railroadobservationcars

This photo has some serious mistakes in its information. First of all the photo was taken at Wichita Falls Union Station which was not even constructed until 1910, so there is no way that this photo was taken in 1905. In 1905 the FW&D used its own station which was at Seventh Street. The crowd is standing at the end of Ninth, two blocks from where the 1905 depot was. Next, note that it appears to be a silver lightweight car, possibly a Budd streamlined car third car from the end of train. The FW&D owned no such lightweights until 1940 and the Burlington as a whole had not adopted anything silver (paint or stainless steel) until after 1936. Lastly the photo caption says that this was President Theodore Roosevelt on his way to a Rough Rider reunion in San Antonio. However the train is headed northbound, away, from San Antonio as no train headed to San Antonio would be northbound when passing thru Wichita Falls. Therefore, if this is a photo of President Roosevelt at Wichita Falls, I strongly believe that this is President Franklin Roosevelt, not Teddy.

Steve Goen You are indeed correct, this is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not Theodore Roosevelt in the photograph. We have made the appropriate changes both on here and on our main site. We appreciate hearing about the history of these items!

The locomotive appears to be Union Terminal Co. 0-6-0 No. 7. If so, it survives today at the Museum of the American Railroad in the Dallas suburb of Frisco. The building at right with large sign on top was the Texas School Book Depository, from which Lee Harvey Oswald would assassinate U.S. President John F. Kennedy five years later.

Very nice photograph... I'm a sucker for open vestibule observation cars.... This is just such a nice one... The RR business cars were so luxurious. I've toured through a few in museums... I just want to live in one! I've started to collect 20s-30s Pullman Co. blankets and already have a handsome stack of the linen towels. Someday, someday.