Hello,

My name is Michael. I'm a senior in high school, and for the longest time have been visiting, amongst many other places, the Delaware & Ulster Railroad in Arkville, NY. Recently, their streamlined dinner train the Rip Van Winkle Flyer has become more available to the public, and after riding the train, I became curious about the cars' histories. Upon finding no complete records, I decided to research the train myself. After finding a whole lot of neat stuff, I have depleted all the resources I've been able to find with still a few mysteries present, and it was suggested to me to post here to try and fill in the missing information. This started as a personal project, but the railroad has expressed interest, and the information may find itself being assembled in a publication, so if anyone perchance has pictures, those would be appreciated as well.

The Rip Van Winkle Flyer has been operating in its current configuration since 2005, and at its greatest capacity consists of five fluted stainless cars: a Budd 73' express baggage used as a generator car, a Budd 85' dome, a PS 85' diner, a Budd 85' "tavern" car, and a Budd 85' round-end observation car. The cars' histories as far as I've been able to complete are as follows, titled by original owner and number:

AT&SF #3519
-built 1953 as a baggage-express
-(1971?) to Amtrak, renumbered AMTK #1035
-(1980?) reconfigured for HEP, renumbered AMTK #1169
-(1986?) to Denver Railcar, numbered DRCX #1169
-(used, or stored inoperable?)
-2004 May at DRCX auction
-2005 (at some point) sold to DURR, shipped Feb

MP #891
-built 1948 as a "planetarium dome"
-1967 June sold to Illinois Central, renumbered #2201
-1970 Feb retired
-(Butterworth Tours? leased to Golden Arrow? what are these?)
-(1986?) sold to Denver Railcar, rebuilt and renumbered DRCX #7891 Maroon Hills, later renamed Maroon Bells
-2004 April- sold to private owner
-2004 Dec- sold to DURR, arrived July 2005

ACL "Plant City"
-built 1950 April
-1967 ACL merger with Seaboard, redesignated SCL #5936
-1971 to Amtrak, renumbered AMTK #8086
-(?) sold to unknown
-(?) sold to DURR

M&StL #52
-built 1948
-1957 sold to Rock Island, renumbered #363 Herington
-(?) sold to private owner in LA
-(1986?) sold to Denver Railcar, rebuilt and renumbered DRCX #3363 Silver Queen
-2004 May sold to DURR

NYC #61
-built 1948
-1965 sold...
-(?) to Johnnie's Vets Club in Des Moines, IA?
-(? anything else?)
-1986 sold to Denver Railcar, rebuilt and renumbered DRCX #9061
-2004 May sold to DURR

I am aware that the ex-Denver Railcar cars were discussed on this forum in "Denver Railcar (DRCX) Roster", save for the baggage car, which seems to always slip unnoticed. All relevant information from that topic is included above.

Of additional note for ex-NYC #61- there was confusion whether this car was sold by the New York Central to Johnnie's Vets Club in 1965 or to the KCS in 1966- the Kansas City Southern Historical Society has confirmed that it was not sold to the KCS. I still cannot confirm the Vets Club, nor can I guess if it was used as part of the restaurant.

Additions, confirmations, and corrections would be most appreciated. I have dates and owners listed, but not many details. (If there are any recollections of seeing any of these cars anywhere in their past lives, I'd love to hear about it.)

Thank you all,

Michael Lechicky


Online sources (for the time being, specific web page links not included, because of their sheer volume; if anyone would like me to post a complete list, please ask):

1. rypn.org

2. rrpicturearchives.net

3. railcarphotos.com

4. trainweb.org/web_lurker/MP/

5. trainorders.com

6. get.google.com/albumarchive/114714092853830738309/album/AF1QipOi8xuN2-RpEk1Bd56H-WLDXFgB5uSiiGZYcJY0

7. passcarphotos.info

Budd, 1953, Job #9601-135, baggage-express-messenger AT&SF #3519, yes, sold 1971 to Amtrak as #1035, yes, converted 1980 to HEP, no, not sold in 1986; wrecked in July 1987 and resold in 1989 to Denver Railcar. Yes, it was used by Denver Railcar, not stored, as it appears in photos of DRCX's Acadian during its last season (2002).


Budd, 1948, Job #9646-006, MP 24 seat 46 seat chair #891 ("Planetarium" was a name used for domes on the MP, like "Vista" on the CB&Q or "Great" on the GN), renumbered as part of the 1963 general renumbering (as the T&P and I-GN subsidiaries were folded into MP after the end of the trusteeship) to #591, sold to IC in 1967 as #2201, retired in 1970 and resold to William Langhoff, planned to be named Arlo Guthrie (not applied), later resold to Jon Clark, later resold to Butterworth Tours (this operation owned by James Butterworth provided cars for charter, particularly on the remainder of the CRI&P trains in the 70's), leased to Golden Arrow (which was an excursion operation in WI), resold in 1986 to Denver Railcar (which operated the Roaring Fork RR, the Texas Limited operation on the TX Southern, the Acadian, as well as providing cars for Mexican-American RY's South Orient Express operation through the Copper Canyon) as DRCX #7891 (#800023) and named Maroon Bells (not "Hills"), after the mountain in Colorado (DRCX was for a time planning on running an excursion up the now-gone branchline from Glenwood Springs to Aspen; the Maroon Bells are to the SW of Aspen), sold at the 2004 auction to Philip Sheridan-IFE Leasing, who resold it to DURR.


P-S, 1950, Lot #6808, Plan #7592, ACL 36 seat diner Plant City, to SCL #5936, to AMTK #8086, listed as being retired by Amtrak in 1977 and becoming MofW camp car #16761, no info after that. Anyone know who owned this car after it was sold by Amtrak (and when?) and when it was later resold to DURR?


Budd, 1948, Job #9613-007, M&StL 56 seat chair #52, resold 1957 to CRI&P as #363 Herington, later resold (circa late 70's-1980, could have been as early as 1977) to Hank Frazier (Ruston, LA), supposedly leased to the Ashley, Drew & Northern RR (Crossett, AR) (the AD&N had acquired direct from CRI&P the #367 Armourdale, so this may be a conflation of info), lease ended 1989, resold 1994 to DRCX as #3363 (#800021) Silver Queen.

Budd, 1948, Job #9638-004, NYC 30 seat parlor-10 seat lounge observation #61, retired 1965, sold 1966 to Johnnie's Vets Club (Des Moines, IA) (contrary to earlier reports, this car wasn't sold to KCS), later resold to Les Kasten, later resold to DRCX.