That is a sad, sad shot. I'm glad the old SD9 was able to get into one last photo before it rusted away. And it pairs nicely with the old rusted barn. Two modes of transportation, slowing disintegrating back into the Earth. That cab would make a cool addition to any train room.
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Farewell CB&Q 355. We knew you well......
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That indeed is a sad photo, even worse note is, I believe that was BNs first chop nose on a SD-9.
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The Hangar in the background has quite a history too! if that's the one that housed the blimp during WWII
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A sad site no doubt. Is that the toilet or holding tank below the nose?
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That cab face and numberboard would look good in someone's rec-room! Somebody grab a cutoff saw and get it!
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That SD9 front end would be cool for a rail museum or even a train room, after being fized up of course. Cool find.
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The screener may not allow this comment but I will try it. The aircraft is a collectors item well worth preserving, it is a specially converted airliner. It's purpose was to carry items that were too large for normal cargo planes. It's fuselage is more than twice normal size and the whole nose swings aside for loading. These were called "Pregnant Guppies". I saw one of these pass over my home when I was about seven or eight wears old, sometime in the mid fifties. This aircraft was the air version of a high & wide rail movement. I believe these were converted DC-7s. I do remember that it was traveling rather slowly for a plane, and was louder than normal. That was a long time ago, as I am almost sixty five years old.
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Very cool photo Paul. That is indeed one of the 2 former Navy airship hangers at Tillamook built during WW2. They were wooden hangers, and unfortunately one has been destroyed in a fire. Those "Guppie" air freighters were also used to haul Goodyear airship gondolas from Akron to other hangers. Many lighter than air facilities were served by railroads to bring in both parts and helium. As you can see, a lot of history in just this one photo!
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The "Pregnant Guppies" were built from Boeing Stratocruisers, an commercial airliner derived from the airframe of the B29 bombers from World War II. It was the model B29 model that dropped the atomic bombs on Tokyo and Nagasaki.
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Found some more info on this particular unit... http://www.trainweb.org/potb/rosters/6157roster.html
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Just saw a news story about a Curtiss SB2C Helldivers found in the Oregon woods, , crashed around 1948,
The wreckage was discovered on March 18 by loggers working in the densely wooded area. The Tillamook County Sheriff, Todd Anderson is investigating. Maybe was going to land at that airbase?
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| Posted by DLHACE on August 12, 2016 | |
"Super Guppie" Aircraft, as in the photo, were originally build to deliver Saturn 5 rocket modules. Before this one retired, at Tillamook, it would ferry two Sikorsky Air Cranes, to and from Wild fire locations. The label on it's side used to say 'Erikson Air Crane' on it. They now can't fly it back out, to move it. The hangar used to house a private passenger rail car overhauling company, that moved to next door of Portland's OMSI. Unsure on if it's still there or not.
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