Pullman "Sunbeam" -in all her glory

Stephen Hussar · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:49 pm

Congrats to the folks at Hildene -and to Bob Willetts and crew for a job (exceptionally) well done!

Hildene, the summer residence built by Robert Todd Lincoln, is located in Manchester Vermont. Sunbeam is spotted approx 1000' from the Lincoln home, and has just opened to the public.

Enjoy!
Stephen

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:25 pm

My God, that may be the most beautiful "residence" I've ever seen.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6468

Fantastic! Can someone explain the continued existance of "Sunbeam"? Was she preserved all those years at Robert Todd Lincoln's summer residence at Hildene, or did she take a more circuitous route and end up back there to be eventually restored? Thanks.

Les

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:38 pm

Wow.

How much to spend the night there, I wonder?

Oooops, wrong "Lincoln Bedroom"............ sorry.

Stephen Hussar · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:43 pm

The car was privately owned and stored under a pole barn in Parksville, SC for many years. It was acquired by Hildene in 2007 and moved to Lancaster, SC for restoration at the Lancaster & Chester Ry.

Stephen

Frisco1352 · **Joined:** Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:57 am **Posts:** 20

There are lots of nice passenger cars out there, this stands out as one of the best restored cars I have seen. My hat is off to those involved in the restoration. Good Job!

CPR4000 · **Joined:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:07 pm **Posts:** 150

This must be the opulence that Beebe was always expounding over. Having only ridden PC's Empire Service and Amtrak's Broadway and Denver Zephyr as a youth, I always wondered what he was making such a fuss about. I'll bet a lot of this car, especially the interior, is original. Yummy. Even nicer than PRR 120!

Walt L.

railfan44 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:23 pm

Darn, they have raised the restoration bar really high! Superb.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:29 pm

Can you imagine a whole train of cars like this, pulled by something like that 4-4-2 that's in the Henry Ford museum, or even by 999?

I can't help but also think of cars and trains like this that weren't always the standard Pullman Green. Pennsy's Tuscan red with green trucks comes immediately to mind, but I understand there was also a different green used by Southern Railway, and the Big 4, Chesapeake & Ohio, the Milwaukee Road, and the Virginian Railway all shared a similar orange and maroon scheme. There may have been others; didn't the B&O have blue cars as well in this period?

I live in the wrong time. . .

Mike Swanson · **Posted:** Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:27 am

Dangit, Steve, you just dislocated my jaw with those pics! Seriously, that has to be one of the most outstanding restorations I've ever seen. May she stay that way for many years to come.

Tom Parkins · **Posted:** Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:27 am

WOW! I had to do some Googling but there is a connection to this car being placed at Hildene.

Robert Todd Lincoln was president of Pullman about the time that the car was rebuilt and named Sunbeam. The folks at Hildene want to interpret the story of this chapter in Lincoln's life. Apparently this goes with an interpretation of the role Lincoln played in furthering the rise of a Black middle class by employment as Pullman porters.

Sunbeam has a connection to 3 presidents, Mckinley, road in it, T Roosevelt used it when he was shot in Milwaukee and taken to Chicago and it was one of two cars sent to Georgia to return the body of FDR. ( I have not fully researched and verified that information).

The Sunbeam had been used for years after retirement as a party cabin on the lake. That is one heck of a restoration apparently based on only 2 photographs.

Manchester News and Announcements.
http://www.americantowns.com/vt/manches ... am-4572217

Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation
http://www.lancasterscworks.com/news/ar ... ecordID=69

Thanks for sharing.
Tom

Stephen Hussar · **Posted:** Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:50 am

Thanks, Tom -I should have included some history. I just assumed with this crowd much of this was known already!

The car was built in 1888 as "Ortega" for the Pullman Southern Pacific Association...was later reconfigured and renamed "Sunbeam" (during Lincoln's tenure as President of the company), and ended its years in service as No 100 on the C&WC.

In addition to preserving some historic layers of paint, an exterior panel of the car has been left open for visitors to see the how the car is constructed.

Folks, if you are in the area, you must go and see this car with your own eyes!

Zak Lybrand · **Joined:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:57 am **Posts:** 210

Sometimes I hate living in a second story apartment - my jaw is now in my downstairs neighbor's kitchen.

I had the pleasure of touring this car in January 2010 during the RPCA convention, while it was still under restoration at L&C. I never would have imagined that they would do such an amazing job. My hat is off to the crews at L&C. Tomorrow evening or on Friday, I'll see if I have any halfway decent photos of how the Sunbeam looked when I saw her.

bbunge · **Posted:** Thu Aug 25, 2011 7:21 am

What is sitting on the other track/side?

Bob

G. W. Laepple · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1182

The quality of this restoration is incredible! The only rail vehicles I've seen restored to this level are a few trolley cars.

I've spent some time inside a few PV's, including "Loretto," which, before the unfortunate blaze several years ago, featured similar finish and inlay. "Loretto" was in its original glory, and I daresay "Hildene" outshines it. What a beautiful car.

Stephen's images are his usual top quality and should encourage many of us to make the trek to Manchester, Vermont to view this car in person.

Pullman "Sunbeam" -in all her glory

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