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Surviving GN Lightweight Cars
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35609
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Author:  Rainier Rails [ Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Two Updates:

P-S, Lot #6886, Plan #7629, 1950, 48 seat chair, Mid-Century Empire Builder:

GN #1221 to BN #4822 (not applied) and stored in 1971. Sold in 1973 to NJT and converted to 108 seat commuter coach #108 to #5315 sold in 1992 to Ringling Brothers (RBBX) #42101.

P-S, Lot #W6880, Plan #7628, 1950, 48 seat chair, protection car for Mid-Century Empire Builder and 1951 Western Star:

GN #1231 to BN #4832 (not applied) and stored in 1971. Sold in 1973 to NJT and converted to 108 seat commuter coach #127 to #5322 sold in 1992 to Ringling Brothers (RBBX) #42104.

Sources:

1. "Streamliner Cars Volume One: Pullman Standard" by W. David Randall (RPC Publications, 1981)

2. Harold A. Driscoll's Ringling Brothers passenger car roster: http://web.archive.org/web/20011225173251/http://chicago.railfan.net/cgi/photos.pl/?page=RBBX_roster

3. Trainorders thread from July 2001, tenth post down by rbx551985: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,64711

_________________
Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Author:  railadventures [ Sat Jun 07, 2014 8:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

GN 42 is at the CA RR Museum, beautifully restored and on display:

http://www.csrmf.org/events-exhibits/ra ... -car-no-42

In service: http://www.gn-npjointarchive.org/GNRHSN ... img324.jpg

RailAdventures

Author:  Rainier Rails [ Sat May 30, 2015 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

On Friday, March 14th, 2014, 8th Post on Page #2, Rainier Rails wrote:
Part Three: Coaches

Section C: 1937 Empire Builder P-S Coaches & 1955 Empire Builder Budd Dome Coaches:

Budd, 1955, Lot #9646-155:

Sixteen Cars, 1955, 46 seat coach 24 seat dome coach, Empire Builder:

GN #1331 to BN #4611 (not applied) and sold in 1971 to Amtrak #9471. Outshopped in 6/1976 in Amtrak Phase I. Converted in 1/1984 to Head End Power (HEP) #9410. Sold in 4/1995 to BKS Limited as BKSX #9410 for the Montana Rockies Daylight. MRD was acquired in 1998 by Oregon Rail Corporation/AOE and rebranded Montana Rockies Rail Tours/American Spirit, and #9410 was part of the sale of MRRT to Rail Quest America (RQAX) in 2001. Acquired in 2004 by Philip Sheridan-IFE Leasing as MRLX #9410. Leased from 2005 to 2007 to Alaska RR, then from 2009 to 2012 to CVSR as the Emerson (1st).


The #9410 has been leased to TVRM for use on the Hiwassee River trips, along with former CP #15401/VIA #15501 dome sleeper lounge observation RPCX #15401 Algonquin Park. The #9410 has been renamed from Emerson (1st) to Jackson Square, and today, May 30th, was the 13th of 17 passenger cars for N&W #611's return run from NCTM, Spencer, NC, to Roanoke.

#611 consist information thread over on Trainorders: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3756383

_________________
Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Author:  bbunge [ Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Some images of what appear to be five cars mentioned in this thread on their side in Walla Walla with trucks piled up nearby. I have no connection to these pieces, was passing through town while on vacation and noticed the cars and figured I'd add to the record.

Also some old freight car trucks. There was a debris pile behind the row of cars that I didn't photograph that could in hindsight be the remains of wooden freight cars.

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Freight car trucks:

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High resolution images available. PM me if interested. These were taken near 12th and Paine St.

Bob Bunge

Author:  Topfuel [ Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Boy, that's really a shame. That was a decent string of ex-GN (and one ex-Q) cars there. I remember seeing those cars back in 2007, and despite having been wide open for some years and seeming to be abandoned by their owner (who didn't live all that far away), they were still in surprisingly good shape. I'm guessing the clock finally struck midnight with back storage being years past due, or the attractive nuisance factor coming to a boil and someone finally said "enough". Or, maybe the owner is scrapping them. Who knows? I remember that they were on the property of a local short line and I went in to their offices to ask about the cars and they had no idea who owned them. I gave them the owner's contact info - which I didn't know was current or not - but don't know if they ever made contact with him.

Here's the info on these cars, from my notes made May of 2007. I'll leave it to Rainer Rails to flush out the details:

Ex-GN lightweight cars:

NRE 1191 ex-Am 6802 Air/lube 8-6-03. Interior unrefurbished by Amtrak. Has all the copper air line stuff “snipped”. ABDW. Ex-Bill Ross car current owner bought circa late 80’s.

NRE 1111 Coach. ex-BN MW 968030. Ex GN coach 1111. Interior pretty stripped. Disk brakes. Big Sky Blue under the red paint. Poss ex-Les Kasten car.

1144 Red Eagle Lake. Interior amazingly intact, even after BN MW conversion. Disk brakes. ABDW – piping intact.

1225 Coach – Jersey Builder paint. Fairly intact DC underbody. Via SP&S 700 group circa 1991.

Ex-Q car: 1007 Havelock shops baggage car. D22. (Came from BN storage/retirement at P. Junction, IA).

Author:  Topfuel [ Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

"[b]Six Cars, 1950-51, Baggage-RPO (60'), Mid-Century [i]Empire Builder[/i]:[/b]

GN baggage-RPO #38-#40, #42 diagram on FOBNR website: [url]http://fobnr.org/bncarlist/passenger/gn38.jpg[/url] (FOBNR photo) (click once to enlarge)
GN #38 to BN #600 (applied) to MofW #968186. No further disposition information.
GN #39 to BN #601 (applied) to MofW #968187. No further disposition information.
GN #40 to BN #602 (not applied) to MofW #968188. No further disposition information."


One of these cars from BN MW Service is at the RR Museum in Enid, OK. I got the MW number but don't have my notes from that trip handy. They use it for a work shop.

Author:  p51 [ Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

bbunge wrote:
Freight car trucks:

Image

Image

Wow, you don't see those very often anymore!

Author:  Rainier Rails [ Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Oh well. Scratch 5 lightweights. There were also a number of GN heavyweights stored over in Pasco which were owned by the same person. Except for a few that were moved elsewhere, it appears that these cars have also been/will be scrapped.

Here's a thread from 2013-2014 started by Bob Harbison with more info on the cars stored in Pasco, and the cars that were sold or moved elsewhere:

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35010

Author:  bbunge [ Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Some more. Also in Walla Walla was this car attached to the NP depot. Now a restaurant.

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The food at this place was very good. It was clean and both the car and the building seemed in pretty good shape. Some nice photos of depots from around the region on the inside. Recommended for lunch if you are in the area.

Author:  Rainier Rails [ Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Bob,

Thanks for posting all the photos and info! Does anyone know the identity of the car in use as the Italian restaurant in Walla Walla? It's a P-S lightweight riding on a pair of GN bolted pedestal 3 axle trucks taken from a heavyweight! Ex-NP or something else? Thanks in advance!

Author:  etalcos [ Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Interesting. Something is sideways somewhere with BN 968030 -- other than the fact that it's seemingly lying on its side in Walla Walla, WA. I went back and checked, the pair of trucks we bought from Gateway several years back were both stenciled BN 968030 and had just been salvaged from a car they had cut up. Trucks were cast 11-45, which would make that timeline seemingly correct. I remember the car, but have not pics of it. Perhaps someone @ BN has been playing musical trucks.

ETA

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Author:  o anderson [ Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

I have contact info for the scrapper of the streamlined cars and trucks in Walla Walla. I had tried to find takers for this stuff. The very old arch bar trucks were of good museum use, and the passenger trucks would be handy for anyone maintaining or displaying a car. To get them back into full operation may be a challenge, due to parts that have already wound up in the scrap bin.

PM me for more info.

Oh, and I took a look at the Jacobi's car. I am not sure of its heritage, but it appears to be heavily modified inside, perhaps the headlining being the only remaining interior components. The underbody is stripped but someone took time to attach tanks and such to make it "look correct". The couplers are from a freight car, welded to an angle bar attached to the remaining framing. The 6-wheel trucks are cast CNR, but maybe they were just available materials? Not much heritage left in that car, as I see it. The best use is a good restaurant diner.
Olin

Author:  Topfuel [ Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

"Does anyone know the identity of the car in use as the Italian restaurant in Walla Walla? It's a P-S lightweight riding on a pair of GN bolted pedestal 3 axle trucks taken from a heavyweight! Ex-NP or something else?"

That car is a real mystery to me ever since I first saw it back in 2009. It does appear to have been a P-S lightweight coach. Those tiny marker lights suggest something east coast, such as NYC or DL&W. It is also possible it could be an ACF product. Maybe an ex-NYC pre-war smooth side coach? Without the correct trucks as a spotting feature, it can be difficult to ID a coach of this type.

Author:  green_elite_cab [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 6:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

I am trying to do research on these cars, but I've hit a snag. I cannot seem to identify which cars were painted which GN or BN paint scheme upon their delivery to NJ DOT (NJT).

I noticed that some of the listing say that the BN number was "not applied", though I have found photos of these cars in full BN paint with the GN numbers (specifically, a photo of GN 1139 at the CNJ shops prior to patching/rebuilding).

Would it be safe to assume that any car with the BN number "applied" was also BN green? Or does this data not necessarily correspond to the paint?

Where any sets known to remain in the GN Empire Builder scheme? Big Sky Blue?

I am also seeking data on the NJ Transit schemes. Many (if not most) received the NJ DOT Blue Bird scheme by the end of the 70s, and a few went on to receive the full NJ Transit Disco Stripes and black window band.

Unfortunately, most photos are two distant to make out road numbers. Any aid here would be appreciated!

Author:  shrub [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 6:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Surviving GN Lightweight Cars

Hi all,
Don't mean to take this discussion off topic, but in the pictures of the Arch Bar freight trucks, did anyone else notice that one of the trucks has a Poling Pocket bolted on above the journal box? Was this common? I can't say I have ever noticed such a thing on a freight car truck before...

Peter

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