Fort Madison & North-Western Boxcars
This pair of Fort Madison & Northwestern boxcars is believed to have been built in 1882 by Ohio Falls Car Co. Their road numbers are currently unknown. They were retired in 1892, when FtM&N-W's successor, the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines, standard-gauged the line. They were then sold to a local farmer and moved about 670 yards north of the right-of-way. It appears that the farmer used one of the car bodies as a utility shed, witht the the other having been used as a chicken coop.
These car bodies were discovered in 2020 by one of our co-founders, and after a long process of negotiations, they were purchased. Each car body was then cleaned out, internally braced, and slowly raised up enough to get a skid under the body. Each car body, one at a time, was then dragged to a more open location, where we could then load them onto a trailer for moving.
Photo Right: The first FtM&N-W boxcar after being unloaded at the interim location.
Photo Above: Volunteers cleaning out one of the boxcar bodies
Photo Above: After cutting some brush, we discovered the remains of one of the side doors that blew off at some point. The irons from this door were recovered. This led us to metal detect around the cars. Several missing iron components were found this way.
Photo Above: One of the boxcar bodies after being cleaned out
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Photo Above: The first boxcar is placed on the skid, and is ready to be dragged to the loading spot