Earlier in this post I mentioned a photo of a B&M milk car with two glass windows in its the side. It may have been taken in the 1920s? and is of the Fitchburgh branch of the Boston & Maine that runs through several former farming towns. (Now a communter rail branch.)
"Images of Rail: Boston & Maine Trains and Services", from the same publisher, has a milk car photo section that solved the mystery. Page 54 shows an 1880s photo of Concord Railroad (NH?) Milk Car 5. It has two sliding doors on either end like a baggage car, and two high-silled glass windows in the center. The caption says the predecessor design was the baggage car and that the milk cargo was handled by the baggage man. This example was built by the Laconia (NH) Car Company and is quite handsome. H.P. Hood himself (a big NE area diary owner) is seated in the right doorway. There's a light weight horse drawn covered wagon backed up near the other door. It's a handsome looking car but the wrong place and time for my layout.
Sorry, no photos as I don't want to wreck the nice binding. PRR Man and Tom's books might have more examples; this is just what my own shelves had to offer when I took a look.
Tomlinson Run RR
