Recently, I've learned the existence of a vintage former Union Pacific heavyweight business car "Overland" that is stored in Avella, Pa. The car was built in 1926 for use by James Harriman. It became business car No. 107 (2nd) in May 1952. Online resources indicate this car was donated to The Valley Museum in Avella in May 1971.

What is the status of this car, do the owners have any future plans, what condition is it in, and can anybody post a picture or direct me to a link of how it presently appears?

thanks much,
-K.R. Bell

Well, this was a backwards way of finding it.

Here it is:



Went to Google Maps. Looked at aerial view of Avella, in Washington County. 800 souls. Found a caboose and station trackside, but no obvious siding or car.

Looked in S. Roger Kirkpatrick's Captive Cabeese. Found THREE cabeese listed for Avella. One a wooden NKP car "with coach" at Meadowcroft Village.

Google that--it's part of the Heinz History Center.

Then I found this:
viewtopic.php?f=1&p=173315

It all comes round again.......

The cars were originally displayed at the Meadows Racetrack:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 63,2678286

They were apparently moved to the current site 1987-88:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 57,2260814

See also: http://www.thepwvhiline.com/BB/viewtopi ... 87220a49cd

When this car was built it was assigned to the New York office of the Union Pacific and undoubtedly used by the Chairman of the Board. Robert S. Lovett was chairman at that time; after his death in 1932 he was followed by Averill Harriman.

I heard that the gift to the Pennsylvania museum was because Roland Harriman and his wife had an interest in that museum.

The car is extraneous to the museum and is suppose to be available in complete condition. It would have to be trucked away from its current location and probably all the way to its next home. $$$$

I understand the car has already been spoken for and will be moved to another location.

Photo:

Found a photo on Flickr of the #107 after being loaded onto TTX flatcar XTTX #142429 at Weirton, WV, on November 8th, 2013: https://www.flickr.com/photos/n8myc/10757444816/sizes/l (Bob McGilvray, Jr. photo)

Car History:

Built by Pullman in March 1926 as UP #102 (1st), with the name Overland, renumbered in May 1952 to UP #107 (2nd), stored in 1970, donated in May 1971 to the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, donated to CSRM in May 2013.

Other thread: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35831

Source:

1. Don Strack's UP passenger car pages: http://utahrails.net/pass/pass-index.php

The car went by rail to California in Nov. 2013. Loaded on flatcars.

I'm not certain of the destination, perhaps CSRM?

One of yinz left-coasters probably knows for certain.

The car did go to the California State Railroad Museum.

See this thread UP passenger car on its way to the CSRM

My understanding is that CSRM was able to find funding for the transportation, etc. from foundations connected to the Harriman family and the Union Pacific.

I'm not a left-coaster, but here is what I've been able to compile about this car...

http://utahrails.net/pass/heritage-flee ... p107second

Don Strack
http://utahrails.net/

I'm curious, is there any information about where in New York the 'Overland' was stored when it wasn't in use by the UP? (It's not as if the UP had any yard facilities of its own in the NYC area!) I believe the Harriman family's estate at Arden was served by the Erie, so perhaps on a private siding there? Or would it have made sense for the car to be staged somewhere closer to the actual company offices in Manhattan?

-Philip Marshall

Philip,

This is a good question. Several railroads who had no service or trackage to the NYC area had corporate offices there. The other railroad that comes to mind is the L&N. They kept a private car there for years.

I would assume the cars were parked in either Sunnyside Yard (PRR/NYNH&H) or Mott Haven Yards (NYC) or possibly up at Van Nest (NYNH&H)

On a side note, the museum in Sacramento already owns a UP business car, named Shoshone. This car was leased back to the UP after some time in Sacramento, and I believe it is still part of the UP fleet.

Would it have shared the track under the Waldorf Astoria with SP #100 Airslie?

CD

Thanks, David. I think you may be right in suggesting Sunnyside Yard as the likely candidate. Some Googling indicates that prior to 1969, the UP's corporate offices were located at 120 Broadway in the Financial District, from which westward travel via the PRR from Pennsylvania Station would be the most logical option, and implying that the car was indeed kept at Sunnyside. I guess I'm just surprised to consider this because I never remember seeing UP heavyweight business cars in any color photos of Sunnyside from the 1940s on, something one would think would be fairly obvious since the bright yellow would stand out in a sea of Tuscan red. Perhaps they were just set out somewhere out of the way where railfans never saw them.

-Philip Marshall

The Union Pacific on-line information about the retained historical passenger cars indicates that the Shoshone was built in 1914 for Chairman Robert Lovett; was numbered 99 and then 106 before being named Shoshone. It was donated to CSRM in 1985. The car was then loaned back to the UP in 1992 in exchange for business car 103 [I believe this is the former T&P/MP #10.]

The story told is that in about 1992 the wife of the then chairman of the board of Union Pacific saw the Shoshone at Sacramento and was taken by the original wood interior. The result was that the UP arranged the exchange to obtain the Shoshone. The car then went to a private passenger car car repair firm to make the car usable in today's world.

I only know this as I just finished volumes I and II of Maury Klein's history of the Union Pacific, but until the 1950s, the Board of Directors of UP met in New York only. Omaha was the center of operations, but New York was the center of finance. Peruse the old Official Guide and you will see how many railroads had offices in New York.

After several online searches, looking for a connection between the Harrimans, Union Pacific, and Avella Village in Western Pennsylvania, I find that the common thread is harness racing of horses. I see that The Meadows Racetrack for harness racing, located near Washington, Pa., is just 18 miles southeast of Avella. The Meadows Racetrack was opened in June 1963, and was owned by Delvin Miller, known as the father of harness racing. There may have been some involvement with E. Roland Harriman, who some have described as a prime mover of the sport, having organized the U. S. Trotting Association in 1939, as well as being the founder, in 1951, of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.

UP 107 Overland was assigned to E. Roland Harriman, E. H. Harriman's youngest son. Roland was born in 1895, the youngest of Harriman's five children and learned his love of harness racing from his father. Roland won his first race at fourteen and competed as an amateur driver well into his sixties. E. H. Harriman (1848-1909) bought Historic Track in Goshen, N.Y., in the early 1880s and was a noted amateur driver. He founded the Arden Homestead Stable, and owned and drove harness racing roadsters and trotters. Harriman's son, E. Roland Harriman (1895-1978), founded the United States Trotting Association in January 1939 and the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame at Goshen, N.Y. in 1951. Roland was known among supporters as a prime mover of harness racing in the United States, and his wife Gladys (1895-1983) became a skilled amateur harness driver, holding several records as early as 1929.

In 1947, the Delvin Miller (1913-1996) and his wife Mary (1920-2009) purchased Meadow Lands Farm in Meadow Lands, Pa., converting the former dairy farm into a major breeding operation with the purchase of their stallion, Adios. Supporters of harness racing in Western Pennsylvania were successful in 1961 of getting the voters of Washington County to allow para-mutual betting, and in 1963 the Millers opened The Meadows Racetrack. Research has not yet found a direct connection between the Harrimans, the Millers, and The Meadows Racetrack, but the common thread of harness racing is the likely connection.

The newspaper item from 1974 mentioned above, indicates that UP 107, Overland (retired by UP in July 1970 and donated to Meadowcroft Village in May 1971), was part of the original Meadowcroft Village display at The Meadows Racetrack. The car was on the racetrack property from about 1971 until the racetrack was sold in 1986. Delvin Miller had been a successful trotting horse trainer, driver and owner, and along with his wife Mary and others, began collecting harness racing memorabilia. It was part of this collection, as noted in the newspaper item, that was put on display in 1974, inside the former Union Pacific business car, located on the racetrack property along with a former N&W caboose.

After selling The Meadows Racetrack and surrounding Meadow Lands Farm in 1986, the Millers moved their Meadowcroft project at Bancroft Farm near Avella, Pa., which had been owned by the Miller family since the late 1700s. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Millers developed Meadowcroft Village as a museum of 19th century rural life on the Bancroft Farm. They saved local structures including the one-room school house where Mr. Miller had gone to elementary school, relocated other period buildings, and collected furnishings, horse-drawn vehicles and other artifacts of the time, providing a charming and educational destination for thousands of Western Pennsylvania school children and families. The Miller Museum on the site chronicles Mr. Miller’s family history and his extraordinary eight decade career in harness racing.

The history of the former N&W caboose is not known at this time, but in 1971, Meadowcroft Village received the donation of Union Pacific business car no. 107, Overland. The sale of the racetrack in 1986 meant that the collection, including the railroad cars, had to be moved to the Miller property in Avella.

The other newspaper item from 1987 indicates that in 1987, the car was moved from The Meadows Racetrack in Washington, Pa., to Avella to become part of the growing collection of historic items at Meadowcroft Village. The Millers moved to Florida in 1988. Following Delvin Miller's death in 1996, Mrs. Miller continued to support the museum and collection until her own death in September 2009.

Meadowcroft Village is today part of the Heinz History Center that encompasses several history sites in the Pittsburgh area and Western Pennsylvania as an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. The timeline is unclear concerning when the railroad cars were declared surplus to the Meadowcroft Village collection, but it was likely in 2009. Other than the caboose and the passenger car and other items of importance to rural living in Western Pennsylvania, the harness racing collection (216 pieces) was moved in 2009 to the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

Don Strack
http://utahrails.net