The City of Caprock, Texas, which is a Division Point on the High Plains Division of the O Gauge Panhandle & Santa Fe Railway Company, has recently experienced a break-down of the city water system. Caprock sits upon the Ogallala Aquifer, and has a deep well, which normally provides abundant municipal water. However the pumping system had a total failure on June 10. The main suction pipe was severed by a small earthquake, a rare, but not totally unknown, event out on the high plains. So, the well has to be re-drilled, and geologists have been called in, to decide where best to tap into the aquifer with the new pipe.
Meanwhile, the good citizens of Roaring Springs, which is on line to the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railway, have graciously reached out to their neighbors in need, and are sending a tank car of potable water three times each week. The QA&P and the Santa Fe interchange regularly at Floydada, Texas, and both railroads have offered to haul the water to Caprock at no charge, until the system is repaired.
The first car arrived during the early morning hours of June 12, and was promptly spotted on the water spur by Caprock Switcher 101, the daylight job, using RSD4 2107.
The Quanah, Acme & Pacific tank car was painted and lettered by Rob Leese, who posts on these forums. Rob once worked in Train Service on the QA&P. He used an original QA&P waybill and it accompanied the car in a shipping carton, to the High Plains Division of the P&SF at my residence here in Amarillo. It was quite a surprise to unwrap the box, and find a waybill attached to it! But that's the prototype way to ship a car. The Conductor carried the actual waybills for every car in his train, and the bills were handed from crew to crew, until the car arrived at its destination, and the Agent took possession of the waybill, notified the consignee that his car was ready to spot, collected the freight charges, and then had the local crew spot the car.
