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"FDR's Personal Car"?
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Author:  FLO [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:27 am ]
Post subject:  "FDR's Personal Car"?
Anyone who has lived in Seattle for a while is familiar with Andy's Diner -- made out of old coaches.

One of the cars at Andy's bears an interesting claim: "FDR's Personal Car."

How much truth is there to that claim? Can anyone comment?
Author:  wesp [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Is there a car name or number anywhere to be seen?

Wesley
Author:  Brian Norden [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Over the years, I have seen car owners hype a one-time use --maybe during a campaign trip -- by a President or a president-to-be. They never qualify their statement.

I guess it is something like "George Washington slept here."
Author:  Bobharbison [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
I don't recall any other markings on the car. They made that claim for years, though I have no idea of what the justification, if any, was.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytravelph ... 908820689/

Andy's has been closed since around 2008. To be honest, I'm not sure how the railcars have survived this long. At some point I'm sure the property will most likely be sold, and it's fairly unlikely the new owner will want the railcars.

Will the cars be saved? I really doubt it. Here's the deal. The place has been in business since the 1950's, if not earlier. The cars have been there for 60 or so years now. They have larg holes in the side as part of the resteraunt. They've been sitting closet to Puget Sound (saltwater) all this time. There's probably not a lot worth saving if I had to guess.

That said, in one of those photos on Flickr, it appears that one of the car (a green one) could possibly be an interurban car? That might be something worth trying to save, but again, who knows what shape it's in? Of course you could say the same of all the cars, but I'm thinking in terms of rarity.
Author:  Bobharbison [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Gotta love Google. Looks like it is the railcar version of "Lincoln Slept Here"

Quoting the Seattle Times:
Quote:
The rail cars include one that President Franklin Roosevelt reportedly traveled in during his 1944 re-election campaign.


More info and photos.
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/a ... lunch.html

This article makes it sound like the FDR car was a more recent addition, from about 25 years ago. I'm not sure if that's correct or not.

The Chinese place mentioned in the article didn't last long from what I recall.
Author:  railfan44 [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
FRD's car is, of course, at GCRM but not open for viewing pending restoration:

http://gcrm.org/magellan.aspx#pagetop

I highly recommend FDR's Funeral Train: A Betrayed Widow, a Soviet Spy, and a Presidency in the Balance to anyone interested in 20th Century American History and rail buffs will love it. I bought it from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/FDRs-Funeral-Trai ... 0230619142
Author:  Frank Hicks [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Bobharbison wrote:
That said, in one of those photos on Flickr, it appears that one of the car (a green one) could possibly be an interurban car? That might be something worth trying to save, but again, who knows what shape it's in? Of course you could say the same of all the cars, but I'm thinking in terms of rarity.


You're correct; actually there are two interurban cars as part of this restaurant, Skagit River Railway 18 and 21, both ex-Oregon Electric coaches (SRR 18 is ex-OE 132, SRR 21 is thought to be ex-OE 137). Several cars of this type are still in existence and in use as locomotive-hauled coaches on the Black Hills Central, albeit not exactly historically preserved.
Author:  Bobharbison [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Well from what I vaguely recall from long past visits to the resteraunt, there's nothing much historic here either, other than the shell, which has holes in it.

It appears, from the photos in the Times, that the FDR car may be an exception to that, but the other cars are all pretty much gutted inside and fitted out as a resteraunt.
Author:  Jim Lundquist [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
railfan44 wrote:
FRD's car is, of course, at GCRM but not open for viewing pending restoration


MARTY!!!!! You've ridden in the other Presidental car at PSRM in Campo. Come on man!


http://www.psrm.org/roster/passenger/peary/index.html


Jim
Author:  203 [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
The Andy's Diner car is one of three Pullman charter cars built to the same plan in 1916. Interestingly, all three survive. "Manhattan" is now "Tennessee", restored and owned by Gulf & Ohio Railways and domiciled in Knoxville. "Palm Beach", once purportedly owned by Mary Pickford, is at the Tennessee Central Railroad museum in Nashville in original condition needing restoration. The Andy's Diner car is the "Newport".
Pete
Author:  wesp [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
If I recall, Pullman used the "Explorer" series for FDR and others. Marco Polo is here in DC on track 7 as an NS business car, Ferdinand Magellan is on Fla, and Peary is in Calif. I do not know if others survive. The Funeral train book mentioned earlier goes into great detail about Pullman's service for FDR and other Presidents.

Wesley
Author:  railfan44 [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Jim Lundquist wrote, "MARTY!!!!! You've ridden in the other Presidental car at PSRM in Campo. Come on man!"

Jim, it's a CB&Q car (probably CB&Q President Budd rode on it) no matter what color it is now repainted and what stupid (but original) name is on it. I photographed CB&Q's Blackhawk in 1965 in my home town (below) when you were in diapers. I have already promised Larry I'd come back to Campo to help when you decide to renovate it. But not in summer.

Attachments:
CBQ PX-650625 Westmont, IL Obs Blackhawk small.jpg
CBQ PX-650625 Westmont, IL Obs Blackhawk small.jpg [ 282.7 KiB | Viewed 16935 times ]
Author:  weekendrailroader [ Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
I had my 10th birthday in that car. It was all train-themed and everything. Was that really a decade ago? Was that really half-my-lifetime-ago?

I hope the cars are preserved in some way, shape, or form, especially the interurbans.
Author:  FLO [ Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Some exterior photos of the interurban cars at Andy's Diner:

Attachment:
car1.jpg

Attachment:
car2.jpg

Attachment:
car3.jpg
Author:  FLO [ Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: "FDR's Personal Car"?
Interurban car:

Attachment:
car5.jpg


Pullman car:

Attachment:
car6.jpg

Attachment:
car7.jpg
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