Santa Fe Baggage Car

Lionel Santa Fe El Capitain 6-35128 Baggage Car

A few months back a listing for a 6-35129 Vista Dome car came up for sale on eBay. The seller stated he was selling off his recently-passed Father's train collection and would be listing other trains in the future. Since he had a Vista Dome from the El Capitan set, I emailed him and asked if he had a Baggage Car. The response was "maybe". He indicated he was working his way through a collection and was unsure of exactly what he would have for sale. Six months later and his father's El Capitain 6-35128 Baggage surfaced in his father's collection and this Santa Fe Baggage car has a new home. Sadly someday this story will likely repeat itself.

The Baggage car is representative of the "support" cars that operated with the passenger cars. As the name implies this car would be loaded with passenger baggage and could also carry freight or mail as an RPO (Rail Post Office) car. Baggage cars were always run directly behind the locomotives so they could be switched quickly in and out of a train. Railroads included these in what they referred to as their "head-on equipment" which included the A and B locomotives.

A baggage car is easily recognizable in the consist due to its lack of windows and pair of sliding doors fore and aft. Like the Vista Domes, these cars represent a bygone era, because the newer modern passenger cars like the Santa Fe El Capitan Hi-level had additional baggage storage built into the car typically eliminating the need for extra baggage cars. Another blow to the Baggage car came in the late 1960s when the Post Office canceled its rail contracts, and the profit for railroads associated with carrying parcels evaporated.

As far as the story repeating itself, it's a typical tale. Will I pass someday? Most certainly. Will my kids sell off my train collection? Most likely. Will someone else pay too much for a baggage car to complete their Santa Fe El Capitain consist? Probably. That's the hobby, the people come and go and the trains live on forever. Now, who has that 4-windowed B-Unit I have been looking for?