent roads for equipment. At the close of World War Ⅱ, for example, it only owned 1,163 freight cars, mostly an eclectic group of assorted cars built decades before.Like most American railroads, the SP&S was affected by the rapidly growing postwar economy. This was particularly true since it found itself in the midst of a paper and lumber shipping boom. As the parent roads became hard-pressed to supply cars, the need for additional SP&S-owned equipment became very apparent. Thus the railroad began to modernize its fleet, which leads us to the subject of this month's drawings.