I've wondered for years why this EL eastbound freight I captured at Owego NY in the late '60s with my cheesy Instamatic had a mail/baggage car in the consist. While spending an hour Googling the interweb to determine why EL's mail train Stillwell rider coaches had stoves, I stumbled upon this explanantion for why the mail car in the freight at Jim Mancuso's excellent website discussion of EL operations: "...Empty passenger head end cars, such as baggage, mail and express cars developing at Dearborn Station, etc. was handled on most Croxton bound eastbounds lined into the train ahead of the caboose on the train handling such equipment..." Simple as that! What did we do before there was an internet?

PS: a handful of ex-Erie Stillwell coaches were rebuilt as rider coaches to be used on the rear of mail trains #3 & #4 in the late '60s. Given there might be a TOFC flat ahead of the rider that didn't have a steam line, the RXX riders had a stove added!

Photographed by John P Barlow.
Added to the photo archive by John Barlow, November 30, 2021.
Railroad: Erie Lackawanna.

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