Thanks for the information. It’s extremely helpful everyone.

I believe we’re a bit closer in solving more puzzles.

The 2587, the modernized car at KRM that still had a riveted belt rail had the truck-mounted cylinders.

Apparently the 2587 among other cars were converted to be like substitute cars for the train. I’m not surprised that car among others had similar conversions to the regular city of Memphis consist.

Not uncommon for railroads with set consists. For example, Central of Georgia’s streamlined Nancy Hanks II had 2 kitchen/dining cars but only 1 was commonly operated: #690. #691 was also modernized but was the backup and wasn’t frequently used from what I understand. Both still survive today.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2 ... &source=48

Looks like according to this picture on Nashville steam, there’s a passenger car with the visible numbers “72149”.

Assuming there’s a 9 before the 7, it appears former NC&STL COM diner 1200 is still in Nashville.

I'm curious as to what condition the diner is in. Is it intact? Or was it sent into work train service.

It sat for years on the passenger car "deadline" at Louisville Union Station.

Given the long number, and the fact that it had kitchen services, my guess is that it went into MOW work.

No idea what plans there might be for it, but given that the man who owns VLIX is an avid Tennessee railroad fan (NC&StL, L&N, and TC), I don’t think it’s out of the question to one day see cobalt blue back on the car.

The information just keeps on coming.

Thanks to a cs.trains forum post from nearly 15 years ago, I was able to find snippets of information about the city of Memphis cars and potentially more information about their disposition. Below is a list of their Pullman names and original NC&StL numbers that I was fortunate to find

RPO 1040 was named Hawstone (originally numbered 733)

Coach 1100 was named Loudonville (originally numbered 731)

Coach 1101 was named Kewanna (originally numbered 732)

Coach 1102 was named Lilly (originally numbered 735)

Diner 1200 was named Wallaceton (originally numbered 730)

And Observation 1103 was named Greencastle (originally numbered 734).

Each of the 3 coaches (1100, 1101, and 1102) were used by the clinchfield and by the Chessie safety express in 1981. Their Clinchfield numbers were 102, 107, and 111. If anyone has information on the disposition of those cars is much appreciated.

The 1100 should be Great Smoky Mountain 320. The 1101 should be GSMR 322.

NC&StL 731 --> NC&StL 1100 --> L&N 2589 --> CRR 102 --> CSE 6 --> SBD 320 --> GSMR 320

NC&StL 732 --> NC&StL 1101 --> L&N 2590 --> CRR 107 --> CSE 4 --> SBD 322 --> GSMR 322

NC&StL 735 --> NC&StL 1102 --> L&N 2591 --> ??

NC&StL 741 --> L&N 2586 --> CRR 111 --> CSE 8 --> SBD 324 --> GSMR 324

I haven't seen anything showing the 1102 going to the Clinchfield. But corrections welcomed, available resources have some conflicting information.

By the way, I'd be curious if anyone knows the final disposition of Clinchfield 106, which ran as car 3 on the Chessie Safety Express and seems to have fallen off the radar after that (not an NC&StL car).

- Alan Maples

Alan, I’ve seen conflicting reports on 1102, as well as 1100.

1100 on a couple of pictures I’ve seen has been misidentified as Clinchfield 101 on at least one occasion. Most sources I’ve seen have identified it as 102, so I think that was just a typo.

As for 1102, different story. According to an older RYPN post about 10 years ago, Coach 8 for the chessie safety express was said to be L&N 2591, which we know to be NC&StL 1102. Yet on the Theme Trains old website, they identify the coach as 2586. I’m going to wager that you’re probably correct that L&N 2591 wasn’t Clinchfield 111, but unless shown otherwise, I’m still unsure. You did piece together where 1101 is though, so that’s certainly something. We now have a good idea of where 5 of the original cars are.

Here’s the said RYPN post and the theme trains roster. According to that website, CSE #3 was Georgia Railroad coach 75, originally an Lehigh Valley coach of an unknown number. I wouldn’t have a clue to what the original number was of that car was, when it became a Georgia Railroad car, or what happened to it afterward.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32112

https://www.themetrains.com/chessie-saf ... roster.htm

Closest I can find information about CSE #3 is on LVRR survivors, a website dedicated to locating and identifying any and all LVRR surviving structures, trackage, rolling stock, everything Lehigh Valley. Apparently a Lehigh valley car once owned and operated by the Clinchfield excursion program was sold to a private owner and there once was a thread about the coach on RYPN. Sadly, it appears the link to said thread is broken. Good place to start though when considering David Wilkins was the one mentioned on the website (who mind you is still here even commenting on this thread).

https://sites.google.com/site/scotlawre ... vors_other

I wouldn't necessarily wager that I'm right but my source is the Clinchfield excursion roster published in the March 1973 issue of TRAINS, which shows L&N 2586 becoming CRR 111. Since that was contemporary information and the author was associated with the Clinchfield, I've given it more weight. The roster makes no mention of the 2591.

Thank you for the comments about CSE #3; I believe I've chased down those threads before and come to a dead end.

- Alan Maples

Perhaps contact the KRM. They might have some information to who bought the car and where it might be. If it went there, they probably know what happened to it.

The ex LV car that KRM had was sold before the museum left Louisville. It ended up being privately owned but stored at the Midwest Railway Preservation Association’s roundhouse in Cleveland. It has been scrapped. I checked a few years ago.

Ok, so searching around a bit more led me to find another surviving NC&StL car in Lynnville TN, displayed with a steam locomotive and a caboose.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2165355

The picture archives shows that this car is of very similar construction to the other City of Memphis cars but unlike the other cars, the number of this car is unknown. NC&StL 742 (the number of a car at the GSMR) is not the correct number of this car.

Is this the NC&StL 1102 perhaps? It has the same date of construction listed and is clearly a rebuilt car.

I know there was a short discussion about the car a bit earlier, but I’d like to know if the identification for this car is supposedly correct. Is this 1102? Or L&N 2587?

The car in Lynnville, TN is indeed NC&StL coach 742. It is marked in several places on the car and trucks as 742 and 2587 (the car's L&N number). This car also has "City of Memphis" cast into the thresholds of the end doors.

Coaches 1100 (L&N 2589), 740 (L&N 2585), and 741 (L&N 2586) are at the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad.

Coach 743 (L&N 2588) went into MOW service and was last stored in the yard at Owensboro, KY. The Kentucky Railway Museum tried to acquire that car many years ago but were unable to do so before CSX scrapped it.

Coaches 1101 (L&N 2590) and 1102 (2591) are unaccounted for.

I am intimately familiar with 691’s current location and condition. 690 was last reported in Texas, possibly at/near Texas Tankcar, but that was late 1980’s. The best information I’ve been able to glean is that the car suffered a fire of some degree and was scrapped, but I’ve not been able to verify the two different reports of this. If it’s still around, where is it???