Thanks for the update. I had emailed somebody in the group about the cabooses on the Dabo property but did not (I think) receive a reply back. I look forward to seeing what is for sale eventually. Thanks and good luck.

Eric,

If the reports I've received are accurate, and I believe they are, there should be several Pullman heavyweights at the Dabo property, none of which have been identified as of yet. If there are any names or numbers on the cars, I'd be interested.

For what it is worth,

The following ex New Haven cars, owned by John Birmingham/Boulder Scientific Co. of Mead , Colorado, were at the Dabo site;
- Coaches 8664, 8676, 8619, 8646
- Observation/Lounge 476 the "Bunker Hill"
- Self propelled combine 4670

Given that 4670 was scrapped earlier this year (as reported above), I would have to guess that the others have been scrapped as well (they were in very bad shape last I saw them in 2005. 4670 was by far the best car of the lot). Can anyone confirm or deny their current existence?

Jason Midyette

This is all I know about heavyweights at this time. As I come across more info, I'll post it:

PRR #8960 "Trenton", HW Pullman 12Sec/1Dr Sleeper converted to MOW service #492908, on ground.
PRR #8868 "Parkesburg" HW Pullman 12Sec/1Dr Sleeper converted to MOW service #492859, on ground.
PRR PC70 Cafe/Coach, 1101 to 1111 series.
B&O E7C or B21 Baggage/Express.

Concerning the NH cars, I'm trying to run that down. A couple years back, some were scrapped but we think two may have been trucked out and we'll try to figure out which was which and where the trucked ones went. There are no longer any NH cars on the property.

Thanks, Eric, for the info on these cars! The 2 Pullmans will be added to the surviving Pullman heavyweight thread as line items #415 and #416.

I was working with the crew from Midwest Railway Preservation Society that cut up the 4670 EMU car at DABO about a year ago in 2014. When we started we had to evict a pack of raccoons that was living in the ceiling of the car. They had been in there for a very long time and we had to shovel out the mess from the floor and the seats before we could begin to cut. The car was beyond restoration, I don't think that you could ever get the smell out of it. Besides being covered with petrified coon crap the seats had steel next to aluminum frame pieces that had electrolyzed into powder and those fell apart when we moved them.

I'm not surprised that the ex New Haven Osgood Bradley cars were scrapped. They were in horrible condition 10 years ago when I last worked on them. Two of the coaches were trucked out in 2005 to become part of a restaurant in Delaware.

The Bunker Hill, though gutted and lacking windows was actually in the best shape as its lack of interior wall lining and insulation allowed the structure to remain relatively dry as compared to the complete cars who were just constantly soaking in wet insulation.

The self propelled combine was chock full of raccoons and raccoon crap 12 years ago, I can't imagine how bad it was by the time it was scrapped!

The New haven cars ended up at Dabo as a result of a stillborn movie project in 1991 or so. There was to be a movie called "Night Ride Down" about the Pullman strike in the 1930's. John Birmingham was supplying the passenger cars for the film, which was to include a complete train of heavyweight and lightweight cars. Cars were purchased from all around the country and moved towards California for rehab and filming. When the plug was pulled, Birmingham kept the cars and those in transit were stored wherever a place could be found. The New Haven cars were purchased from the RR Museum of New England and moved in a special train to Dabo, where they stayed.

For what it is worth, here are some photos from June of 2005;

Jason Midyette

Any photos of the EMU car?

Thanks!

Wesley

Here's the 4670 from May 2013.

After looking at photos we had on file, the two cars that went to the restaurant in Delaware I believe were last run on the Cape Cod & Hyannis as #2524 and #2526. I don't know what their original numbers were. They left the DABO property in June 2005. The rest were scrapped. An interesting tidbit... the story goes the first one trucked out, #2526, got hung up just south of Orrville on the W&LE crossing and then got ticketed for no permits. Tied up rail and road traffic for three hours. They had to pull off the road and wait until the permits were in place.